Ceremony Versions of Reality Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Poem.Paragraph)

Quote #4

He had believed in the stories for a long time, until the teachers at Indian school taught him not to believe in that kind of "nonsense." But they had been wrong. (V.36)

The white teachers at Indian school try to promote a scientific understanding of the world, but Tayo rejects their world view.

Quote #5

Rocky tried to tell them that keeping the carcass on the floor in a warm room was bad for the meat. He wanted to hang the deer in the woodshed, where the meat would stay cold and cure properly. (VII.10)

Rocky's attitude toward the Ritual of the Deer shows that he has accepted the scientific perspective he's learned at school and rejected the mythological and ritualistic perspective of the Laguna community.

Quote #6

The problem was the books were written by white people who did not think about drought or winter blizzards or dry thistles, which the cattle had to live with. [ . . . ] "I guess we'll have to get along without these books," he said. "We'll have to do things our own way." (X.24-25)

Strike one against science. Josiah notices all sort of problems with the scientific books he reads about cattle-raising. Cattle raised according to their methods would never survive in the New Mexican desert.