HRS 151
Study Guide for
Ceremony
GENERAL NOTE: the novel is composed not of chapters but of fifty-three long indents at the
beginnings of paragraphs that suggest distinct though unnumbered sections. Interspersed with
these sections at irregular intervals are poem-like stories, marked by lines centered on the page.
Rather than summarizing the plot according to this multitude of sections, this study guide outlines
characters, plot, and the different threads of stories woven throughout the book.
Characters:
Laguna Pueblo Natives
Grandma ==> "Auntie" – Robert ==> Rocky
(the stable part of the family, though Rockie dies during WWII)
==> Laura – [unknown Mexican] ==> Tayo
(the outcaste of the family, regularly away at night sleeping with men)
==> Josiah (dies while Tayo & Rockie are away at war)
(no offspring, though he courts the "Night Swan," a mysterious Mexican)
"Old Ku'oosh:" a traditional Laguna medicine man who sends Tayo to Betonie
Tayo's war buddies: Harley & Leroy (mostly friendly towards Tayo)
Pinkie & Emo (generally hostile toward Tayo)
Natives of Other Tribes
Betonie: the Navajo medicine man who, with his mute assistant Shush, conducts the Ceremony that
is the heart of the novel.
Ts'eh: the mysterious young woman who, along with her brother, a hunter, helps Tayo corral his
uncle's cattle; she appears also later in the novel to help him evade his enemies.
Threads of Stories, Prayers & Plot
Stories & Prayers
(centered on each page)
Prose Sections
(first line indented half way across the page)
Though Woman, the power of stories &
"Sunrise" prayer (p.1-4)
Reed Woman goes "down below" after
Tayo, out on a desert ranch, remembers the death of
his cousin Rocky in the rain-drenched jungles of
Japan during WWII, from which he recently
returned. (p.5-12)
being neglected by Corn Woman (p.13-14)
the Scalp Society (p.37-38)
Tayo cursed the rain in Japan; now there has been a
drought for six years. (p.14)
Harley comes by & they go off to find a bar; Tayo
remembers a mental hospital & meeting Old Ku'oosh
after coming home. (p.14-37)
