Chief Seattle Literary Essay

"Chief Seattle's 1854 Oration" is about the differences between the Whites and the Indians, although the two races may be able to work together. Chief Seattle also explains the idea of the Indians being relocated to reservations by the United States from an Indians point of view. "Chief Seattle's 1854 Oration" was addressed to the United States government to let them know that the Indians will consider the government's proposition. This piece was also published in a newspaper column to help the American public better understand the Native Americans.

Chief Seattle is straight forward in his speech, stating his opinions about the Whites and the Indians very clearly. He uses anaphora to show that the Indians have affected all of the lands that they have touched. "Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished." He then elaborates on this idea using apposition. "Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours..." Chief Seattle also uses parallelism when describing the eventual fate of his tribe. "Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation..." He shows that the Indians have a new father figure, the United States, by using parenthesis. "Our good father in Washington--for I presume he is now our father as well as yours, since King George has moved his boundaries further north--our great and good father."

Chief Seattle uses many literary devices in his speech. He uses many similes throughout his speech, for example, "... and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea." In another instance he uses a simile to describe the change in the population of the Indian tribes. "There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory." Chief Seattle uses personification to environment that his people live in. "Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold..." He also uses rhetorical questions to question how the Whites and the Indians can live together with such great differences. "How then can we be brothers? How can your God become our God and renew our prosperity and awaken in us dreams of returning greatness?"