1.

Chief Seattle's Speech

Dr. Henry A. Smith

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 Chiefs 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'sland 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 Chiefs '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.
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(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.
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(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, (iii).
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(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