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Dialect
Section 1
Explanation and Analysis—Trauma:
Silko utilizes flashbacks throughout Ceremony's narrative as a device for characterizing Tayo's trauma. On account of his trauma, Tayo finds himself perpetually stuck in the past, forced to recall Rocky's death or other violent scenes from the war at the drop of a hat. Each of these moments of recall is triggered by something.
Explanation and Analysis—Death in Wartime:
In Section 1, Silko includes several flashbacks to Tayo's time serving in the US military during WWII. The following excerpt includes an example of situational irony from one such flashback:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Rocky] rolled the body over with his boot and said, “Look, Tayo, look at the face,” and that was when Tayo started screaming because it wasn’t a Jap, it was Josiah, eyes shrinking back into the skull and all their shining black light glazed over by death. The sergeant had called for a medic and somebody rolled up Tayo’s sleeve; they told him to sleep, and the next day they all acted as though nothing had happened. They called it battle fatigue, and they said hallucinations were common with malarial fever.
Related Themes:
