I think the book is getting more interesting. It helps that Tayo is getting better, healthier and less depressed. I may be reading too much into this, but I think that when Tayo leaves Harley and the boy rampaging bars, it symbolizes Tayo starting to improve his life. He's starting to get passed things and realize that his life can never be good again if he's stuck in the same routine with Harley and Leroy and the others.
I also think that Tayo's search for the cattle, how they are all scattered in his dream at the woman's house, symbolizes how his life got temporarily messed up and he's trying to find his scattered pieces again, to make it better.
I have a question, was Tayo actually asleep while having sex? Or was he just thinking/daydreaming? Either way it's weird. I agree with Erica, I don't believe stuff like that happens often, if at all. Unless of course that "she" was a prostitute, in which case she must be pissed that Tayo didn't pay up.
Well, one of my favorite passages is "Sunrise! We come at sunrise to greet you. We call you at sunrise. Father of the clouds you are beautiful at sunrise. Sunrise!" (Page 182)
I really liked this passage because it seemed positive to me. The morning presents so many new possibilities. It's beautiful and takes a more positive outlook on life. I think it represents Tayo's struggle for more possibilities and more positive days.
I've mentioned before how much I love Silko's use of language, but I thought I'd mention it again. God! I wish I could write like that, but less confusing of course! Her language is just amazing...
One more note, I loved the story about the Gambler trying to get back the storm clouds.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Chesna's Blog #8
So this section wasn't that interesting. Like the only interesting part was the ceremony and how this one actually worked. And so after the ceremony Tayo is off to find Josiah's cattle. Tayo goes through an adventure and a half traveling. After the adventure he meet some random woman. I think it's weird how she just came out of nowhere and she's like GET IN MY PANTS! BUt besides that I enjoy how Tayo is recovering and becoming his oldself.
Quote:
"He knew that he had learned the lie by heart – the lie which they had wanted him to learn: only brown-skinned people were thieves; white people didn’t steal, because they always had the money to buy whatever they wanted."
I think this quote is whack but true because white people normally have money and other people suffered. Like in real life today people in Africa, even though they're a little more darker than brown skin, suffer from poverty and disease. They don't have money for help or vaccinations. And white people are serious rich and spend money on stupid stuff. So of course white people won't steal anything because they probably already have that certain item.
Quote:
"He knew that he had learned the lie by heart – the lie which they had wanted him to learn: only brown-skinned people were thieves; white people didn’t steal, because they always had the money to buy whatever they wanted."
I think this quote is whack but true because white people normally have money and other people suffered. Like in real life today people in Africa, even though they're a little more darker than brown skin, suffer from poverty and disease. They don't have money for help or vaccinations. And white people are serious rich and spend money on stupid stuff. So of course white people won't steal anything because they probably already have that certain item.
Andrea's Post #6
Let me just say I'm pretty stoked that the flashbacks aren't as frequent. Those really confused me. Something I don't really like is how much Silko presents the stereo type of Native Americans drinking problems. I suppose it's realistic, because it helps them "drown their sorrows" but I think it'd be refreshing to have a happier story, something that breaks the stereotypes. I think that Tayo and his friends seem to be stuck in the rut of blaming whites for their problems. There is TONS of history there, but maybe the fact they can't can't get over it, is what's holding them back. I think maybe Tayo starts to believe he is worthless and that makes him such. If he broke his own stereotype and thought of himself as equal, I think he could improve his life. The living conditions in Gallup are worth mentioning. I think they fit into the stereotype. All the prostitutes that Silko describes are in the same routine as Tayo I think. They don't know that they can amount to so much MORE.
I just want to double check, Gallup New Mexico right? Just thought I'd say, my grandparents used to live there. All I really remember is the folding chair in their house, my grandma's pistachio pudding, and the library. I love that it takes place in New Mexico.
My favorite quote was this: "It is very peaceful with the bears; the people say that's the reason human beings seldom return." (Page 130)
It was my favorite because I think that (so far as I can tell) Tayo is ultimately searching for peace. (Aren't we all?) I find it interesting that Silko relates finding peace to nature. It's been seen everywhere, when people want peace, they seek it in nature. I find it rather ironic then, how we keep destroying what is basically our only solace.
Sorry it's like...super late guys ]:
I just want to double check, Gallup New Mexico right? Just thought I'd say, my grandparents used to live there. All I really remember is the folding chair in their house, my grandma's pistachio pudding, and the library. I love that it takes place in New Mexico.
My favorite quote was this: "It is very peaceful with the bears; the people say that's the reason human beings seldom return." (Page 130)
It was my favorite because I think that (so far as I can tell) Tayo is ultimately searching for peace. (Aren't we all?) I find it interesting that Silko relates finding peace to nature. It's been seen everywhere, when people want peace, they seek it in nature. I find it rather ironic then, how we keep destroying what is basically our only solace.
Sorry it's like...super late guys ]:
Erica's Eighth Post.
So, this part of the book was quite interesting…
Tayo completes the ceremony and leaves Betonie to find Josiah’s cattle. He hitches a ride with truck drivers but at some point he decided to walk so that he could recognize himself again. While he was walking Leroy, Harley and Helen Jean picked up Tayo in a old and dirty truck. They drive through towns causing trouble in the bars. Tayo leaves them and gets a horse to ride north to find the cattle. When Tayo stops to give his horse some water, Tayo meets a woman and she welcomes him to her home. They had a lot of sex and while they were doing that, Tayo was dreaming of his cattle which is weird. Tayo leaves the woman and he keeps going up north. At first Tayo sees the cattle but then they disappeared again. Tayo cut a hole in a white man’s fence to help the cattle escape.
I like how Tayo is now because he stopped being depressed and throwing up all the time. What I thought was weird was that Tayo was sleeping around. I don’t think things just happen like that within 5 minutes of seeing each other for the first time.
The quote that caught my attention was: “He knew that he had learned the lie by heart – the lie which they had wanted him to learn: only brown-skinned people were thieves; white people didn’t steal, because they always had the money to buy whatever they wanted.” (Silko 191) I think that the “lie” is really dumb because anyone can steal even if they do have money. Yes, the white people in the book are which but it doesn’t mean they don’t do bad things. The white people stole the Indian’s land, doesn’t that count for something?
Tayo completes the ceremony and leaves Betonie to find Josiah’s cattle. He hitches a ride with truck drivers but at some point he decided to walk so that he could recognize himself again. While he was walking Leroy, Harley and Helen Jean picked up Tayo in a old and dirty truck. They drive through towns causing trouble in the bars. Tayo leaves them and gets a horse to ride north to find the cattle. When Tayo stops to give his horse some water, Tayo meets a woman and she welcomes him to her home. They had a lot of sex and while they were doing that, Tayo was dreaming of his cattle which is weird. Tayo leaves the woman and he keeps going up north. At first Tayo sees the cattle but then they disappeared again. Tayo cut a hole in a white man’s fence to help the cattle escape.
I like how Tayo is now because he stopped being depressed and throwing up all the time. What I thought was weird was that Tayo was sleeping around. I don’t think things just happen like that within 5 minutes of seeing each other for the first time.
The quote that caught my attention was: “He knew that he had learned the lie by heart – the lie which they had wanted him to learn: only brown-skinned people were thieves; white people didn’t steal, because they always had the money to buy whatever they wanted.” (Silko 191) I think that the “lie” is really dumb because anyone can steal even if they do have money. Yes, the white people in the book are which but it doesn’t mean they don’t do bad things. The white people stole the Indian’s land, doesn’t that count for something?
Blog 8-Natalie
In my opinion nothing really exiting happened in the story that really jumped out. The passage began with Harley unconscious in a bar and then Helen Jean runs off with some Mexicans in the bar. After the ceremony Tayo really starts to change and get better he thinks about the changes in his life he must make in his life. I can tell Tayo is getting well because it seems like his mind is clearer since the ceremony. His flashbacks and his thoughts are way less confusing and he is starting to make more sense. Throughout the book I am noticing how much Tayo is changing more and more as the story goes on.
Betonie still has an active part in the story and has not disappeared yet like night swan or Helen Jean. Betonie has a positive influence on Tayo and I think that is part of the reason Tayo is growing as a person recently. Betonie has a vision about a girl that Tayo is going to make love to. Personally I think it is a bit odd that Betonie has visions (Cough Fantasy’s Cough) about Tayo making love to a woman. It is almost like Betonie is a fortune teller because Tayo finds the woman Betonie envisioned and ends up making love to her. As the passage goes on Tayo is still looking for his uncles Mexican cattle because he feels like he has to find them. After the cougar ceremony is performed Tayo finds his uncles Mexican cattle.
“Why did he hesitate to accuse a white man of stealing but not a Mexican or an Indian?...He knew then he had leaned the lie by heart- the lie which they had wanted him to learn: only brown- skinned people were thieves; white people didn’t steal, because they always had the money to buy whatever they wanted” (pg. 191)
I kind of think in the book Tayo and his people have a right to be super mad at the whites because they seems to get everything easy is life while Tayo and the rest of the Indians work very hard. The whites have a good because they have money so they don’t need to steal or anything like that. But in real life I don’t think the Native Americans should be mad at the white :D.
"So they tried to sink the in booze, and silence their grief with war stories about their courage, defending the land they had already lost." (169).
What dose Silko mean when the book say “defending the land they had already lost” it sounds really deep but I am not quite sure what it truly means anyone know? It seems like the only thing Native Americans do in this story is get drunk and drown there sorrows.
"Until the previous night, old Betonie's vision of stars, cattle, a woman, and a mountain had seemed remote; he had been wary, especially after he found the stars, and they were in the north." (page 186). Betonies character foreshadows a lot of things in the story. This quote foreshadows Tayo finding the Cattle and a woman, I think Betonie is a useful character in the story because it kind of gives you a sneak peak of what is going to happen next in the story.
Betonie still has an active part in the story and has not disappeared yet like night swan or Helen Jean. Betonie has a positive influence on Tayo and I think that is part of the reason Tayo is growing as a person recently. Betonie has a vision about a girl that Tayo is going to make love to. Personally I think it is a bit odd that Betonie has visions (Cough Fantasy’s Cough) about Tayo making love to a woman. It is almost like Betonie is a fortune teller because Tayo finds the woman Betonie envisioned and ends up making love to her. As the passage goes on Tayo is still looking for his uncles Mexican cattle because he feels like he has to find them. After the cougar ceremony is performed Tayo finds his uncles Mexican cattle.
“Why did he hesitate to accuse a white man of stealing but not a Mexican or an Indian?...He knew then he had leaned the lie by heart- the lie which they had wanted him to learn: only brown- skinned people were thieves; white people didn’t steal, because they always had the money to buy whatever they wanted” (pg. 191)
I kind of think in the book Tayo and his people have a right to be super mad at the whites because they seems to get everything easy is life while Tayo and the rest of the Indians work very hard. The whites have a good because they have money so they don’t need to steal or anything like that. But in real life I don’t think the Native Americans should be mad at the white :D.
"So they tried to sink the in booze, and silence their grief with war stories about their courage, defending the land they had already lost." (169).
What dose Silko mean when the book say “defending the land they had already lost” it sounds really deep but I am not quite sure what it truly means anyone know? It seems like the only thing Native Americans do in this story is get drunk and drown there sorrows.
"Until the previous night, old Betonie's vision of stars, cattle, a woman, and a mountain had seemed remote; he had been wary, especially after he found the stars, and they were in the north." (page 186). Betonies character foreshadows a lot of things in the story. This quote foreshadows Tayo finding the Cattle and a woman, I think Betonie is a useful character in the story because it kind of gives you a sneak peak of what is going to happen next in the story.
Jessica # 8
So in this reading Tayo wakes up at the bar he Harley and Leroy went to. He drives them to a ridge or something and lets them sit in their pee. That was really weird and in this reading their was a lot of talk about pee which kind of grossed me out. So anyone all this stuff starts coming true. Like Tayo sees the rights formation of stars in the sky and he has this one night stand with this random woman he meets at this hill, so everything Betonie said was going to happen happened and I think Silko had that happen to show truth in the Indian’s beliefs. So since Betonie was right about all this Tayo goes to find the cattle and he spots them!!!!! So I think this is the point of the story where he truly starts to heal and recover and see life in a new light!
“Why did he hesitate to accuse a white man of stealing but not a Mexican or an Indian?...He knew then he had leaned the lie by heart- the lie which they had wanted him to learn: only brown- skinned people were thieves; white people didn’t steal, because they always had the money to buy whatever they wanted” (pg. 191)
“Like the fist time in science class, when the teacher brought in a tubful of dead frogs, bloated with formaldehyde, and the Navajos all lef the room; the teacher said those old beliefs were stupid. The Jemez girl raised her hand and said the people always told the kids not to kill frogs, because the frogs would get anrgy and send so much rain there would be floods. The science teacher laughed loudly, for a long time.” (pg. 195)
Through these two quotes I think that Tayo is getting angrier at the white people. I think his eyes are opening to the social injustices that he and his people face. I think that it is really sad that he is becoming so angry but at the same time I don’t blame him because the white people have done so much to the Indians.
“Why did he hesitate to accuse a white man of stealing but not a Mexican or an Indian?...He knew then he had leaned the lie by heart- the lie which they had wanted him to learn: only brown- skinned people were thieves; white people didn’t steal, because they always had the money to buy whatever they wanted” (pg. 191)
“Like the fist time in science class, when the teacher brought in a tubful of dead frogs, bloated with formaldehyde, and the Navajos all lef the room; the teacher said those old beliefs were stupid. The Jemez girl raised her hand and said the people always told the kids not to kill frogs, because the frogs would get anrgy and send so much rain there would be floods. The science teacher laughed loudly, for a long time.” (pg. 195)
Through these two quotes I think that Tayo is getting angrier at the white people. I think his eyes are opening to the social injustices that he and his people face. I think that it is really sad that he is becoming so angry but at the same time I don’t blame him because the white people have done so much to the Indians.
Shaun Blog 8!
Ok so up to page 196 thebook is alright it has some good parts and some confusing parts. Ok one part that was cool was Betonie's vision about the girl is that Tayo finds the woman and makes love to her like he was suppose to I guess. At first when they meet she is kinda a stranger but what stood out to me was like it was as if she knew that someone had sent him for the cattle. I don't know maybe she is in on it with Betonie. After when Tayo gets water for his horse and stuff he is about to go to sleep outside but this woman tells him to come inside and join her and they get straight to it doing the grown up."The sky is clear. You caqn see the stars tonight." She spoke without turning around. (178) This shows evidence of Betonies vision coming true he meet the girl and is seeing the stars. Tayo then goes on the look out again for his uncle's cattle feeling that this is something he has to do. Tayo sings a happy song about sunrise and this shows how much Tayo has improved from the ceremony. He is now happy and is singing good happy songs. Not like before cursing the rain and such. Tayo finds this mountain that has been taken over pretty much by the white people just searching for his cattle. Tayo later finds his cattle riding north however they are on a white man's land Floyd Lee's land. If he had seen the cattle on land-grant land or in some Acoma's corral, he wouldn't oh hesitated to say "stolen."(190) This quote shows the inner conflict Tayo is going through he just can't blame the white guy for stealing it just didn't work for him. Tayo has always been taught that white people never stole because they had money to buy anything they wanted. This is a really good conflict in the book Tayo just can't believe that a white person can do anything bad like steal. Thats what happens when you are raised around all their lies. You just can't see the truth. However Tayo starts cutting the fence anyway just hoping not to get caught I want to read on to see what will happen to Tayo. Will he get caught or come away clean keep reading to find out.
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