Synthesis of Course Material #3

Ceremony

• It was surprising for me that we started our first novel towards the middle of the year. But a little prior to that, we encountered a few more lessons on useful strategies concerning the multiple choice portion of the AP test while also learning how to write our essays more effectively. However, at this time we didn't go too in depth into these subjects since we were about to begin our next piece.
• Leslie Marmon Silko's, Ceremony contrasted greatly with the other readings that we had in the beginning of the year. First of all, it was a novel and not a play. So therefore, there were probably three times as many words that we had to read. Which I'm not saying is bad, it was just hard to get use to how time consuming the read was compared to the other plays.
• On the other hand, Ceremony also provided an entirely new perspective to the literature that we had already covered. The novel focused greatly on self discovery and the importance of cultural awareness. By following Tayo throughout his journey of recovering from his post traumatic stress, we were able to see his struggles with appreciating his own culture and finding himself. 
• This novel also seemed to have dedicated itself to symbolism and our class placed a strong emphasis towards finding out the meanings behind the symbols the Silko included. Things such as the repetition of the appearance of yellow and cycles all contributed towards making this novel that much more interesting to both read and annotate.The stories told throughout the book also reflected how important they were to the Native culture and how it is the one element that has kept their culture alive.
• The second read of the book helped us catch the tiny little details that Silko had so carefully included and encouraged us to have a better understanding of the Native American culture. Silko's novel reflected the struggles of the culture's survival and the deterioration of Native society.