Natives’ Naivety vis-à-vis Settler’s Skepticism and Bible’s Belief: Restoring, ‘re-storying’ the Native Ceremony in Silko’s Ceremony

Babita Devi¹, Divyajyoti Singh² & Satinder Kumar Verma³

¹Research Scholar, J C Bose University of Science & Technology, Faridabad. Orcid Id: 0000-0002-9699-864X. Email: babitakpunia@gmail.com

²Assistant Professor, J C Bose University of Science & Technology, Faridabad.  

³Assistant Professor, S D College Amabala Cantt.

Volume 11, Number 2, July-September, 2019 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n2.06

First published July 19, 2019

Abstract

Missionaries were an important part of the colonizing mission. While the colonial armies committed massacres and subdued the militarily inferior Natives, the missionaries did a long lasting damage to the Native societies by obliterating their cultures. They not only converted the people, but also changed their worldview that was so important to them and the lands they lived in.  The de-culturation of Natives is not only responsible for environmental problems, but also social problems like domestic violence and drinking. Recent studies have indicated that de-culturation of Natives is also responsible for endemic psycho-somatic problems of the Natives. The Native writers have understood that improvement in mental health of the Natives is directly associated with the resuscitation and restoration of Native culture. The literature written by the Natives works like an antidote against the atrocities committed by the whites. Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony is an important work of literature that tries to resuscitate the native culture. The current paper is a study of Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony.

Keywords: Ceremony, Native, culture, Christianity.