%0 Journal Article
%T Symbolic and Sacred Space in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Novel Ceremony
%A Irina Chirica
%J Advances in Literary Study
%P 11-19
%@ 2327-4050
%D 2025
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/als.2025.131002
%X The paper focuses on various aspects of symbolic and sacred space in the novel <i>Ceremony</i> by Leslie Marmon Silko, discussing the following issues: the Native American versus the Anglo-American attitude towards the land, symbolic geography as a map of the hero&#8217;s healing and regeneration, the hero&#8217;s journey on the mountain as Axis Mundi, sacred space as a reflection of the spirit world, the construction of barriers and fences that exclude, such as the exclusion of Natives beyond the garbage dump of Gallup, the Native American slum as a space situated between cultures, the reservation as a symbol of separation; the desert as a metaphor of spiritual emptiness and despair; the uranium mine as a symbolic rape of Mother Earth, the novel <i>Ceremony</i> as a ceremonial sacred space of healing comparable to a sand-painting, the hero&#8217;s return to the kiva at the center of the Pueblo community, as a way of remembering and remembering Native American identity.
%K Sacred Space
%K Symbolic Interpretation
%K Native American
%K Tradition
%K Cultural Identity
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=137913