Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony: The Logic Of Scarcity

Many aspects of today’s America are governed by the logic of scarcity, as there is not enough wealth and jobs to go around, causing many people to struggle in competition to gain needed resources. Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel, Ceremony, showcases the pernicious effects the scarcity logic has on Native Americans, who are cast aside and forgotten in unfertile reservations. Silko contrasts the logics of scarcity in her book with harmony by sampling poems that pertain to the Native American culture. In the Arrowboy poem at the end of the book, sampled during the book’s climax, the main character, Tayo, comes to face the “witchery” of harmful logics and has the chance to combat and overcome them, succeeding in doing so by later sharing his

Within the novel, the logics of scarcity and competition, which both drive modern white society, cause great struggle within Tayo and many Native Americans left behind on reservations with finding a place. These logics are “witchery” spread by the practices of white people, despite many people wrongly believing white people are the witches instead. The witchery is the logic of the white people, giving them the reasons to take over Native American land and let Native Americans, like Tayo and his friends, struggle to find jobs after serving in World War Two. However, in the poem, Arrowboy follows a literal witch to a cave with other witches, who are completing an evil ritual to further their evil. Because Arrowboy is there, the ritual cannot be completed, as “[witch] magic won’t work if someone is watching” (247). The Arrowboy poem is Tayo’s solution to combating evil logics. Tayo, at the climax of the story, takes the role of a witness, instead of getting someone involved, to complete the ceremony and tell his story and the unknown truth regarding the identity witches for the benefit of his

After leaving her reservation and failing to find a suitable job to support herself, she resorts to prostitution to make ends meet. Like Tayo and his friends, she too has failed to fit into white society and cannot find a place and job for herself, suffering because of the logic of competition. Upon leaving the Tayo and his friends at the bar, drinking away their troubles and ignoring their troubles, Helen Jean notes, “She was tired or pretending with them, tired of making believe that it had lasted” (165 – 166). In other words, as she sees Tayo’s friends celebrating their time in the army, when they were equal to the whites as soldiers, she knows that their time as being viewed as equals has not lasted, as they are now useless and drunk in a bar. Helen then realizes, “If she hung around any longer with these guys, that’s how she’d end up. Like the rest of the Indians.” However, right after she thinks this, Helen goes to hook up with a Mexican man for money. In this moment, Helen Jean has accepted the fact that she cannot fit into society, but acknowledges that she is still better off than Tayo’s friends because she is not living in a false reality. Even after realizing that she has no place, Helen Jean tries to make the best of her situation, despite her lack of options. However,