We hate to be a downer, but there's a lot of suffering in this book. For starters, our protagonist Tayo is really stressed out, to the point that it's making him sick. He's suffering from what doctors today would call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), due to the awful experience of fighting in WWII and surviving the Bataan Death March. He's also grieving over the deaths of his two closest family members. And to make matters worse, he's not only worried about his own suffering; he is an extremely empathetic character who is pained by the suffering of others. He is enraged and sickened by the suffering of the Japanese victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the prostitutes and their children living in destitution in Gallup, the physical torture and murder of his friend Harley, and even the suffering of animals hunted for sport.
Questions About Suffering
- What kinds of suffering do we see in Ceremony? Can you list some examples of mental, emotional, and physical suffering? Is one kind of suffering worse than the others, or are they all roughly equivalent?
- Does Tayo's suffering steadily diminish over the course of the novel? Where and when do we see him have setbacks?
- What do you think Ceremony recommends as a course of action for alleviating suffering in the world? What is Tayo's impulse when confronted with the suffering of others?
Chew on This
At the end of the novel, Tayo sees that Harley's physical suffering is related to the suffering caused by war and little children living in poverty. All of this suffering comes from the same source, "the destroyers," and all of it is equally bad.
Tayo's sickness is actually the result of his empathizing with other people's suffering. That's why he feels temporarily better when he is drugged and can't feel anything.