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.