Storytelling includes words and actions to describe past events that get interpreted differently along the way. In the Southwest, cultures use regionalism (reflecting one’s sense of place in one’s stories) to connect with other communities (Anaya). In Ceremony the author Leslie Marmon Silko uses poetry to transition from chapters. The main character Tayo returning from World War II suffers from PTSD as he tries to save his reservation from a drought. However Tayo encounters a journey that he must save himself to be able to save his culture. Ceremony shares similarities and differences with the Southwest by embedding storytelling, the values of culture, and the clash of the whites with the Native Americans.
“The Myths about a place influence the lived realties of that place. The stories we create and share about Southwest are the basis for how we treat it. They shape the way we live in and with this region” (Anaya). The Southwest is more than a direction it holds a meaning with the stories shared among cultures. Ceremony shares its stories by beginning with poems about sisters creating the Universe and four worlds. I relate this to Navajo culture with their vision of how they came into this world. The
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Storytelling in the Southwest served as a map to help guide others, and Tayo used this map to surpass the drought and his PTSD. By using the spiritual and ceremonial practice Tayo is able to gain consciences of himself and his surroundings. From the beginning Tayo was confused with how he visions himself and the trauma of the war and the drought affected him even more. The cultural setback made him question his integrity as a solider because of how people viewed him before and after the war. The book includes cultural challenges similar to when the Indians of the Southwest were forced into civilization. The Southwest is a broad meaning from to culture to