The Ceremony discussion point

What does the spring symbolized in Ceremony?

The spring is a source of the water that is so essential to the drought-wracked Laguna land. In the novel the author referred to Josiah first shows Tayo the spring which even during the most severe of droughts continues to produce water. In this way, the spring symbolizes that nature always provides the means to survive through a drought. The author describes in the novel that Tayo as a teenager remembers the stories Josiah has told him about rain ceremonies, and he goes to the spring to create his own. It works. In this instance, the spring represents the ancient sacred places of the Laguna, and Tayo's ability to use them. Tayo returns to the spring as he and Harley ride through the desert. At the spring, he recovers from heatstroke and, remembering his earlier visits, regains hope for the future. The continued existence of the spring over the years Tayo was away at war, symbolizes the ways in which nature ignores the individual traumas of any one person's life. The spring's ability to give Tayo hope for the future also symbolizes nature's resiliency and the cycles in which the rain comes and goes and comes again. The question here is, is spring the only source to survive or is there more other sources to survive? Let me know what is your answer.

How does alcoholism affect the people in the novel?

Although parts of the novel are set during Prohibition, alcohol is always readily available in bars along the reservation line. The fact that none of the bars are situated inside the reservation marks alcohol and alcoholism as problems imported by whites. The men who are most affected by alcoholism are those who have returned from fighting in World War II, which reaffirms the idea that it is not a problem indigenous to the Native Americans.

Without any effective cure, either from the white doctors or from the old ceremonies, for the anguish created by the meeting of white and Native American cultures, especially in warfare, many of the Native American men self-medicate with alcohol. As Tayo explains, alcohol dulls some of the pain and anger the veterans feel. However, alcohol is not a viable solution to the problem. For women, it is part of the slippery path into prostitution and destitution, as in the cases of Tayo's mother and of Helen Jean. For men, it is an agent of internalized racism and of deadly apathy, and it is an enabler of violence that inevitably turns on themselves. Alcohol repeatedly is presented to Tayo as a distraction from his ceremony. While he is eventually able to leave the bars, his buddies are not. The result is deadly for each man involved. I personally think that it is the government mistake to let alcohol play a role in those military camps. Without alcohol there will be no violence and other problems occurring. So I should say give the government the blame. What is your opinion about alcohol for soldiers during war time?