Ceremony Theme of Warfare

The difference between traditional Laguna warfare and white warfare is a great illustration of why Tayo is so critical of white culture. Traditionally, Laguna warriors would know when they'd killed an enemy because they could see the blood they had shed. With this new nuclear warfare invented by white people, it's now possible to kill millions of people from thousands of miles away. No wonder the old ceremonies aren't working anymore. Even though Tayo doesn't kill a single enemy with his own hands, he still feels guilty of killing thousands of people that he never even saw—which is quite the load to bear.

1. What are the two different kinds of warfare described in this novel? How are they different? What do these different methods say about the people or groups who practice them?
2. Both Native American and white doctors have an understanding that fighting in a war might make you sick. What do white doctors call this sickness, and how do they treat it? What about the Native American medicine men?
3. How do the Laguna veterans regard the Japanese during and after the war? What name do they use to describe the Japanese soldiers, and why do you think they do this? What's the difference between the way Emo feels about the Japanese and the way Tayo feels about them? Do the other guys agree more with Emo or with Tayo?
4. How does Tayo understand warfare, according to the mystical interpretation of the world that he learns from Betonie and Ts'eh? In other words, how has "the witchery" that brought white people to America changed warfare?

The empathy Tayo feels for the Japanese soldiers who capture him during the war and his tendency to mix up the faces of the Japanese with the faces of his loved ones shows that he feels the Japanese and Native Americans are on the same side. Both groups are victims of white racism, oppression, and warfare.

The traditional Laguna Scalp Ceremony stops working on the men who return from WWII because, while it's designed to heal warriors who have touched or killed an enemy, the new style of nuclear warfare means all of these veterans have killed enemies without ever touching or even seeing them.