How we cite our quotes: (Poem.Paragraph)
Quote #1
If a person wanted to get to the moon, there was a way; it all depended on whether you knew the directions—exactly which way to go and what to do to get there; it depended on whether you knew the story of how others before you had gone. (V.36)
One of the most important Laguna traditions in the novel is the practice of storytelling, which connects people with previous generations.
Quote #2
"I've been thinking . . . all this time, while I was sitting in my chair. Those white doctors haven't helped you at all. Maybe we had better send for someone else." (V.104)
When white medicine fails to heal Tayo, old Grandma turns to a more traditional solution. This is just one example of Tayo's rejection of white culture in favor of traditional Laguna and other Native American ways of doing things.
Quote #3
He spoke softly, using the old dialect full of sentences that were involuted with explanations of their own origins, as if nothing the old man said were his own but all had been said before and he was only there to repeat it. (V.110)
Old Ku'oosh's dialect is different from the one Tayo and his family and friends speak every day. This more traditional way of speaking seems like it's more connected to the history of the Pueblo people.
Quote #4
But he had known the answer all along, even while the white doctors were telling him he could get well and he was trying to believe them: medicine didn't work that way, because the world didn't work that way. His sickness was only part of something larger, and his cure would be found only in something great and inclusive of everything. (XIII.58)
Unlike the treatment the white doctors prescribed for Tayo, the Native American ceremony Betonie proposes is focused on the health of the entire community.
Quote #5
Emo liked to say, "Look what is here for us. Look. Here's the Indians' mother earth! Old dried-up thing!" (V.77)
When Emo insults "mother earth," one of the most revered symbols in Laguna tradition, it's as if he's rejecting Laguna culture. Maybe Emo's words make Tayo so angry because he sees Emo as a traitor to the Laguna community.
Quote #6
"I'm afraid of what will happen to all of us if you and the others don't get well," he said. (VI.3)
Old Ku'oosh is concerned about Tayo's welfare not only for his sake, but because Tayo and the rest of the sick veterans are part of the community. When one person is sick, the whole community is sick.
Quote #7
They repeated the stories about good times in Oakland and San Diego; they repeated them like long medicine chants, the beer bottled pounding on the counter tops like drums. (VI.24)
The young men's drinking binges resemble the traditional medicinal chants of the Laguna Pueblo people. Ironically, though, instead of healing the veterans, the stories only contribute to their alienation and emotional sickness.
Quote #8
[ . . . ] finally, years later, he understood what it was about white men and Indian women: the disgrace of Indian women who went with them. And during the war Tayo learned about white women and Indian men. (VIII.18)
Why is it disgraceful for Native American women to sleep with white men but OK for Native American men to sleep with white women? Tayo doesn't seem too down with these attitudes. Part of his healing involves coming to terms with his own mixed heritage and not feeling ashamed of it.
Quote #9
The ear for the story and the eye for the pattern were theirs; the feeling was theirs: we came out of this land and we are hers. (XXVI.32)
When Tayo completes his ceremony, the text uses words like "theirs" and "we" to show that his victory isn't his alone—it's a victory for all of the people in the community.