Chief Seattle

First off, from a literary perspective this speech is such a work of art. He uses such beautiful similies throughtout the speech to depict his message like, "His people are many, like the grass that covers the plains. My people are few, like the trees scattered from the storms on the grasslands." The medaphors and imagery in this speech are very unique. The analogy of the darkness consuming them and leading to their fate is a sad reality that they were forced to face. Also the alliteration and repitition is very evident in this speech, for example, "We may be brothers after all. We shall see. We will consider your offer. When we have decided, we will let you know." The emphasis on the "we" not only showes that the indians work as one, unlike the white men, but it also shows that the indians were going to make this decision even if it meant death.

Second, I want to point out that throughtout this speach he never calls them "white men" he always refers to them as "white brothers." This is a great example of the respect that the indians had for mankind. Its tragic that in return they recieved no respect. Also, the indians barried their families and "their graves are holy ground," but the white men just barried their dead and left them. The indians had such a respect for all life, even if their lives were simple they had a greater respect for it than we ever will.

Some of the similarities among the indians teachings and the bible are quite similar. Its sad that the white men were so arogant and selfish. If they would have listened to the indians they would have noticed that there beliefs weren't that different. For example, the indian said in responce to the ten commandments being written in stone, that his peoples belifs are "written in the hearts of our people." When in Hebrews 8:10 The Christian God says, "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts."

Reading this makes me realize how incredibly selfish our forefathers were. But it also faces christians with some hard questions to answer. Like the indian said, "your God is prejudice. He came to the white man. We never saw him, never even heard his voice. He gave the white man laws, but he had no word for his red children," and "God cannot love his red children or he would protect them." Is God prejudice? Why do some people recieve his word while others live an entire life never hearing from him?

Also while researching this speech i found this:

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding Chief Seattle's speech of 1854. There are many sources of information, various versions of the speech, and debates over its very existence.