5 Steps to a 5 AP English Language 2019

Practice Exam 1 ❮ 205

5 1 2 3 4 5 6

In addition to warning the Governor, acting respectfully and emphasizing the

inherent differences between the two peoples, Chief Seattle gives a sense of the unfair

treatment his tribe has suffered. In his oration so deeply saturated with figurative

language, balanced sentences, carefully chosen diction, and hidden implications, the

Chief conveys his message loud and clear. Though weak in number, his people are strong

in heart; though inferior in legal status, his tribe is superior in customs and values. The

governor may buy their land, but, Seattle reminds him, he may never buy their pride or

their silence.

Chief Seattle Passage—Student Sample B

Chief Seattle, one of great speakers for the Native Americans, spoke out against

Governor Stevens in an attempt to discourage the buying of more Indian land. His style

which includes similes, rhetorical questions, and emotional diction, not only gets his

point across, but warns and denounces the whites as well.

Right in the beginning, Seattle starts emotionally with “wept tears of compassion”

to try to gain a sympathy for his people. Later on in the passage, he exclaims, “Your God

is not our God!” and blatantly announces “Your God loves your people and hates mine.”

These harsh words obviously convey Chief Seattle’s anger and disapproval.

To further increase the emotional appeal, Seattle employs rhetorical questions in an

attempt to make the reader wonder and empathize. He states “... he will protect us. But

can that ever be?” and “How then can we be brothers? We are two distinct races.” Since

this was addressed to Governor Isaac, what this did was it made the Governor question

himself whether the buying of more Indian land and pushing the Indians west are right

and moral. In addition, the rhetorical questions allow Chief Seattle to express his anger

better.

The use of similes in this piece not only add a poetic touch, but also effectively

describe the decrease in Native Americans and the increase in whites. He compares the

invasive whites as “grass that covers vast prairies” while describing the disappearing

Indians as “scattering trees of a storm-swept plain.” The storm that swept through clearly

also represents the whites that pushed the Native Americans westward or bought their

land. By comparing the whites to grass that grows anywhere they want and as a storm,

Chief Seattle subtly establishes the idea that whites are land-hungry and greedy.

In addition, the Chief denounces certain cultural aspects of whites through a series

of antitheses. As he uses “To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred... You wander...

from the graves... without regret” and “your dead cease to love you... Our dead never

forget the beautiful world,” there seems to be a criticism of whites as loveless people who

don’t respect the dead. And, as a final warning, Chief Seattle says, “Your time of decay

may be distant, but it will surely come.. .” As he tried to tell the whites that what they

have done will eventually cause their demise.

In all, Chief Seattle’s speech to Governor Isaac not only achieves his purpose of

discouraging the actions of the whites, but warns and denounces the culture of the whites

as well.