Three inconclusive paths to wellness

Three inconclusive paths to wellness
Forum assignment: Tayo’s quest for wellness in this first chunk of the novel (to around page 63) includes at least three main elements, or three main paths, but so far all seem flawed. First, his experience at the VA hospital and with modern treatment (“Modern” though in the 1940s is not “modern” today, though I ask you to forget what you know about effective treatments today–stick to the world represented in the novel). Second, his experience with Old Ku’oosh, the traditional medicine man. Third, spending time with his veteran friends. Now, of course, we all know that binge drinking is not a cure for PTSD, not at all. So don’t waste time rehashing that. But the drinking times are often called a “ritual” in the novel, and their drinking involves telling stories—and “narrative” is a major issue in Ceremony: both the way the narrative of the plot unfolds, and how stories (both personal narratives and larger social narratives–see the video lecture) interact with people’s identities and relationships and health. The drinking binges also offer two things Tayo hopes might be therapeutic —forgetting the present pain and retreating into memories, and/or cathartic bouts of anger and violence (which reaches a climax around page 63).

So the novel asks us to think about these three attempted routes to health, but, I again repeat, the novel doesn’t represent any of them as the ultimate cure for Tayo. But the first and second may seem at least a bit helpful? And the third may contain some clues to the overall messages of the novel? In your forum posts, I’d like you to compare, contrast, and analyze these three flawed routes Tayo takes toward mental health.

To some degree, you’ll have to put your own medical knowledge in the background (and I know that can be tough) and instead concentrate on what the novel is saying about them. How are these three “treatments” represented? Why do they fail? What may be their potential strengths? As always, be sure to pay close attention to the language the novel uses about these three elements. Since 500 words is very short, you may wish to comment quickly on all three but concentrate your close-reading analytical skills on one.

Finally, as you think about these three “Treatments” (1=Mid-20th century modern psychotherapy and medical care, 2=Traditional Pueblo Medicine Man ceremonies and cures, and 3=Socialization with his Indian Veteran Buddies, including drinking, talking, storytelling, repressing, yelling, and fighting), try to construct an argument about what his experience with these three “treatments” tell us about what Tayo represents in the novel. That might make a good final thought for this forum post because, for this Unit, I realize that the final part of the ideal forum post, the “Significance” of your ideas, is tough to do because you’ve only read one portion of the novel. So end with a comment about how 1, 2, or all 3, of these attempted routes to health give some symbolic meaning to Tayo’s character.

read the summary and watch the video
Go to unit 4, It has the unit summary and video lecture

Also, please check the link for the summary of the book: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/ceremony/characters.html