American Indian Culture and Research Journal

In Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony, Rocky appears only in the disjointed memories of the main character Tayo. He first appears as Tayo’s childhood friend and “brother” (actually, they are cousins) and second as a major part of Tayo’s prisoner-of-war experiences in the Pacific during World War II. These experiences result in his psychological and spiritual wounds. Most critics of the novel focus on these latter memories if they discuss Rocky at all. Part of Tayo’s eventual recovery from his war experiences hinges on releasing himself from the guilt he feels over Rocky’s death during the Bataan Death March. Even though no one holds Tayo responsible for Rocky’s wounds and death, Tayo had vowed to Auntie, Rocky’s mother, to “bring him home safe,” and he holds himself responsible when he does not. This interpretation presents both Rocky and Tayo as two men destroyed by the war, the former physically and the latter spiritually. Critic Paula Gunn Allen offers another view when she groups Rocky with other (male) characters such as Emo, Pinkie, and Harley who “are not of the earth but of human mechanism; they live to destroy [the earth] spirit, to enclose and enwrap it in their machinations, condemning all to a living death.” Here, Allen does not present Rocky as an innocent tragically destroyed by the war, but as an active force of destruction. I counter Allen’s assertion by examining the complex articulation of the character of Rocky in Silko’s novel, especially his relationship to Tayo, and I argue that both Rocky and Tayo are recuperated by the healing ceremonies Tayo discovers. In describing the recuperation of Rocky—a character who has died before the novel even begins—I focus on Tayo and the reader’s changing interpretation of Rocky’s life. As I will show, Tayo’s view of Rocky changes subtly over the course of the novel. First presented as a naïve assimilationist, Rocky later becomes the spiritual brother of Tayo. Hence, by the end of the novel, Tayo regains the brother he lost in the war.