Introduction
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (1977) and Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver (1990) both use figurative language as a central method of shaping meaning, particularly through imagery and symbolism associated with land, place and culture. Rather than operating as settings, they use the natural environment as a symbolic medium, emphasised through themes of identity, trauma, and belonging. Ceremony uses themes of landscape imagery to demonstrate the social disruption caused by colonisation. In contrast, Animal Dreams emphasises environmental symbolism, highlighting the protagonist’s dislocation and the ongoing search for community. Ceremony and Animal Dreams use figurative language to construct identity and facilitate the healing of both Tayo and Codi’s trauma. Silko foregrounds collective cultural restoration through Indigenous storytelling and ritual, whereas Kingsolver places greater emphasis on personal development and community through environmental connection. Ultimately, both novels explore identity, arguing that it is not fixed but constructed through ongoing relationships with the environment, place, culture, and community.
Body 1
Ceremony and Animal Dreams use figurative language and rich environmental symbolism to represent trauma and disruption, illustrating how identity is formed through personal experience. In Ceremony, Silko uses the symbolism of “the drought” to reveal the barren landscape and Tayo’s psychological trauma following his military service. The barren landscape further reflects the imbalance he experiences between the “colonised” towns and the reservation. Silko uses warfare to depict the cultural and spiritual disruption of Tayo’s identity. Tayo’s experience across both worlds highlights the fragmentation of identity across cultural boundaries. Michelle Satterlee (2006) argues that traumatic experiences impact an individual’s sense of self; this is evident in Tayo’s fragmented identity as he shifts between the reservation and the colonised Western society. Animal Dreams’ depiction of the “poisoned” river symbolises environmental degradation and its impact on both the community and the individual, reflecting how devastation can cause a collapse of the connection between persons and place. Anja Ganser (2004) suggests a psychological view that trauma, regardless of psychological or physical, deeply impacts and fractures identity. While both novels use the environment to represent trauma, Silko emphasises cultural disruption, whereas Kingsolver highlights environmental and communal instability.
Body 2
Within both texts, figurative language tied to land and place constructs identity through connection and belonging. In Ceremony, Tayo’s identity is fragmented by his military service. He gradually reforms his colonial mindset through reconnection with the natural environment and his cultural traditions. Silko presents Tayo’s healing as torn between Western medicine and Indigenous ceremony, reflecting the idea that he “belonged to the land” and suggesting that identity is rooted in cultural heritage and relationships with the land. Tayo’s shift between the colonised Western world, and the reservation fragments his sense of self, but through involvement with the land and traditional practices, he begins to reconnect with his cultural heritage and sense of belonging. Gloria Bird (1993) claims that disconnection from culture, language, and tradition results in a fragmented identity, as seen in Tayo’s initial alienation from his culture and his subsequent reconnection.
Equally, Animal Dreams portrays identity as constructed through Codi’s developing connection to both place and the community. Her initial sense of dislocation is gradually replaced by a recognition that Grace, Arizona, “felt like home”, demonstrating that belonging emerges through relationships with people and the environment. Grace functions as more than a setting; it becomes a significant symbol of identity formation and emotional regulation. Patti Capel Swartz (1993) argues that identity formation is connected to interconnected relationships with the surrounding environment, community, and social relationships, emphasising a sense of agency within culture. Further, Wichai Paniark (2017) introduces the idea of the “invisible landscape”, suggesting that place maintains cultural, emotional and symbolic meaning beyond its physical form. Throughout the novel, Codi reconnects with the landscape and the community, suggesting that identity is constructed through connections with both land and individuals. Whilst both novels emphasise culture and environment, Silko exhibits this through tradition and ritual (the ceremony), whereas Kingsolver emphasises the personal and communal belonging of Native American individuals through engagement with the environment and interpersonal relationships.
Body 3
Ceremony and Animal Dreams use figurative language associated with the land, and their narratives function as a means of healing. In the ceremony, this is demonstrated by Tayo’s gradual shift back to the reservation to “heal” his psychological trauma caused by World War II. Healing is linked to storytelling and ritual, restoring balance in his psyche by reconnecting him with his cultural heritage and strengthening his identity. The recurring theme of “the ceremony” reflects the importance of Native American systems of knowledge, further suggesting that Tayo’s healing is not purely individual but collective. Through Tayo’s participation in the ritual and the retelling of Indigenous stories, Tayo can reconnect and overcome his fragmented identity via cultural tradition. Anja Ganser (2004) highlights that trauma can be resolved through cultural memory and stories, underscoring the powerful role of storytelling in Tayo’s identity.
Similarly, in Animal Dreams, Codi’s healing is achieved through a reconnection with place and community in Grace, Arizona; the environment symbolises her emotional restoration. Her growing attachment to Grace reflects a shift from the alienation she experienced to a sense of belonging in her town, through reconnection with the landscape and community. Grace becomes more than a physical setting; it represents stability in identity. Wichai Paniark (2017) elaborates on this idea, suggesting that symbolic and cultural aspects contribute to Codi’s recovery through the reunion with her childhood home and a sense of belonging. Whilst both Ceremony and Animal Dreams represent healing through reconnection, Silko emphasises collective culture in contrast to Kingsolver, who displays healing of identity through environmental engagement and interpersonal relationships. Collectively, Ceremony and Animal Dreams represent the importance of collective interpersonal relationships and the symbolic connection with land in facilitating the reconciliation of trauma.
Conclusion
Silko’s Ceremony and Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams use figurative language as a central means of shaping their meaning, demonstrating the resolution of trauma through connection to land, people, and culture. Reconnection with land and community restores identity. The ceremony process is centred on cultural practices and storytelling, using Native American rituals to facilitate healing while reinforcing cultural identity and heritage and distinguishing it from Western practices. In contrast, Animal Dreams emphasises personal and community belonging as the protagonist, Codi, reconnects with her childhood town, showing how relationships with people and place shape identity. Ultimately, both Ceremony and Animal Dreams suggest that identity has agency and isn’t fixed but shaped by interpersonal relationships, landscape, and culture. Figurative language operates as a central mechanism in both novels, transforming land and place into symbolic sites through which identity is constructed, disrupted, and ultimately restored.
References
Bird, G. (1993). Towards a decolonization of the mind and text 1: Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony.” Wicazo Sa Review, 9(2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.2307/1409177
Ganser, A. (2004). Violence, trauma, and cultural memory in Leslie Silko’s Ceremony.
Paniark, W. (2017). Healing place and self: The renewed ecological perception and the invisible landscape in Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams. Manusya: Journal of Humanities, 20(1), 68–92. https://doi.org/10.1163/26659077-02001005
Satterlee, M. (2006). Landscape imagery and memory in the narrative of trauma: A closer look at Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 13(2), 73–92. http://www.jstor.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/stable/44070260
Swartz, P. C. (1993). “Saving Grace”: Political and environmental issues and the role of connections in Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal Dreams.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 1(1), 65–79. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44085344
