As the Silko Ceremony progresses, the problem of poverty among Native Indians becomes apparent. The whites subjugate the native Indians by stealing their land and livestock. Tayo focuses on economic self-sufficiency as part of his healing as he focuses on finding and returning his family's livestock that the white rancher took from him. He faces many challenges in trying to recover the cattle because he encounters white patrol officers who are only interested in shooting coyotes and catching Mexicans. Tayo faces many problems because he steals white people's land and steals white people's livestock. Native Indians lack economic autonomy due to historical and modern racial prejudices against them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In Ceremony, Tayo, the protagonist, grew up in difficult conditions in Gallup, and the conditions are similar to those of the most destitute areas of real Native American communities. He remembers living in a tin shelter in Gallup and his memories in that shelter are a nightmare. He endured violence, abandonment, promiscuity and alcoholism as a child. His mother dropped him off at bars in Gallup, and Silko writes that “He couldn't remember when he first learned that cigarettes would make him vomit if he ate them. He played for hours under the tables in silence, waiting for someone to drop a bag of chips for a wad of gum” (108). This means that Tayo grew up in poverty and finding a decent meal wasn't easy for them. He was dependent on supporters because his mother did not have the capacity to provide for him. Even though white women had children with white men with the hope that white men could free them from poverty, white men left them and thus struggled with life. Although Indian reservations have seen phenomenal growth in the recent past, discrepancies still exist compared to other areas of America. Discrepancies in economic development explain cycles of poverty in Native Indian counties (Akee, Katherine, and Jonathan 39). Therefore, the standard of living on most Indian reservations is very low. The question of land is repeated throughout the narrative because it shows how the whites pushed the natives into poverty. The whites used all necessary means to oust the natives from their land. Land alienation is the main indicator of racism in the novel and causes poverty. Silko explains that: He [Tayo] rode for miles across dry lake plains and over rocky cerros until he came to a high fence of heavy gauge steel mesh with three strands of barbed wire on top. It was a pen that could contain spotted cattle. The white man, Floyd Lee, called it a wolf-proof fence; but he had poisoned and killed all the wolves in the hills, and the people knew what the fence was for: a thousand dollars a mile to keep out Indians and Mexicans; a thousand dollars a mile to block the mountain with steel wire, to make the land his (187). The fence in this excerpt refers to the obstacles that white people place in the lives of native Indians. Poisoning the fence is inhumane because the land belongs to the indigenous people. The fences symbolize the obstacles that make it difficult for Indians to escape poverty. The whites impose obstacles on the natives because they want to take over all things such as land that belong to the natives. Whites deny Native rights to their land because they think they have more right to own the land than Natives. Furthermore, fencing implies that the natives are criminalswho come to the country with the intention of stealing. Levels of relative and absolute poverty are higher among native-born Indians than among non-Hispanic whites. Huyser, Isao, and Arthur point out that “The problematic character of poverty among American Indian racial groups is underlined by their substantially higher odds of being poor (relative to non-Hispanic whites), even after statistically accounting for age, gender, education, metropolitan status and region of residence” (120 ). The implication of their findings is that Native Indians have the highest levels of poverty in their families regardless of their area of ​​residence, age, gender, metropolitan status, and education among other variables. Therefore, poverty passes from generation to generation because it is deeply rooted in the community. Native people have colonized their minds, so they lack the ability to deal with the repressed experiences of hegemony in their hearts. As a result, they believe that killing in poverty is their destiny and that they cannot change it. The repression of feelings is attributed to racism that makes natives feel inferior and consider whites superior. To demonstrate the extent to which the natives repressed their feelings about the desire to escape poverty, Silko writes that “he knew he had learned the lie from the heart – the lie they had wanted him to lend only to dark-skinned – people they were thieves; white people didn't steal because they always had the money to buy what they wanted” (191). Here, Tayo realizes that the whites have been brainwashing the natives all along, this makes it difficult for a native to believe that the white person could be involved in the theft. He realizes that the whites use lies to treat the natives like thieves while they are the thieves who steal the natives' land and livestock. The whites test the heads of the natives with lies, so it is difficult for them to realize that the whites are stealing their property. The lies encourage discrimination and racial profiling of Native people. Furthermore, they encourage the stereotype of native Indians as thieves. Therefore, cycles of poverty among native Indians are attributed to historical injustices. It is clear that poverty today is concentrated on Indian reservations due to the lack of economic development initiatives; Native Americans, as depicted here, lack the crucial resources to start and operate various business enterprises on Indian reservations. The low volume of businesses on Indian reservations means there are limited job opportunities. Additionally, Indians face a lot of discrimination when trying to find work off reservations. It is very difficult for Indians to access credit and this means that they lack capital that can help them start their business ventures. Community values ​​and tribal institutions on Indian reservations also impede economic development on Indian reservations. Some natives believe that seeking an alternative source of income, such as business, is a violation of the social norms of the community (Mauer 71). Therefore, the weak economy has a detrimental effect on the entire community. Works Cited Akee, Randall KQ, Katherine A. Spilde, and Jonathan B. Taylor. “Social and Economic Change on American Indian Reservations in California: An Examination of Twenty Years of Tribal Government Gambling1.” UNLV Gaming Research and Review Journal, Vol. 18, n.2, 2014, pp. 39.Akee, Randall K.Q., and Jonathan B. Taylor. “Social and Economic Change on American Indian Reservations: A Databook of the U.S. Census and American Community Survey, 1990-2010.” Sarasota, FL: Taylor Policy Group, vol.1, n.3, pp.36.Huyser, Kimberly R., Isao Takei and, 2006.