Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Literacy Event Horizon: Examining Orality And Literacy In Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, AndréA Diane Davis

Theses Digitization Project

Applies James Gee's concept of Discourses to illustrate how literacy and orality thematically constitute hybrid identity in Silko's novel Ceremony. Then, applies Wallace Chafe's linguistic framework of integration and involvement showing that the novel is a linguistic hybrid, not just a text that thematically elevates hybridity. Unlike other Native American authors who create half-breed characters merely as bridges between two cultures, Silko creates her character Tayo as an embodiment of an emergent hybrid culture.