David Treuer's debut novel, "Little" (1995), is set on a Minnesota reservation, centering around a dilapidated housing tract that its small community of residents call "Poverty." Aptly named both for the condition and background of the housing, this name is the first pointer to the type of multifaceted reading that the novel…

Tayo's war experiences have destroyed his reverence for the creatures of nature. His changed attitude of respect for animals, his acceptance of their apparently evil acts, and his imitation of them indicate his healing. By observing animals, Tayo learns what to accept and what to reject for his survival. (CM)

All stories, ceremonies, and rituals are attempts to confer "totality" or structure on experience; ordinarily unrelated objects and events are given definite connection. In "Ceremony," the disjointed parts are refocused through the traditional hoop symbol and converge in a circular pattern of restoration and genuine renewal.…

Outlines the Laguna (Pueblo) symbolic geography or world view as it is woven into Leslie Silko's novel "Ceremony." Explains the protagonist's spiritual journey toward health and harmony in terms of symbols and beliefs in Laguna mythology. Contains 21 references. (SV)

Written for the students at Heart Butte School on the Blackfeet Reservation, the booklet tells a story about Old Sun, a Blackfeet medicine man, and how terribly unkind the country of the far north can be. Old Sun had a dream of a bear with long, soft fur and white as snow. He was advised by his secret helper to get the bear's skin for a sacrifice…

Because of his mixed blood and his war experiences, Tayo feels displaced and estranged. Reoccurring bad memories have impaired his ability to function. He has forgotten the old stories which serve as guides to growth. His eventual recollection of the old stories is instrumental in effecting his healing. (CM)

Mythic (stated in poetic form) and contemporary (stated in prose) narrative shapes the events of "Ceremony." Medicine Man Betonie teaches Tayo to relate cause to effect through story. Tayo must bring the meaning of changed life experiences to the way he feels the story. (CM)

Focuses on the fundamental Native American idea that the land and the people are the same. Tayo's illness, a result of separation of person and land, is healed by their reunification. This is accomplished when Tayo makes ancient and new stories real in his actions (the Ceremony). (CM)

Seminar participants discuss the novel "Ceremony" as a curing ceremony, the function of memory in the novel, and the distinctly American Indian aspects of the novel (role of animals, circular images, ritual, mythology, Laguna cultural traditions, and use of oral tradition). (CM)

Silko demonstrates that writing "American Indian" and being "American Indian" is a matter of process rather than ethnographic and historical fact. Members of American Indian communities are shaped by the telling of stories and shape others by telling stories. To write "American Indian" is to tell stories of belonging.…

Analyzes the use of Laguna symbolic geography and Laguna and Navajo mythology in the ceremonies that heal and revitalize Tayo, the alienated hero of Leslie Silko's novel "Ceremony." Describes the sunwise cycle through the four cardinal directions and the aspects of each direction. Contains 29 references. (SV)

A brief bibliography of books on American Indian life is included. (MM)

The works of four Native American poets, E. Pauline Johnson, Alexander Posey, John Rollin Ridge, and Gertrude Bonnin, are discussed with reference to the late 19th-century federal assimilation policies which were designed to absorb Native Americans into the mainstream of American life. (AN)

Written in English and Upper Kobuk Inupiaq Eskimo, the booklet presents several examples of Eskimo "old beliefs" to be taught to younger people providing them with a greater understanding of the elders and what governs their actions and behavior. Topics of "old beliefs" pertain to babies, women, young girls and boys, bears,…

A discussion of the life and work of Yaqui poet Refugio Savala includes analysis of selected poems, "corridos," and original and traditional tales. The article includes a discussion of the style, content, tone, and background of his English language autobiography and explains the editing which occurred prior to its publication. (SB)