This is why the second attempt to cure the man is made by the old medicine man, Ku’oosh, who resorts to old traditions to heal Tayo. Tayo understands instinctively that the healing is somewhere near his native people and his native land. The protagonist’s soul and thoughts are depicted as imprisoned and entangled by little threads (Silko 7). What is more, the “remedy” of the white cannot help Tayo because he is more sad than angry, and his sadness is killing his inner world. So do Tayo and his fellows: Emo, Harlley, but Tayo comes to realize that alcohol cannot help him. The first way to “cure” a psychologically injured soldier was alcohol it was known that the majority of American soldiers after the war found refuge in alcohol addiction. Here the authoress starts spinning a web of variants of healing of Tayo. It is evident that after the soldiers’ return they are injured both physically and psychologically, but the latter trauma is really incurable for the majority of young men. Finally, the protagonist returns to his Reservation with deep grief in his soul. However, it is evident that it is impossible to heal him at war neither can a Veteran’s Hospital help. When there appeared the first signs of Tayo’s mental unstableness, “they forced medicine into Tayo’s mouth” (Silko 8). Tayo sees “Josia bring him the fever medicine when he had been sick a long time ago” (Silko 6). The theme of malady and healing may be observed from the very first pages of the book when the action unfolds on the battlefield. However, the violence and horrors of war prove to be unbearable for the young people and they ruin their inner world. The reason for the young men’s participation in the war is that all Americans take part in it this is why they must do it as well: “Everyone can fight for America … even you boys” (Silko 64). The national tragedy is added to Tayo’s personal tragedy when he along with other young Indians appears on the battlefield of World War II. The beginning of his inner malady is in his unhappy childhood this explains his alienation from white men, who were using his mother indirectly to draw a picture of injustice and abuse of Indians. This is why the protagonist’s inner conflict starts with his conception, and continues further, becoming more and more involved. Tayo, the protagonist of the book, is the embodiment of the Pueblo people, but the situation is complicated by the fact that he has mixed descent, for his mother is a Pueblo woman, and his father is the “unknown white”.
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