Rhetorical Analysis Of The Dead Still Roam The Land

The Dead Still Roam the Land
The various tribal populations that inhabit the United States of America lived on ancient tribal land for thousands of years, that is until the government of the country, motivated by manifest destiny, forced many tribes off the land their ancestors lived on for generations. The tribes of the Pacific Northwest were no different, in 1884 the Squamish people of present day Seattle were offered a monetary incentive to leave the land on which they currently reside, in response to this the Chief of the tribe gave an oration to outline the feelings of him and his people. Chief Seattle choose to fiercely defend their land from the imperialistic American government in doing so he uses a variety of rhetorical strategies

His appeals to ethos start when he expresses this sentiment “Your God is not our God! Your God loves your people and hates mine! He folds his protecting arms lovingly around the paleface and leads them by the hand as a father leads an infant son. But he has forsaken His Red children, if they really are his” here Seattle begs the Americans to reconsider their stance as his people are rapidly “ebbing away.” By contrasting the stance of God between the two sides it shows the subjugation the people have been brought under as they have no rights, not even under a perceived omniscient and loving

One way he does this is through the use of hypophora, he asks “Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead did I say” to which he answers “There is no death, only a change of worlds.” here he connects back to his earlier statements on the tribes belief that their dead still roam the land after their death, which brings up two more questions; why take land that the tribe believes the be haunted and why take an entire group of people away from the land that they hold sacred due to the spirits of their ancestors? His method encourages readers to question their current beliefs and further makes them question their ethics by encouraging readers to think about their actions it could further encourage protests of the government's actions against the tribal people or a possible repeal of the treaty itself. His use of rhetorical devices here makes people think, which is the first step for real change in the