Stories are more than simply memories expressed. Every story is told to an audience, and the expectations of the audience can influence the expression of the memory. In Maus, the original storyteller is Vladek and the audience is Art. Also in Maus the secondary storyteller is Spiegelman and the audience is ourselves. Thus, we ask ourselves "What are our expectations, and from where do they come?"

Spiegelman's expectations were for a chronological narrative of his father's experiences. He evinces his desire for such a narrative in interrupting his father at several points in Maus to ask for a chronological account.

Art: Wait! Please, Dad, if you don’t keep your story chronological, I’ll Never get it straight . . tell me more about 1941 and 1942. (Maus I, p. 81-2)

In Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, the expectations of the audience, the Native Americans, is vastly different. It is not that Ceremony is written specifically for Native Americans to read, but rather it is written from within the cultural perspective of the Laguna people, and as such Ceremony obeys the expectations and conventions of this culture. Silko expresses the unique significance of stories to her culture in "A Pueblo Indian Perspective":

...the storytelling always included the audience and the listeners, and , in fact, is believed to be inside the listener, and the storyteller's role is to draw the story out of the listeners. This kind of shared experience grows out of a strong community base. The storytelling goes on and continues from generation to generation.

The story as a community base, as something that continues from generation to generation means that the story stands not on its own, but rather requires the understanding and interaction of the audience. The story is "inside the listener," and therefore it is the storytellers role to tell the story "out of" the listener.

This addendum will investigate the idea of Memory in Literature as it pertains to Ceremony. It can be read in the same manner as its supporting document, by selecting either the titled links or the [NEXT] link.

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Memory in Literature: The Native American Chronology

Memory in Literature: Commonality of Experience

Memory in Literature: The Construction of History

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