Getting Ideas for the "Poem in the Middle" paper for Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

1. They destroy what they fear.
They fear themselves.
The wind will blow them across the ocean
thousands of them in giant boats
swarming like larva
out of a crushed ant hill.
AmyCadenas
TuNguyen
ArjunSharma
NuriFatema
AnhHuynh

2. Tayo
Tayo is sick and has to see a doctor/medicine man. Tayo came back from the war with
trauma of the events that were occurring. He wanted to travel and enjoy the different
places. Tayo was a curious person who wanted to see new things. The new explorers, the
“white people” created by the witches, ended up killing his kind. This is opposite to Tayo
who actually did not like killing people. This connects with the poem, because the
people who came to the Native American land wanted to do the same thing. They came
to Native American land to explore and ended up discovering new resources and people,
as well as new land. They also brought diseases and destruction to the land and the
Native people. They had the same curiosity as Tayo did, when he decided to travel.
“He remembers the clash of his path between what the white man wanted and his
path”.

3. The Native Americans of the east coast met the new 16th and 17th century visitors from Europe with enthusiasm. They
regarded these bearded white men as strange but were delighted with the steel knives, mirrors, copper kettles, and
other intriguing novelties. The indigenous tribes were more than accommodating and hospitable. Without their aid, the
first waves of settlers would not have survived in the land they knew little about.
But in time the Europeans disregarded all respect for the valued land and resources and instead displayed insatiable
greed and arrogance. The Europeans soon pursued their intent to conquer this new continent with brutal attacks and
invasion. The Native Americans soon realized that the invaders would arrive in overwhelming numbers, as many “as the
stars in heaven.” Initially, the people of this land tried to co-exist with the Europeans. But many more problems arose.
With all their intriguing gadgets, the white men brought deadly diseases to the Native Americans.
The colonists and explorers brought measles, smallpox, cholera, yellow fever, and many more devastating diseases. This
drastically diminished the Native American population and annihilated entire villages. In addition to this, the arrogant
attitude of the ever-growing whites led to the Indian Wars, the Indian Removal Act (1830), and in 1890 one of the worst
massacres ever -- Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Here warriors, women, and children alike were ferociously slaughtered
by the U.S. Cavalry. The U.S, government began Relocation Programs and the now famous Trail of Tears march where
hundreds of Cherokee died from starvation, exposure, and illnesses. The Native American peoples were not only
reduced in number but taken from their homes, stripped of their customs, and even forbidden to speak their native
languages. Their children were taken from them and sent to schools to “civilize” them, forced to abandon every aspect
of their heritage. In January 1876, the U.S. government forced them to live on ‘reservations’ where the majority of
Native Americans still reside today.
Resource
http://www.allabouthistory.org/native-american-history.htm