Ceremony Summary and Analysis

Ceremony centers on the experiences of Tayo and how they relate to his spiritual and physical connections to his Laguna-Pueblo heritage. While fighting in the Philippines during WWII, he hallucinates that a dead Japanese soldier is his uncle, Josiah. He is further traumatized when his brother, Rocky, dies in battle. These events are the primary catalysts for his journey towards holistic revival. After the war, he spends some time in a veterans' hospital. Throughout this stay, it is clear that while he may be physically healing, he is invisible: "They saw an outline but they did not realize it was hollow inside."

This part shows that medically, there is nothing for the white people to diagnose him with. The problem is intrinsically spiritual. Later,  this section mentions a painful reaction to sunlight, which develops gradually into a healing force. He is plagued by constant vomiting.

When he returns home, we hear more about his childhood and his relationship to Josiah and Rocky. He is primarily raised by his Grandmother and Aunt, as his mother left the community after bearing Tayo to a white father. We find that during his time in the war, Josiah did actually die. In addition, from a spiritual standpoint, he "prayed" the rain away while fighting in the jungle, supposedly causing the 6-year drought for his people. We hear vivid poetry about the ancient myths involving the gambler and the lack of rain, which can be applied to Tayo's actual situation. He interacts with other veterans, but they do little to console him.

To seek help, he undergoes a ceremony with Ku'oosh. It does not rid him of his problems,  but it leads him towards more self-reflection. He considers his childhood and recalls one particularly important visit with Josiah's Mexican girlfriend, Night Swan. They have an affair which helps him spiritually. After Ku'oosh, he sees Betonie. Betonie has him apply ancient beliefs to create a contemporary ceremony,  central to the theme of the novel. Betonie says, "[People] think the ceremonies must be performed exactly as they have always been done . . . You see, in many ways, the ceremonies have always been changing."

This directly relates to the theme, that spiritual and familial connection requiring the straddling of multiple races and cultures, is critical to maintaining harmony with the world, especially as that world becomes more fragmented in every way. In essence, a dependence on unity in a modern context.
Betonie also describes Native American suffering in terms of "witchery." Tayo sets out again, and after falling back into old patterns with the other veterans, begins on a search for Josiah's cattle, These cattle are hybrids and represent a modern resilience to cultural conformity, as seen by their stubbornness. He meets Ts'eh, who is nameless until later on. He goes into the mountains, finds the cattle, and gets caught by two white policemen who let him go to go chase a mountain lion he encountered earlier. He finds that Ts'eh rounded up the cattle and then returns home. He spends the next summer with Ts'eh, but then she warns him that Emo has been convincing the rest of the tribe that Tayo is insane. Tayo follows Ts'eh's instructions and manages to avoid the police. He meets Harley and Leroy, but then realizes that while they appear friendly, they are really working for Emo. His efforts to escape lead him to the culminating point of his ceremony, an abandoned uranium mine. This symbolizes the white destruction of the land for the purpose of destruction that exceeds all spiritual contemplation. This relates to Ku'oosh's inability to understand modern warfare. He spends the night in the mine, having to see Harley tortured at Emo's command. Resisting killing Emo is his test against the forces of witchery. Afterwards, the drought finally ends and Tayo appears to have reached a balance with nature and his community.