Ceremony is a book that focuses primarily on the story of Tayo's life, implying the past traumas the Native American population in the United States have endured. Rather than placing focus on the timeline of Native American oppression, Ceremony implies the history of Native Americans in the U.S around the time period of World War II. There, There's introduction lies on the other end of the spectrum, being entirely made up of the history of oppression, violence, and discrimination towards Native Americans. One way in which There, There's introduction and Ceremony can be linked is in the way white Americans forced the idea of nationalism onto the Native American population. A prime example of this in Ceremony is when Tayo and Rocky visit the army recruiter and end up signing up after the man's convincing and inclusive language. The man's urge that the brothers can fight for their country and protect their flag seems to be an encouraging tone that unites nation and man, but becomes rather condescending and racist when taking into account the history between Native Americans and white people. There, There connects to Tayo's story in this way, especially in the section of the introduction that says white people, "told us (Native Americans) to fly the American flag...they did more than kill us" (Orange 8). Despite the mission white Americans had to "americanize" Native Americans, in this case forcing them to fly the American flag, there was still no equality within the U.S. The desire Tayo feels to protect the United States is not a natural grown pride; it is a pride groomed by white people in America to control and have the "support" of Native Americans. As the quote from There, There describes, Tayo and Rocky have "flown the American flag" by joining the army, but Tayo has been "more than killed" after Rocky's death. As Rocky was his only form of support, Tayo's life spirals into chaos. Both brothers have been convinced of this false nationalism, only to end up dead; Rocky, literally, and Tayo, figuratively, demonstrating the connection between There, There, and Ceremony.
Justice in the Penelopiad
How does your novel represent justice? With The Odyssey being told primarily as an epic tale and used as a source of entertainment rather than character development or plot, the injustices toward Penelope and the twelve maids are ignored in favor of supporting Odysseus' journey of greatness. In my own opinion, the untold story of Penelope and the maids is a supporting detail that demonstrates Odysseus' tirade of power and adventure and does not purely exist to merely discredit the women of the story. Though the outdated ideas of the time period in which The Odyssey was written in are shown in the story through Odysseus' actions, The Penelopiad is a story of justice that takes a different stance on the importance of plot, social awareness, and culture when compared to its origin story. The alternative perspective that the work has given us thus far shows a different side to the adventure that is told in The Odyssey, giving the underrepresented characters, who were p...
Hannah, wow this is an excellent analysis between the introduction of the two stories. I as well made the comparison between the army recruitment scene with Tayo and Rocky and the nationalism/ assimilation is Oranges’s piece. However, as you focused on nationalism I focused on assimilation. Although at the time i believed that assimilation was the best descriptive word for describing the scene and what was happening to Tayo, I believe that nationalism does fit better. Moreover, I liked your use of the American flag as a symbol to represent the oppression and link the two stories. During the years of Columbus and genocide of the Native American population, the American flag was flown proudly. Yet, the army recruiter asks Tayo and Rocky to represent this symbol of oppression towards their culture with pride. This is a bit ironic considering the history between the two cultures thoroughly described in Oranges’s piece. Overall, I think that your analysis and interpretation of the two works are excellent and although I have not finished reading Ceremony yet, once I am finished I am sure there will be even more connection between Ceremony and There There
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