Summary

Part 1- Severin

The book begins with 3 poems to start it off, the first one speaks of women who created the world with her sisters by thinking and naming of things, the second poem was called ceremony, and the third poem was a shorter poem called “what she said”. Throughout the book there are frequent poems, the poems sort of describe the scene in a different sense. The book starts off kind of jumping around; it talks of Tayo and his time in the war in thePhilippines. He fought along side his “brother” Rocky and in the beginning he is in the war as a prisoner and he see’s Japanese soldiers shoot his uncle Josiah in the head to kill him. This is one memory that really sticks in Tayo’s head, he goes to a hospital and frequently gets sick and vomits thinking about Josiah being killed and thinking about other things from the war. Eventually he is well enough to be sent home.

When Tayo gets home he meets up with his friend Harley. He noticed that Harley is a heavy drinker and this makes Harley feel nothing. Harley then told Tayo how one day he just left his ranch and his animals died and he ended up in jail. Tayo also knows that Harley often times just goes out to look for bars to drink.

Then the book shifts to Tayo being back at his Auntie’s house. It is there that Tayo tries to rest in the same bed in which him and Rocky grew up together in and he then gets sick and starts vomiting and complains that the lights are to bright and he just keeps himself in the dark room by himself, in the meanwhile he is still sick It is then that his grandmother suggests he sees a medicine man. The man’s name is Ku’oosh. Ku’oosh explains to Tayo that they can do a ritual to cleanse him for killing people; he also explains that without doing the ritual your dreams will be haunted.

All throughout these times there was a conflict between races. The conflict was between Indian’s and Whites. Tayo recalls being in the army, when you had your uniform on it didn’t matter what race you were but when they came off then the race issues started back up again right where they left off. However one thing is for certain and that is that all the men hated the Japanese. This is not true for Tayo though he doesn’t really hate the Japanese. They reminded him of family and a sense of belonging. At the bar the men all talk about the Japanese and all their memories form the war. They get drunk to numb the pain and just recall their memories. Tayo begins to cry, and his friends pat him on the back thinking he is crying for Rocky.

Tayo then goes back in time to a memory of him and Rocky when they killed a deer. Rocky skinned it and gut it and Tayo covered its eyes as a sign of respect. Memories like this made Tayo sad that he lost a “brother”.

Harley and Tayo then again began to drink at the bar with some of the other guys. The talk of race got brought back up and Emo accused Tayo of thinking he’s better then the rest of them because he is half white half Indian. Then Emo went on to pull out a bag of teeth and other souvenirs and starts talking about them all when Tayo accuses him of being a killer. They exchanged words back and fourth and eventually Tayo lunges at Emo.

The book then jumps around too when Tayo’s mother left him at his Auntie’s house to live with Rocky. He grew up with Rocky but he could tell that Rocky was always treated better by his Auntie but he never said anything of it. Tayo was dropped off there because his mother was ashamed of being caught up between the white men and Indian’s.

The book then jumps forward in time to when Rocky and Tayo b both signed up for the war. They agreed to do it as long as they stayed together claiming that they were “brothers” when in reality they weren’t. Tayo then remembers his promise to stay around the house and help out.

Part 2- Kyler After being at the bar with Harley for a good amount of time, Tayo decides to leave. He visits a small shop and reminisces on flies with an old man. After that, Tayo returns to the bar but finds that Harley had left. After finding out that Harley was missing, he went to an old bar and then to a barn, where he slept. The next morning, he awakes and eats at his mother's house. Later, he goes to the important town of Gallup. In Gallup, there was much chaos and many people were taken or injured. All except for a young boy. He was left alone. Also, in Gallup, an annual ceremony is taking place. There are dancers and performers, Tayo is forced to participate in the activities.

Tayo begins talking to Betonie about the whites and Indians. After talking, they go to a place of great importance, there he has another dream. Betonie then tells a story of a girl who was cared for and taken in by Mexicans. Finally, Fly and Hummingbird arrive at the town in search of tobacco, there is none.

Tayo is beginning to feel the healing affects of the ceremony. Tayo tries to pay for the treatment but is denied. The next morning, he leaves ceremony and goes to a gas station where he sees white people for the first time. Tayo heads home and on his way, he sees his drunk friends. he ends up asleep at a bar and only awakes when a fight breaks out. Finally, he takes Betinie's advice and searches for information about his past. The section ends with him seeing the stars.

Tayo leaves the woman after spending the night with her and he travels through a large amount of ranches and pastures. Tayo reaches where he was headed and cuts through a huge fence. He then however, gets caught by two men who threaten to take him to their boss. Tayo got hurt so he returned to the woman's house where he finds his cattle. There he reveales much of his history.

The story ends with Tayo running from place to place from the police. Leroy and Harley capture Tayo for Emo. Tayo gets free and reminisices on the whole thing. His ceremony is performed and all bad things in Tayo are destroyed.