process of art. In a world of vision no word exists alone, that is to say, that each word is also just as important as the next; equal. Each word is caught within the fragile web of humanity to meaning, and each serves to reveal that very process of interconnection through it’s expression.Tayo’s quest, though representative of his contemporaries, whether black or Native American, is more than allegorical. His is a journey within the metaphors that extend meaning. As Charles Larson observed, “the conflict is never a simple matter of Indian versus Caucasian, of right against wrong.” (Larson 150) Tayo turns to Betonie, at the advice of Ku’oosh, to understand and participate in a ritual that will restore him. Betonie, though old, has an open eye to the inevitable and natural changes within all men’s experience. He tells Tayo that “the people nowadays have an idea about the ceremonies must be performed exactly as they have always been done.” (Silko 132) Betonie then extends Tayo’s understanding of the white relation to the “people” through images contained in a poem which foretells the white man’s coming to the “people” long before the actual immigration. Only through shifting and growing in response to changes, such as the white movement across the continent, can individuals grow through ceremony and imagination. Betonie reminds Tayo, “otherwise we won’t make it. We won’t survive. That’s what they’re counting on: that we will cling to the ceremonies the way they were, and then their power will triumph.” (Silko 133) Tayo tries to believe Betonie, but his anger over “where the white people and their promises have left the Indians” destroys his ability to perceive the healing power Betonie offers. Slowly, in Silko’s ideal, Tayo must come to understand that merely assigning guilt and respondi...
