PROMPT REVISION

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

This was the first open prompt I did in for the blog, and I used a pop-culture novel (My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult). That was a huge mistake because Ms.Holmes hates that, and now that I look at it, it just looks dumb analyzing that novel after reading so many classics. Therefore, I am writing on a whole new novel, which I know isn't a revision... but OH WELL. 

          Parent child relationships are common in novels and plays. However, a meaningful conflict in this kind of relationship could be hard to find. In Arthur Miller's famous play, The Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman and Biff Loman's relationship depicts a perfect conflict that contributes to the meaning of the work. The difficulty Biff has of trying to understand his father and Willy's stubborn beliefs not only initiates the conflict but acts as fuel to heighten the tension.
          From Biff's childhood to teen years, he admired his father, Willy. Willy also had great expectations of Biff; he hoped and saw Biff's future for himself. Willy believed that in order to be respected in the future, Biff had to chase after the idealistic values of the American Society. Throughout the flashbacks, it shows that Biff agreed with Willy's idea. Biff dreamed of becoming a famous football star and making his father proud. From the start, Willy had too high of expectations for a young boy in the wrong mindset due to the regrets that he had for himself. Through Willy, Biff believed that being favored by others should be prioritized over education. Willy's wrong expectations was what initiated the greater conflict.
         It isn't till soon after where Biff realizes that what he's dreamed of was falling apart. As he hopes that his admiring father could help him, the conflict rises with Biff witnessing his father's affair and betrayal. Biff is even more distressed as Willy does not accept the fact that he was not committed to his family. The conflicts leads Biff to the west uneducated. The west signifies the American dream where new opportunities are created. Biff learns the hard way and tries to reconcile with his father in hopes of bringing the family members to the west. 
         In the midst of Biff's attempt to talk to his father, he only realizes that Willy's stubborn personality and his past will never accept the true ideas. The clash between Willy and Biff's ideals of the real American dream never settles. The little conflicts caused them to separate and find their own pathways. The growing conflicts allowed Biff to face reality and gradually accept Willy's behavior. The conflict became big enough to the point where their resolution only ended in another difference in ideas. Without Willy and Biff's conflict, the idea that the American dream everyone hopes for is different for each person would not have been attained. 

Ceremony Summary & Analysis

Leslie Marmon Silko (March 5, 1948- present)

• Native American writer of the Laguna Pueblo tribe
• Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Learned traditional storytelling from her family (grandmother)
• She is one-fourth Laguno Pueblo

Setting

• Laguna Pueblo Reservation
• Some parts of U.S (California)
• Shifts from before 1942(Bataan March) to present 

Plot (divided into time frames)

•  BEFORE THE MILITARY (childhood-enlistment)
• Tayo is a half white and half Native American boy born to Laura
• Laura is Native American but strays away from the culture; she was alcoholic and went out with white men
• Before Tayo was born, Laura's sister, "Auntie" saw her walking by the river early in the morning in heels and no clothes
• When Tayo was young, Laura died and Josiah, Tayo's uncle brought him into the family
• Tayo can't ajust well due to the fact that he's biracial. 
• Auntie never liked the idea of taking care of Tayo because their family gets judged enough. She never showed it in front of grandma, but made sure Tayo knew that he didn't belong here
• Auntie didn't was her son, Rocky, to be associated with Tayo by any means.
• Rocky and Tayo both knew, but gradually became close as they grew up. Rocky is much different from Tayo in a sense that Rocky wants to leave the reservation ASAP. 
• Tayo was closest with Josiah and helped him and Robert (Auntie's husband) with the cattle work. He also kept Josiah's secrets about night swan (Josiah's Mexican gf) and the desert cattle
• When a military recruiter visits the reservation, Rocky persuades Tayo and both sign up to enlist in the military
• Harley, Emo, Pinkie, and Leroy are Tayo's childhood friends from the reservation. Emo and Tayo were never on good terms.
• DURING DUTY
• They must fight the Japanese, but Tayo just can't kill people.
• Rocky dies during duty; Tayo doesn't believe that Rocky's dead and watched the Japanese soldier shoot dead Rocky
• Tayo is held hostage in the Japanese Prison.
• During war, he's at a point in which he was shoot the Japanese soldiers but fail to do so because he saw uncle Josiah with the Japanese. He knows that can't be possible because Josiah died at the reservation while Tayo was gone to military.
• Tayo understands the relationship of White men and native women or any men in military wear with white women
• Tayo also curses the rain away in the jungle and feels guilty that the six year drought at the reservation is his fault. 
• Emo always boasts about his killings and starts conflicts with Tayo.
• PRESENT
• White doctors say that Tayo is struggling through PTS, however grandma disagrees and insists that he sees a medicine man
• All the other friends are also affected but with alcohol
• He comes back to the reservation from the white walled hospitals in California
• He decides to help Robert out with the Cattle
• Ku'oosh introduces Tayo to Medicine Man, Betonie
• Tayo tells Betonie everything while Betonie share stories and the value of Ceremony
• Betonie insists that Tayo must complete the ceremony despite the interferences
• In order to do so Tayo goes in search of Josiah's "desert" cattle
• The mountains are under close watch and finding the cattle is not easy
• With the help of T'seh, Tayo ends up to his final destination, the mine safely
• However, His friends are with Emo and he has to watch Harley get tortured by Emo. (emo's strategy to get Tayo to come out)
• Tayo survives and finishes the Ceremony in which the drought also comes to an end.
• Grandma believes that Tayo is a recurrence of Sun god
• Characters
• Tayo
• Protagonist; struggles with identity. He is half white and half Mexican; struggles through PTS after the war and can't let go of Josiah and Rocky's death
• Josiah
• Tayo's favorite uncle; he was dating a mexican (night swan) Grandma and Auntie were strongly against. He dies in the middle of the story; he had the wish to start a cattle business with the "all-purpose" desert cattle
• Auntie
• Tayo's aunt, Rocky's mother, Josiah's sister, Robert's wife. Claims to be a christian and treats Tayo like a responsibility to get to heaven. She wants Rocky to follow his dreams and become more white. 
• Grandma
• Tayo's Grandma; she doesn't care if other people judge or talk about the family. She's always sleeping or quiet but is always listening
• Rocky
• Tayo's cousin; doesn't want to be associated with native culture in any way. dreams of being a football player and heading out to the states after school. He signs tayo and himself up for the military but ends up not returning due to death.
• Betonie
• Medicine man that Ku'oosh introduces. He is also of mixed race and he intimidates Tayo at first but ends up healing him and leading Tayo into the right direction of fulfilling the ceremony. 
• Laura
• Tayo's mother; alcoholic, prostitute? a disgrace to the family
• Harley-> Leroy-> Pinkie and Emo
• All Tayo's childhood friends who also enlists in the military. Emo always hated Tayo and is the last interference in Tayo's ceremony. 
• Quotes
• " It seems like I already heard these stories before - only thing is, the names sound different."
• where grandma believes that Tayo is sun god and that all that he's gone through was just trial 
• Narrative voice 
• The narrative voice not only shifts from past to present, but just everywhere throughout the book. There are little short storytelling going on down the center of a page at an interval of every so pages and the narrative voice is never identified. Sometimes, when he/she talks about whats going on, it's a simple and straight foward, detailed explanation. However, there's times when first and second person pronouns pop up. Usually when night swan talks about her story or when Tayo is speaking. 

Response to Course Material

Ugh, I know this is late, but I swear it isn't "senioritis: slack on anything". I was actually gone the whole weekend with no access to computers... my apologies.

       Tracing my memory since the last Response to Course Material, we started and finished Ceremony with discussion here and there. I enjoyed this book; it was definitely better than R&G. I just think that if there is a plot or premise to the book, it's probably better than a play full of repetition and absurd questions. Ceremony didn't have the comic side that I'm used to seeing in AP lit however. Some of my friends thought it was really difficult connecting the time settings that were weaved throughout the novel. That wasn't so difficult for me. Two years ago, I read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and the time setting fluctuated from past to present every few pages. Totally different genre, but having read that was very helpful. To be honest, I couldn't finish the book by the first reading date. Not that it was long, not that it was switching settings on me, but grasping the symbols were difficult. Yeah, I got the surface understanding, but every time I read a line or page over again, It felt like I was being exposed to something brand new all over again. Something I found interesting was that Tayo struggles through an identity crisis and stumbles on deciding to live or die like all the other characters we've covered in this class. The difference I saw in that idea was that Tayo struggled from every point: family, friends, himself, background, and culture. He also didn't have a father problem unlike Hamlet or Biff/Willy. Ceremony is probably something that I would read again just to challenge myself in what more I could come across and how "deep" my thoughts are at each read... lawls.