Shannon's Blog #1

The story opens with a poem, telling us about three sisters creating the universe and naming things as they created. The next poem shows us how powerful stories are. This takes place after World War II and gives us a background of what happened to our protagonist, Tayo. He was in the Philippines suffering from the malaria, and hallucinating that his uncle Josiah was killed, but it was rather just a Japanese soldier. Tayo was at war for six years, remembering the humidity and drought in the Philippines, he prayed to stop the rain. After war, he stayed at a Veteran’s hospital in Los Angeles where he was at a catatonic state. He leaves to the Los Angeles Train station, collapsing and waking to the sight of a Japanese family, thinking that he was in the Philippines, and he pukes.

When Tayo is back at the reservation he reminisces back to his childhood with Rocky, old Indian stories and about Josiah. Then Tayo’s close friend, Harley who was also a soldier, stops for a visit. Tayo realizes Harley’s changes since the war about how he began to drink a lot of beer. Tayo deals with problems like almost killing Emo in a barfight. Tayo thinks about how even though Rocky died, it’s almost as he’s the one that survived, because Aunty talks about Rocky so much.

This blog is very much overdue, but I’ve gotten less stress and I’ve gotten the time to contribute. I’ve already read most of this book, but I found the beginning very confusing due to the flashbacks and the way a few things aren't explained clearly. Other then that, Leslie Silko did a good job at writing her poetry, and showing the pain that Tayo still felt after World War II. I wasn’t really enjoying this when I began, but it’s gotten more interesting overtime.

pg: 1-29