Ceremony: 1st posting
Ffreyb (Ffreyb@aol.com)
Fri, 31 Oct 1997 17:20:00 EST
The last few major wars that the United States has been involved in, have been
fought in foreign lands that were far removed from our own country. We sent
our young people off to other worlds to fight in wars of terrible carnage and
destruction. A common problem experienced by our veterans when they return
from these wars has been the difficulty they have had in enculturating
themselves back into American society. This problem is easy to understand;
the shock and trauma that comes from leaving their comfortable and safe lives
behind to fight in a terrible war, changes these people in profound ways.
When they return home from all the killing and destruction, they feel
conspicuously out of place and alienated. These veterans have forever
changed, and it is not an easy thing for them to return to the life they once
knew.
This problem must have been especially harsh for Native Americans and other
American minorities who may have never felt comfortable with or any real part
of American culture. The changes these people probably experienced from
fighting in a foreign war may have likely been even more significant than
those experienced by non-minorities. Native Americans seemed to have had a
particularly hard time finding a place and an identity within main-stream
American culture (for reason that I think are obvious enough). After fighting
for a country that they have never felt a real part of, their place in society
upon return from this war must have been more confused than ever.
In the first part of Ceremony, we experience the "battle fatigue" sickness
that Tayo is suffering from. We already see the effects of the cross-
cultural confusion that is inevitable of Tayo's situation; white doctors
attempt to treat Tayo with traditional western/European medical techniques
that have little effect. These doctors finally give up and send him home to
his family who also seemed a little miffed on how to deal with the "sickness"
that Tayo has brought home with him. Tayo's aunt finally sends for a
traditional Native medicine man, Ku'oosh, who seems to maybe understand what
it is that Tayo may need.... healing of the soul.
Jeffrey Bennett
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