Chief Seattle Essay

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Noor Elhage Mrs. Audino Adv. English 9 CP PER 4 17 December 2011 Final Project Literary Anthology “Chief Seattle” In the speech written by Chief Seattle, the themes most powerfully conveyed are brotherhood and the reality we now live in. Through these themes, Chief Seattle expressed how strongly he felt about his land being bought or sold. “We are part of the earth and it is part of us..… If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father,“ spoke the powerful tribe leader. His passion is expressed towards the developers of a construction plan for the European immigrants of the time. He’s feared the day when people of an unfamiliar race would come to take over his reservation, and now that day has come. The imagery, personification, and symbolism in his writing is shown to let the reader feel the power of emotion underneath his words, feel the way he felt, make them think differently than they did before, and to simply be moved. As my dad finished reading this speech with me, he said, and I quote, “Sometimes I get pissed off about all the policies on the environment. I can’t stand regular oil changes anymore, I never understood it, it seemed like paranoia, but now I finally understand.” At that moment, I realized the true appeal and power of this speech. This speech is written in the way it is in the theme it’s expressed in for people, like my dad, to understand and respect the way the Earth was created and the beauty of what it used to be, and then at that moment, to feel a hint of wistfulness of what it has become. Immediately then, they would feel what Chief Seattle would feel if he lived to see this day and to realize that what he foretold was
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