Chief Seattle's Speech

Chief Seattle's Speech

Dr. Henry A. Smith

ASSIGNMENTS

Context Questions

I. (i) Chief Seattle speaks these words. He says that nature (sky) has sympathised with his (Chief Seattle's) people for many centuries.

(ii) For the speaker, the days to come would be filled with darkness as the Great Chief at Washington wishes to buy and control their land. As a result his people would no longer have rights on their land.

(iii) George Washington, the First President of the USA is referred to as the "Great Chief at Washington". He has sent Seattle and his people the proposal to buy their land with words of feigned "goodwill and friendship".

(iv) Seattle's words are as reliable and certain as "the return of the sun or the seasons". His words are like the stars that never change. It shows Seattle is an honest, reliable and upright man. (v) Chief Seattle sarcastically condemns the Big Chief's act of sending them greetings of friendship and goodwill. Chief Seattle realises that Big Chief at Washington is in little need of their friendship, as his people are stronger and more powerful than the natives. The Big Chief, according to Seattle, is George Washington.

II (i) As compared to the White Chief's people, Chief Seattle's people are few. The speaker illustrates this fact by comparing his people to "the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain" while the White Chiefs people are as much as "the grass that covers vast prairies."

(ii) The White Chief sends a message that he wishes to buy the native's land and he would allow them enough to "live comfortably".

(iii) Chief Seattle says that there was a time when his people were as numerous as the waves of the sea that cover the sea floor.

(iv) Refer to answer (ii) of II Chief Seattle sarcastically says that the White Chief's 'wish' is just and generous as the natives no longer need respect nor are they "in need of an extensive country", so it would be really fair of the Whites to buy the native's ancestral land.

(v) When the white man began to push the natives westward, they turned hostile towards one another. They became cruel and relentless. No, they should not take revenge on the White men because it is not fruitful. In times of war, they lose their own lives, but the family that wants for them at home bears the loss.

III. (i) George Washington is referred to as "our father in Washington". He has become "Our father and your father", since King George has moved his boundaries further north.

(ii) The good father promises to protect the natives only if they do as he desires. "Bristling wall of strength" refers to the vigorous and energetic white people's brave men who will provide them (natives) strength and will protect them from their ancient enemies.

(iii) Refer to Notes, Pages 23. The White Chiefs brave men will provide the natives strength and his ships would fill their harbours so that Haidas and Tsimshians will cease to frighten the natives.

(iv) The God of the Whites protects only the 'paleface children' and forsakes the Red Indian children. The God of the natives, the Great Spirit has forsaken them. If they have a common God then he is partial to his European children. They are two distinct races having separate origins and separate destinies.

(v) Youth is impulsive and young men often indulge in revengeful acts considering them to be gainful. It times of war, they even lose their own lives, but the family that waits for them at home bears the loss. It reflects Seattle's anti-war attitude, for he does not glorify war but condemns it.

IV. (i) The God of the natives, the Great Spirit seems to have forsaken them, because he no longer helps them when they need help the most.

(ii) They are compared to a receding tide because once they were large in number but now they are nothing more than a mournful memory. The Great Spirit is no longer a father figure to them; "they seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help."

(iii) (1) He has forsaken "His Red Children" and protects only the paleface children;

(2) he makes the White People stronger every day but does nothing for the well being of the natives.

(iv) Refer to Oppression, under Themes, Page 18.

(v) * They are two distinct races the natives Americans and the White colonists.

* The natives' origin is the American land that is being contested; the whites here originally belonged to Europe who came and colonized these native Americans.

* Their destinies are different the natives are receding every day while the whites are like the grass that covers vast prairies. * Moreover, refer to the differences between Tribal belief system and Western belief system, under Themes, Page 19.

V. (i) Red Man's religion is the "traditions" of his ancestors and belief in the Great Spirit that teaches them to love this "beautiful world" its "verdant valleys, its murmuring rivers and its magnificent mountains."

(ii) Refer to Red Indians' attachment to their land, under Themes, Page 18.

(iii) Seattle does not seem to support institutionalised Christianity as it forces people only to adhere to rules and does not allow them to associate sacredness and spiritualism with the nature around them.

(iv) Refer to tribal belief system and western belief system, under Themes, Page 19.

(v) (a) The ten commandments that were written on tablets of stone and brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses. They form the basis of the white man's religion.

(b) Refer to Iron finger, under Notes section, Page 24.

VI. (i) This is because they never connect with their land and their people spiritually. Their relationship with their land and their people is not sacred or holy; it is materialistic. As soon as they die, the link to their earthly life breaks and thus devoid of spiritualism they are incapable of an afterlife.

(ii) The dead of the Red Man continue to love their land and their people. They never forget the world that gave them their being and identity. Moreover the spirits of the dead keep visiting to guide, console and comfort the living.

(iii) Refer to II,

(iv) Refer to Oppression, under Themes, Page 18.

(v) Refer to Transcendence, under Themes, Page 20.

VII. (i) He feels as if not a single star of hope hovers above the natives' horizon. The winds moan and grim fate follows them. Their situation is similar to a wounded doe that is being hunted down. Moreover he feels, that in a few more years, their race will disappear. This is how he reflects his unhappiness about the fate of his people.

(ii) Every person, tribe, or culture that is risen to great glory would definitely meet its fall one day and that would surely be the day of justice. Seattle believes that time will come when the whites would also be moving towards their inevitable doom.

(iii) This is a reference to Jesus Christ who, according to Christian (White man's religion) beliefs, was God. He lived like human beings on earth walking and talking to other human beings as friends.

(iv) Chief Seattle believes that White Settlers too will have their decay one day. It would be then that the White men and Red men would share a common destiny. They would be brothers only when the whites would be able to empathise with the Red men.

(v) The common destiny of man is that his decay is inevitable. Chief Seattle believes in the common destiny he says — "tribe follows-tribe" — "nation follows nation" — "order of nature". It is through the White man's decay that Seattle foresees the unity of all beings. He says: "We may be brothers after all. We will see."

VIII. (i) This is because even after the last native has perished last native "shores will swarm with the invisible dead" of Seattle's tribe. The natives' love for their land makes them immortal. Thus, the whites will never be alone.

(ii) The shadowy spirits visit the places at nights when the streets of the Whites' cities are silent and it is falsely believed that they are deserted.

(iii) The memory of the tribe would become a myth among the White men "when the last Red man shall have prised" from the natives' land, but this would be momentary as it would then "swarm with the invisible dead of the tribe.

(iv) Native Americans even after death don't forget the world that gave them their being and identity. They keep on loving its

valleys, its rivers, its magnificent mountains, and its lakes. The dead feel one with nature and its surroundings.

(v) Refer to Transcendence and Environmental concerns, under Themes, Page 20.

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