Common sense tells us that it is much easier to go downhill than uphill. This is certainly evident in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, where the protagonist, Tayo, must find his way out of a deep rut of illness and suffering that has consumed his life. Influenced by a variety of factors including war, identity and environment, Tayo finds himself questioning himself and his broader relationship with two conflicting cultures. Tayo embarks on a quest to remedy his illness using certain ceremonies, which will help him recover both physically and emotionally. Ultimately, Tayo's illness is primarily defined by his war experiences, his racial identity, and the "witchcraft" that created white people. He takes steps to try to heal himself. After Emo insults Tayo in a bar by calling him a half-breed, we learn that Tayo has been constantly ridiculed for being biracial his entire life. Silko describes how “Emo had hated him ever since they had been together in elementary school, and the only reason for this hatred was that Tayo was part white” (Marmon Silko 52). This proves to be a source of emotional pain for Tayo, as he is strongly attached to Native American culture, but feels somewhat like an outsider due to the prejudice he has often experienced, due to being half-white. Furthermore, Tayo's green eyes symbolize the very isolation Tayo feels from being biracial – again, a major cause of his emotional suffering. While on a personal level, problems resulting from war and a perpetual identity crisis plague Tayo, he must also deal with the pain of a much larger struggle than To begin, Tayo attempts to heal from the atrocities he experienced during the war with the sorcerer Ku. 'oosh. Ku'oosh performs a ritual traditionally used to heal warriors who had killed people during battle. However, due to the nature of the ceremony, both Tayo and Ku'oosh conclude that it is not entirely applicable in terms of the specific illness Tayo felt due to the war. Furthermore, Tayo's meeting with Night Swan serves as a ceremony to help heal his long-felt isolation resulting from his conflicting racial identity. Before leaving, Tayo talks to Night Swan about his eyes. She says, “'I always wanted to have dark eyes like other people'” (Marmon Silko 92). Night Swan decides to advise him on the concept of difference by saying: “'most people are afraid of change'. . . «They are fools. They blame us, those who seem different'” (Marmon Silko 92). This statement helps Tayo understand the importance of difference and that he is actually not truly isolated. According to Night Swan, humans are simply afraid of change and its implications, which is certainly a theme of the novel. As previously mentioned, Tayo began to realize that his suffering was in part the result of something much bigger than himself: widespread destruction by white culture. Its incorporation of an aspect of white culture: spending a night in the uranium