Analysis Of Joy Harjo's Last Rites For Indian Dead

In Joy Harjo’s writing, Last Rites for Indian Dead, she argues that her ancestors shouldn’t be treated the way that they are, being put up on display at museums and even been sold to private collectors. Harjo shows emotion, uses strong and powerful diction, in order to get attention, and appeal to, the emotional sensibilities of the audience. Harjo especially utilizes emotion in her writing, as exhibited in her desperate tone and details about the sadness of the Native American people. Harjo writes about how sad will it be for the families returning to the grave sites of their recently deceased relatives to find the bodies dug out and taken for research purposes. This is a horrific experience and it makes the reader terribly empathetic and

sympathetic to the Native American cause.
Harjo uses logos to appeal to the reader in her exercise of specific numbers and facts. For example, she states that the total number of American Indian bodies that are in museums around America is over 1.5 million (para 6). This huge number is meant to shock the reader because it is not something that would be commonly known. Harjo puts these numbers in her essay to get the point across. It is logical for her to argue that because of the huge numbers of bodies in museums. Harjo targeted the questionable logic behind keeping the Indian remains stored in museums and whatnot, when they should be given a chance to rest in peace. This is shown when she talks about how the dead stored in museums actually the people that origin alive today and how it is dehumanizing to be put on display, such as extinct creatures. Harjo’s main point when questioning the people, who put the American Indians on display, as if they were dinosaurs, was that there is simply no logic to it.