English 391

“For a long time he had been white smoke.  He did not realize that until he left the hospital, because white smoke had no consciousness of itself.  It faded into the white world of their bed sheets and walls; it was sucked away by the words of doctors who tried to talk to the invisible scattered smoke.”  (Ceremony 13) 

In this passage, Tayo is being described as being “White smoke”. When Tayo suffers after the war, the doctors believe that it is due to the war.  In actuality, Tayo’s white smoke has followed him for his whole life.  Tayo is white smoke because he is part white, and it is this whiteness that has makes him an outcast all his life.  It is this white cloud that poisoned his mother, in the world of “bed sheets” where Tayo was created.   The white smoke represents Tayo not knowing where he belonged in this world and not knowing who he is.  Tayo has no consciousness of himself. 

This idea of Tayo not having a place in the world is seen again after the war. While in uniform, Tayo is treated like an equal to the white soldiers.  He sleeps with girls and is allowed to go to bars and he gets drinks brought for him.  But after the war, he is again seen as an Indian, and is not given the same attention and acceptance from his white “brothers”.  The army doctors are trying to treat Tayo for something that he has carried all his life.  They do not see that Tayo’s symptoms are not just from the war but from living his life.  Tayo was fighting before he went to Vietnam and he will be fighting again once he leaves.  Tayo has to find a way to lose the white smoke that has engulfed his existence his whole life, in order to begin to live his life and fine meaning in it.  This is something that Western doctors cannot prescribe for Tayo.  It may not be something that the healers can do for Tayo either.  Tayo has to get rid of his white smoke on his own.  He has to fight his own demons and search for a place of belonging and acceptance from others and himself.