Stress

In class this week basically what we did was focus on getting really in depth with and studying important quotes found throughout the book "Ceremony". I have noticed that many of these quotes focus on racism and how prominent it was during this time. One very significant quote found in this book that shows how much racism was really affecting Tayo's life says, "Emo had hated him since the time they had been in grade school together, and the only reason for this hate was that Tayo was part white. But Tayo was used to it by now. Since he could remember, he had known Aunite's shame for what his mother had done, and Auntie's shame for him." (Silko 57). This quote is very significant because it shows how much hate is directed toward Tayo purely because of his race, and it is actually very sad because even his own aunt is too ashamed to adopt Tayo and call him her son simply because he is part white. This is just one of the many powerful quotes that can be found in this book that portray how intense racism can be, and how severely it can affect an individual.
Another theme that was commonly found in many of the significant quotes in this book so far is related to Post Traumatic Stress and War, and how much these two things have affected Tayo's life. Throughout this book Tayo's views on war are constantly being displayed, and compared to the views of other characters in this book. One quote that perfectly displays Tayo's views is found when Tayo is talking to Emo, and the book says, "Tayo could hear it in his voice when he talked about the killing-how Emo grew from each killing. Emo fed off each man he killed, and the higher the rank of the dead man, the higher it made Emo." (Silko 61). This quote just shows the difference between Tayo and Emo, and how their views on war are basically polar opposites. Emo pretty much obsessed with war, while on the other hand it hurts Tayo to even think about it. As a result of carefully searching through this book for quotes all week, I have noticed how strongly the themes of racism and war have played into this story, and how frequently these topics are discussed, and how Tayo has received nothing but stress from the events in his life that surfaced these topics in the first place.

The Hollywood Indian

This past week we watched a film in class titled "Reel Injun". For the most part, this film focused on how media has portrayed the Native people, and how this has affected the way society looks at the individuals. It covered topics ranging from how these people dress, how they talk, what they do, and just how they live in general. It was very interesting to see some of the things that many people believe to be true about Native American's actually be nothing but myths created by the media, and it was very surprising to see how many of these things I actually believed to be true just because I was so used to the ways that the media portrayed these people.

Probably the biggest thing that this film showed me was how much the media created an Identity in a way for all Native American's through clothing. The media created this "Identity" by generalizing all Native people and tribes and creating one specific look to represent basically all tribes, regardless of how they actually dressed. One of the big identifying factors that was created for male native people was the idea that all men wore huge, feathered headdresses similar to the one pictured below. Although there were some native tribes and individuals who did wear these headdresses, the media made it seem like it was a universal trait for all native men, even though it was actually fairly uncommon. Another trait about native people that has been created by the media is the idea that all native women wear headbands similar to the one in the picture below. Hollywood used these headbands originally as a way for actresses to keep wigs from falling off of their heads, and this trait ended up sticking and becoming another one of the ways that the media generalized the native population even though it was a trait that very few native people actually possessed. Although this information may seem insignificant to some, it just goes to show how much power the media truly has on topics such as this, and how media can completely generalize a population and create an image that is completely untrue about this population but still spread this image to millions of people with ease.