2004 prompt

2004, Form B. The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

      Rocky's death in Ceremony further distances Tayo from his tribe. He was supposed to be the one who brought Rocky back, something he had trouble forgiving himself for. The experience haunts him, and reflects the uncertainty and pain in Tayo's search for belonging.

      Rocky was the child who had grown up to join white culture. He was going to go to college, be a football champion, escape the reservation. He was Auntie's pride, someone who could fit in that promising foreign world. Following that lure was his downfall; he died in a war that he chose to join. He died in a war that was not his own. That betrayal follows Tayo, and, with that so close to his heart, he can see how white people have abandoned the white veterans. He dares the others to see past the illusion; at the bar, he breaks Emo's ceremony, isolating himself.

      The death is also a failing of Tayo's. He was supposed to bring Rocky home alive, or died with him. Instead, he comes home alive, uncertain of whether he still fit in the society. His memories are confused and woven together. The uncertainty of Rocky's death plays a part in that, as well; Tayo blocks Rocky's dying scream out with his own, and in not knowing the noise, anything can bring him back to the memory. It tangles the web of his mind even further.

      Rocky's death leads to the heart of the novel. It reflects the tension that Tayo is going through, and displaces him even more.