Ceremony

by Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony: Imagery 1 key example

Definition of Imagery

Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Section 1
Explanation and Analysis—Sound and Language:

At the beginning of Section 1, Tayo wakes up in Josiah's old house on the Laguna Pueblo reservation. As he wakes, his thoughts emerge jumbled and disconnected from reality—a reflection of his trauma-induced mental disarray. Silko uses auditory imagery in this passage to illustrate this mental chaos:

[Tayo] thought the Laguna words were his mother’s, but when he was about to make out the meaning of the words, the voice suddenly broke into a language he could not understand; and it was then that all the voices were drowned by the music—loud, loud music from a big juke box, its flashing red and blue lights pulling the darkness closer.