An Exploration of Folktales in Silko's Ceremony and Storyteller

Abstract

Silko’s fictional characters-Tayo in Ceremony and the narrator in Storyteller have their own individual experiences similar to the experiences of the archetypal characters of Pueblo folktales. Both Tayo and narrator realize that whites are Pueblo’s 'other' trying to destroy them using various means of trickery as described in Pueblo folktales. Their life story corresponds to the development of the characters in folktales in which the hero leaves home, combats with others and returns to reconcile with his family. They go far away from Laguna, react against the Whites and Navajo, and return to their home, realizing the Pueblo culture and oral tradition of storytelling as a source of their identity.