Ceremony By Leslie Marmon Silko Essays - Ceremony, Laguna Pueblo

Ceremony By Leslie Marmon Silko Essays - Ceremony, Laguna Pueblo Ceremony By Leslie Marmon Silko Title: Ceremony Author: Leslie Marmon Silko Introduction: Ceremony is a novel written by Leslie Marmon Silko. It deals with the gender roles of three women are significant to the development of a character namedd Tayo who is half-white and half-Indian. These three women are Tayo's birth mother, Auntie, and Old Grandma. His mother left him when he was four years old and that began his sense of emptiness and abandonment. She could not bear to raise a child that brought the reservation shame by her mistake. Summary: Auntie raised Tayo and was the mother figure he lacked. She had no problem accepting to take him, but only to conceal the shame of her younger sister. Auntie was always hesitant toward Tayo as he was not her real son and was also a half-breed. For Tayo, this only added to his feeling of displacement and emptiness. She would give her affection and attention to her real son Rocky, but would let Tayo just sit there alone. After the war Auntie nursed him because he was all she had left after Rocky got killed. He would wake up crying after dreaming about how much Josiah had loved him and always hugged him when he was a littlt child . Now he realized that there was no place left for him and he would never find peace. Auntie may have been a mother figure to him, but to Tayo she was just someone who looked after him. Old Grandma, unlike Auntie, does accept Tayo and wants what is best for him. When Auntie rejected the idea of a medicine doctor because he's not full blood, Old Grandma got angry and said that he was her grandson and why should she care what they say anyway. She has been around for many years and doesn't worry about what other people will say about Tayo or about their family. The significance of Montano to the novel, Ceremony is very powerful and vital to the recovery of Tayo. She lives up in the rim rock and is in touch with the earth and her surroundings in every way. Being torn between the white world and the Indian world is what leaves Tayo feeling invisible and hollow inside. Montano helps him to become more in touch with his Indian side and to feel the strength and power from the earth. She teaches him the importance of certain plants, flowers, and ceremonies and how they are significant to Indian culture and survival. Tayo falls in love with her, and through his love, he begins to feel alive again. He realizes that he does have a place and that he is not invisible to everyone and to his surroundings. When he is not with her, instead of the nightmares, she fills his dreams. He woke up one night and thought about the overpowering love he felt for her. He shed tears filled his eyes and the ache in his throat ran deep into his chest. Tayo no longer feels like a walking shadow, but finally a real person with feelings and emotions. It is through Montano that he discovers himself and ultimately is able to deal with being a half-breed in a changing world. When she finally leaves him, he is able to go on living and remembering all that she taught him. Conclusion: I really enjoyed this story. It was a great portrayal of how family might mistreat you just because you are a little different than them. Sometimes people cant deal with the fact that a family member is only half of the race that they are. I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially to anyone who feels that they are secluded and have no friends just because they are bi-racial.

Winter Skate Characteristics and Information

Winter Skate Characteristics and Information The winter skate (Leucoraja ocellata)  is a fish - a type of  cartilaginous fish that has wing-like pectoral fins  and a flat body. Skates resemble a stingray, but have a thicker tail that doesnt have any stinging barbs. The winter skate is one of dozens of species of skates.  . Description: Skates are a diamond-shaped fish that spend most of their time on the ocean bottom. Their gills are on their ventral side, so they breath through spiracles  on their dorsal side. Through the spiracles, they receive oxygenated water. Winter skates have a rounded appearance, with a blunt snout. They look similar to little skates (Leucoraja erinacea).  Winter skates can grow to about 41 inches in length and up to 15 pounds in weight. On their dorsal side, they are light brown with dark spots, and have a lighter, translucent patch on each side of their snout on front of the eyes.   Their ventral side is light with brown blotches. Winter skates have 72-110 teeth in each jaw. Stingrays can protect themselves with stinging barbs on their tail. Skates do not have tail barbs, but have thorns in various places on their body. On young skates, these thorns are on their shoulders, near their eyes and snout, along the middle of their disc and along their tail. Mature females have large thorns on the posterior edge of their dorsal fins and spines on their tail, along the edges of their disk and near their eyes and snout.   So although skates cannot sting humans, they must be handled with care to prevent being punctured by the thorns. Classification: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Elasmobranchii Order: Rajiformes Family: Rajidae Genus:  Leucoraja Species:  ocellata Feeding: Winter skates are nocturnal, so they are more active at night than during the day.   Preferred prey include polychaetes, amphipods, isopods, bivalves, fish, crustaceans and squid.   Habitat and Distribution: Winter skates are found in the North Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland, Canada to South Carolina, U.S., on sand or gravel bottoms in waters up to 300 feet deep. Reproduction: Winter skates are sexually mature at 11-12 years. Mating occurs with the male embracing the female.It is easy to distinguish male skates from females because of the presence of claspers, which hang down from the males disk on either side of the tail. These are used  to transmit sperm to the female, and eggs are fertilized internally. The eggs develop in a capsule commonly called a mermaids purse - and then are deposited onto the ocean floor.   Once eggs are fertilized, gestation lasts for several months, during which time the young are nourished by the egg yolk.   When the young skate hatch, they are about 4-5 inches long and look like miniature adults.   The lifespan of this species is estimated at about 19 years.   Conservation and Human Uses: Winter skates are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. They take a long time (11-12 years) to become old enough to reproduce and produce few young at a time. Thus their population grows slowly and is vulnerable to exploitation.   Winter skates are harvested for human consumption, but are usually caught when fishermen are targeting other species.   References and Further Information: Bester, C. Winter Skate. Florida Museum of Natural History: Icthyology. Accessed February 27, 2015.Coulombe, Deborah A. 1984. The Seaside Naturalist. Simon Schuster. Kulka, D.W., Sulikowski, J. Gedamke, T. 2009.  Leucoraja ocellata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3.  Accessed February 27, 2015. Packer, D.B., Zetlin, C.A. and J.J. Vitaliano. Winter Skate, Leucoraja ocellata, Life History and Habitat Characteristics.  NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NE-179. Accessed February 28, 2015.NOAA FishWatch. Winter Skate.  Accessed February 27, 2015.