An Exploration of Folktales in Silko's Ceremony and Storyteller
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Department of English
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.