Intrinsically linked to Native American culture is the concept of travel. For millennia, indigenous peoples of Americans have taken part in nomadism and often traveled across miles of rugged and challenging terrain to reach their destination. In Ceremony, however, by Leslie Marmon Silko, the protagonist Tayo is forced to travel and chooses to take a journey on his own terms. Furthermore, the effects of these different motivations serve Silko's purpose of embracing and reflecting on Native American culture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay At the beginning of the novel, Silko uses a lucid series of flashbacks involving Tayo and the root of his internal struggle with mental illness to portray the negative effects of his being forced into conflict. As one of Tayo's major internal struggles, the immense weight of guilt he feels is ever-present and extremely debilitating. For example, before leaving for war with Rocky, Tayo promises her aunt to "bring [Rocky] back safely", but states that she "always hoped, always expected this to happen to him [Tayo], not to Rocky." (73). Admitting the failed promise to keep his brother alive and accepting that he should have died, Tayo's character develops as a soul tormented by the consequences of war. Furthermore, as images of death, despair, and hatred flash through his mind and spill into the novel's plot, Silko links Tayo's mental illness to war and explains the enormous burden it creates. Within flashbacks, Tayo describes how "the rain in the jungle had no beginning and no end... hanging in the air, choking their lungs... [and] soaking in their books until the skin... peeled away and the wounds turned green" (11). Such grotesque and hostile diction serves to form the basis of Tayo's PTSD that continues to torture his consciousness as these images constantly flood into his mind, "loose in his head, wandering in his imagination" (44 ). In this way, Silko manages to establish that the war is the main cause of Tayo's torment, but more importantly, Silko develops a tension between the Native American culture and the white man since Tayo was forced to fight to fight a war which wasn't his. . Thus, this forced war journey establishes a stark contrast between the peaceful culture of the Native Americans and the white man's warmongering identity in which “the violence of fighting excites them and killing calms them” (232). With such tension, Silko highlights the terrible consequences of Tayo's forced journey to the other side of the world to fight the white man's war and allows comparisons with the beneficial journeys that result. After returning from war and being abandoned by the corrosive white culture, Tayo begins to experience his native identity once again and attempts to regain normalcy. For example, when Tayo begins to reestablish himself on the reservation, Silko signals such efforts with the frequent addition of native folklore. This is seen no better than in the numerous poetic interjections such as those on pages forty-six, fifty-three, and seventy-one. Within these pages, the traditional stories of Native American culture begin to gain greater importance as their poetic plots begin to mirror Tayo's struggles, including the search for rain. With such a shift in focus toward Native stories, Silko gains recognition and embrace of Native American culture. However, Silko also highlights the great effect of traveling in folklore while Tayo.