Suquamish Tribe

After receiving the news from Governor Isaac I. Stevens that the President has ordered him to buy Indian lands and create reservations, Chief Seattle, the leader of the Suquamish Tribe responds by writing an oration. Seattle’s purpose for the oration was to warn the government of the consequences of the disrespecting their lives and lifestyles.
In this speech, Seattle uses a lot of comparisons. In many sections of his oration he uses similes, phrases that use the words like or as to describe someone or something by comparing it with someone or something else that is similar, to make comparisons that exemplify certain points in his speech. Similes can be used to compare numbers. For example, “His people are many. They are like the grass that covers vast prairies.” Meaning the President has very many people that support him, and stick by his side, resembling the grass that covers huge prairies. The grass representing the people, and the
At night when you think your cities are deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless.” As Seattle wraps up his speech, his tone shifts again from uncertainty, to certainty, to triumphant. Although the President, and the Governor may take over the land, the indians will always win because “the dead is not powerless.”
The use of diction in this speech is very significant in the act of identifying the purpose of Chief Seattle’s oration. Seattle uses words like, White chief, Big Chief, extensive, reproach, etc. to convey a certain mood. Seattle also uses color to distinguish or evoke different meanings, and also many other words to emphasize separations and