Ceremony is about the power of timeless, primal forms of seeing and knowing and relating to all of life. The concept of an on-going communal participation in stories that shapes individual freedom according as the individual chooses to participate in the stories' development serves as the novel's theme and structuring force. Readers must join the novel's characters in a search for the meaning of the story that is revealed bit by bit throughout the book as Tayo, the protagonist, gradually comes to realize that he is not alone in his effort to recover from the effects of active duty in World War II…. In learning to understand his conflicts, Tayo also perceives something of his responsibilities in shaping the story of what human beings mean to each other.

The theme of Ceremony is basic to much American Indian art and literature. Silko's realization of it in novel form...