EC blog # 9

So the book gets super interesting and I don’t think it really ever ends and I think that’s what Silko wanted. So this is a super long section and I will try to make it short. (not that anyone will read this) Tayo finds the cattle and is able to herd them through the opening he made in the fence. Then he eats it and these two ranchers find him and take him to their truck. Then they notice the mountain lion tracks and leave Tayo to kill the lion. In a way the lion saved Tayo from having to face the ranchers. This shows the connection Tayo has with nature and his roots. Tayo then goes to look for the cattle and he ends up finding this hunter who had killed a deer. The hunter takes Tayo to the Woman Tayo loves, house. There he finds the cattle and his horse. Tayo does not hook up with the woman this time, but it is just a matter of time. Tayo rides back to his house and takes Robert to help him load up the cattle. The cattle have been super well feed and Robert is all happy about that. Tayo takes the cattle and releases them into their grazing grounds where they stay all winter. Tayo has fallen madly in love with this woman and can’t seem to get her off his mind. This is a sign that he is becoming whole because he is able to carry on a relationship on a deeper level. When the weather becomes warmer he goes out to look after the cattle and he just happens to find the woman!!! We learn that her name is Ts’eh and she is a Montano, which apparently this tribe has some kind of history the reader does not learn about. Anyways she collects all these herbs and different kinds of plants and tells Tayo to finish the ceremony and to run away and hide because Emo has told all these lies that Tayo is crazy and that a lot of people will be looking for him. So Tayo runs away and finds Harley and Leroy driving by. They are both drunk and Tayo follows shortly. They take him to meet up with Emo while Tayo is passed out but Tayo runs into the mountains of this old government experiment site where they tested the first nuclear bomb. Tayo hides behind some rocks as Emo and Pinkie kill Harley. The place where Tayo is, is the place Betonie said the final part of the ceremony would take place and Tayo says that Emo and Pinkie are the destroyers and are the reason why the Indians are forgetting that they created the evil in the world. So Tayo runs away and collects the plants Ts’eh asked him to and then goes to see old Ku’oosh where they perform a ceremony on him and tells them all about the ceremony he completed. I think that Ts’eh is a god because she seems mythical and the old men made it seem like she was a higher being. Then Emo kills Pinkie “by accident” and is forced to leave the reservation and the book ends. I guess Emo leaving is a symbol for the evil to have left from the reservation and now the reservation can become more holy again.

Shannon's Blog #4

Harley continues drinking and talks about the Tayo going back to the hospital, he began speaking Laguna. Emo explains how white men got everything, and how the Indians should get with the white woman. Emo teases Tayo, saying that he thinks he’s better then everyone because he’s half- white. Tayo remembers being left out when he was younger around Auntie and Rocky. Emo and his friends talk about the white women he’s slept with when he was in the army and he says Tayo can drink like an Indian, Tayo ignores him. Emo takes out a bag of teeth and war souvenirs, making Tayo realize how much Emo enjoyed killing. Tayo then accuses Emo of being a killer, and Emo says that Tayo loves Japs like his mother loved white men. Tayo remembers when he and Rocky signed up for the army Rocky had called Tayo his brother. As children, Auntie was always careful that no one had mistaken Tayo and Rocky as brothers.

When Tayo was four years old, his mother Laura left him with his uncle Josiah. Auntie always treated Tayo and Rocky equally, only when they were alone, did she show that Rocky was more to her then Tayo. She tried to keep Lura from running away, but she was mixed in white ways and she became ashamed of both cultures. Tayo realizes that he should be the one to stay home and help, when Rocky is to leave but Grandma and Josiah believe that Tayo should go with Rocky. Josiah invested a herd of Mexican cattle from Ulibarri, Night Swan’s cousin. He read agricultural books but he didn’t find them suitable. Auntie mistrusted the connection with Josiah and Night Swan. Josiah decides to brand them when they move closer to Mexico.

Josiah goes to Lalo's store to get bootlegged beer and falls in love with Night Swan. She takes him upstairs and dances for him and tells him about how she only dances for her granddaughter. Auntie finds out about Josiah and Night Swan and she’s angry. Tayo helps Josiah keep the cattle on Laguna in the summer and Rocky relaxes.

There are too many flashbacks in this section! I don’t really know what’s going on, because Silko tells us about all these characters.
Pg 66-87

IT WORKS:)

Okay, well this section reveals Tayo's personal changes and somewhat self-realization. In the beginning of this reading Silko says that, "The Scalp Ceremony lay to rest the Japanese souls in green humid jungles" (page 169). So even though the ceremony wasn't finished, it helped him out some. Then there is a myth about Kaup'a'ta, or the Gambler. He was good-looking and would lure hunters into his cabin and gamble them out of all their things they owned, including their lives. Then he would give them one last chance to save their lives. That was to guess what was in his pouch/bag thing. Usually all the hunters got it wrong, so their hearts were cut out and they were left to die. Then the storm  clouds went missing, which are the Sun Man's "children". He goes to the Spider Woman for help and she teaches him how to get them back. The Sun Man goes to the Gambler and says everything the woman told him to and ends up cutting out the Gambler's eyes and getting his children free. I thought this story was kind of off, but it fits in with the opening of transition. It shows that the Gambler had his scheme that went on for awhile, but once something "big" happened, there had to be some sort of change.

Then the other half of this section, everything that Betonie had mentioned in his vision begin coming true. Betonie speaks of a woman, mountains, the spotted cattle, and stars. Tayo is stopping for his horse to get some water when he sees a woman. She takes him back to her house and he...spends the night. During that time, he sees Betonie's stars and dreams of the spotted cattle. The next morning the woman is painting a picture of mountains. Tayo then sets off on his journey to find Josiah's cattle. They're supposedly in a fence and we aren't sure whether they were stolen or not.

What i found weird about this section was the woman because of the question asked whether she was real or not. To me it's sort of obvious that she IS real, but yet there are other good points.

Devin Blog 8

Hey guys so heres my eighth blog

This section dealt a lot with Betonie’s future predictions coming true, from Tayo sleeping with the girl to the star formation appearing in the sky. Tayo is faced with questions of faith and trying to find his way back to his culture. A be in sync with it once more. To do this Betonie sends him on semi quests, but Tayo’s faith wavers and he questions what he will do or if he is strong enough. I like this section since it’s a real growing fase for Tayo.

“Old Betonie might explain it this way-Tayo didn’t know for sure: there were transitions that had to be made in order to become whole again, in order to be the people our mother would remember; transitions, like the boy walking in the bear country being called back softly.” (pg. 170)

“The sky is clear. You can see the stars tonight… He got up from the table and walked back through the rooms. He pushed the porch screen door wide open and looked up at the sky: Old Betonie’s stars were there.” (pg. 178)

A question i had is pretty random but is it truely necessary to have Tayo dream and think of the cattle nonstop, it seems a bit excessive.
And I'm wondering if Tayo will go back and revisit Betonie once again.

Blog May 19, 2009

Ryder Wakayama

I'm one day late, my internet was acting all strange but here we go

Well now I'm sure where the present is and I'm getting more interested in the book. Tayo is finally over being sad for himself and is going to find Josiah's cattle. He meets a girl and has a random fling with her that part was kind of weird. I like his determination to recover Josiah's cattle and his new outlook that the white people steal as well.

"holding his heaving belly, trying to vomit out everything--all the past, all his life." Pg. 168

This quote is a little experience he had where he kind of had a relapse, after this he seems positive and such. This may have also symbolized his healing and him removing the past from his body.

"The lie. He cut into the wire as if cutting away at the lie inside himself. The liars had fooled everyone, white and Indians alike; as long as people believed the lies they would never be able to see what had been done to them or what they were doing to each other." Pg. 191

This is when Tayo thinks about the white people stealing the cattle that Josiah had lost. He finds a new point of view and sees how the white people had stolen from the Indians, such as their land and even their dignity.

Chancellor Blog post 8

This section to me was actually pretty interesting.  Tayo finishes the ceremony and then leaves Betonie in search of the cattle.  During his journey is where he meets this girl, who we know nothing about, and they have a good time.  After that he leaves and then begins searching for the cattle again.  He ends up doing a ceremony with the yellow pollen in the mountain lions paw, and then out of nowhere the cattle just appear.  I was wondering was Tayo just oblivious to the cattle before he put the pollen down or was there really some magic behind the ceremony.  I think this section is better because it's not as depressing as other sections, and Tayo's mind is also becoming clearer.  

Qoutes:  "He started to answer old Betonie, to tell him he hadn't forgotten.  'Im going,' he said.  'Your damn right you're going!' the white man said.  'Your pal just got the shit kicked out of him, and I don't want no more trouble.'"  I picked this quote because it's a pretty funny quote, but also because it makes me wonder if Tayo's scene with the woman was a dream or not.  He was knocked out and maybe we're just getting something he was dreaming about while being unconscious.

Jordan's blog #8

I think that this section was kind of interesting. There's one part that I would like to talk about and it's the part when Tayo looks for his cattle. It's kind of interesting that Betonie had the vision of Tayo going to get Josiah's cattle. But I guess he must be someone important to recieve visions like that. While lookin for the cattle he finds himself in a white man's coral and he felt that the white man never stole but he lied. But in all actuality when you lie, I believe that your stealing. Your stealing the truth from the people that your lying. But I guess everybody sees everything in different ways. But while in the coral he can't find any of the cattle. He searches hard but still can't find them. As dawn draws near he notices a mountain lion. He pretty much asks the mountain lion for help in finding the cattle. The mountain lion guides him to them in his own special way. This has a relation to hawaiian people because we have different gods for guidance through different things. This also shows how Tayo's respect and understanding for the Indian culture is increasing. I guess now since he is doing these things he is being healed from the spirits of his ancestors.