Chief Seattle's speech

Answer key

1. Who are 'my people'? What do they resemble?

'My people' are the Red Indians. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain.

2. How does Chief Seattle compare 'his people' and 'my people'?

Chief Seattle says 'his people' are like the grass that covers vast prairies while 'my people' are few. They
resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain.

3. What word does the white chief send?

The white chief sends word that he wishes to buy our land but is willing to allow us to live comfortably.

4. Who is the great chief mentioned in the speech?

The great chief mentioned in the speech is George Washington.

5. How does Seattle differentiate tribal people from white people?

Seattle says that the White people are like grass that covers the prairies. Those people are many in
numbers. Their God makes them stronger every day. They are increasing in number and are filling most
of the land.

His people are few and they are just like the trees that have scattered due to a storm. There was a time
when his people covered the land like the waves of the sea but that time has passed away. This tribe is
now just like a mournful memory. Now they are very few. He calls them 'pale face brothers'.

6. How does Seattle react to the greetings sent by the Big chief?

Seattle says that it is kind of the Big chief to send his greetings to them. Although he does not need the
Red tribe's friendship in return. It is generous of him to allow them to live comfortably, though he
wishes to buy their land. But their youth is impulsive. If they grow angry and spoil their faces with black
colour, it signifies that their hearts are also black and that they can be cruel and unreliable that even
their elders will not be able to stop them. The Red tribe will have everything to lose and nothing to gain.
He says that the young take a revenge on the whites but the old men and women feel how it is to lose
their sons. Seattle hopes that this hostility may never return.

7. Summarise the speech of Chief Seattle focusing on the relation of his people with their land?

The speech of the chief Seattle was a powerful plea for his people's rights over their land and to secure
it from the white settlers. He said previously his people covered their land like grass but now they are
like 'the scattering trees'. Their youth is impulsive and when they grow angry, they often cruel and
relentless. They have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Revenge by their young men is considered
gain.

Now George Washington is the father of the whites as well as the blacks. The ships of war of the whites
will fill their harbors- so that their ancient enemies like the Haidas and Tsimshians will cease to frighten
them.

But the God of the whites is different from that of the Red man. The God of the white makes their men
stronger every day but their God seems to have forsaken them. Then how can they be like brothers. The
God of the Christians gave them law but no word for the Red. Day and night cannot dwell together. But
the Red people will accept the proportion of the Great white chief. The Red man will ponder over the
proposition on one condition that they will not be denied the privilege of visiting the tombs of their
dead. Let the great white chief be just and kind to the Red people.

8. How does the speech reflect physical and mental oppression on the Native Americans by the white
settlers?

It is the land of the natives that the Big chief in Washington wishes to buy. Now his people are no more
than a memory. They have been destroyed by their youth’s impulsive nature. The wind moans and grim
fate follows. In a few years their race will disappear.

9. Who is referred to as the good father and why?

George Washington is the ‘good father’ who promises the natives that he will enable them to visit the
land of their dead.

10. How are the Red Indians attached to their land?

The natives think their land to be sacred. It is associated with them as the resting place of their
ancestors. Their land is pure; every hill, every valley, every plain, even the rocks are holy. They would
agree to sell their land but they should be allowed by the ‘good father’ to visit their land. They believe
that their land is associated with the dreams of their people. They want to visit their land to guide,
console and comfort them.

11. Explain 'day and night’ cannot dwell together?

Seattle means that the native Americans and the whites cannot live together. Their Gods are different.
Whites thought man has a right to unlimited expansion. Natives believed in preserving the earth, not to
destroy it.

12. What did Seattle desire?

Seattle desired that they would agree to give part of their land but they should be allowed to visit their
land.

13. What had the White chief asked from the natives?

The white chief had desired to expand their land over the Natives' land so he wanted the natives to sell
their land to him.

14. How have the Natives youths been described? What happens when they are angry?

The Native youths are impulsive. when they grow angry at something, they disfigure their faces with
black paint. They become cruel and relentless. Nobody can stop them from fighting.

15. What does chief Seattle say about the religion of the White? Which religion does he mean?

Chief seattle says that their religion was written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of their God so
that they could not forget. He means christianity. The values of the whites were based on christianity.

16. What does Chief Seattle tell about the condition of his people earlier?

Chief Seattle says that earlier his people occupied the land in large numbers just like water of the sea
covers the sea bed.

17. What hint does he give regarding the cause for the depletion of his race?

Chief Seattle said that he did not blame the aggression of the white man for the depletion of his race but
he does hint at it being the most plausible reason.

18. What happened when the tribal young man became angry?

Seattle said that youth is impulsive and the young men of his race were no exception. When the young
men grew angry at some real or imaginary wrong and they painted their faces with black paint, it
denoted that their hearts were up to no good, and then they were often cruel and relentless.

19. When did the hostilities between the tribals and the young white man begin?

The hostilities began when the white men started pushing the tribals out of their land and occupying it
and the tribal were forced to move westward.

20. Why did Seattle wanted to end up the hostilities?

Seattle wanted the hostilities to end because no one would have any gain rather everything would be
lost as the young men considered revenge as gain, even at the cost of their own lives.

21. How do the tribal men regard the ashes of their ancestors?

The tribal men regard the ashes of their ancestors as sacred and respect them. The ground where their
dead are buried is considered holy by them.

22. How do the white feel about their dead people?

The white people have no respect for their dead and leave their graves unattended.

23. Where was the religion of the white people written?

The religion of the white people was written on stone slabs so that they would never forget but they
could never understand its significance.

24. What is the religion of the tribal men? How is it different?

The religion of the tribal people is the traditions of their ancestors- the dreams of their old men, given to
them in solemn hours of the night by the great spirit, their God, and is written in the hearts of our
people.

25. Why do the dead of the tribals never forget them or this beautiful world?

The dead of the tribals never forget this beautiful world that gave them being. They still love its verdant
valleys, its murmuring rivers, its magnificent mountains, sequestered vales and verdant lined lakes and
bays, and always yearn in tender fond affection over the lonely hearted living, and often return from the
other world to visit, guide, console, and comfort their people.

26. How does Seattle predict the future of his tribe to be?

Seattle predicts that his tribe might not survive for long. He says that he can see ableak future for his
people without a single star of hope Sad-voiced winds moan in the distance and a grim fate seems to be
in store for them. But he is sure his people will prepare stolidly to meet their doom whenever they hear
the approaching footsteps of their fell destroyer.

27. How does the speaker differentiate his tribal people from the white people?

Seattle feels that although the decay of his people might come earlier, the white people will also not be
spared. They too would perish, the only difference being that they might survive a little longer.

28. How does the speaker realize that he should not mourn the untimely fate of his people?

The speaker realizes that he should not mourn the untimely fate of his people because tribe follows
tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. The cycle of life continues and change is the
law of nature. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless.

29. Why does Seattle say that they may be brothers after all?

Seattle say that they maybe brothers after all because a common fate in the form of ultimate decay
awaits both. The decay and death for the white race may be distant, but it would surely come, for even
the white man whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, could not be exempted from
the common destiny that is death and decay.

30. What is the condition laid by the speaker before he accepts the white man's proposition?

The condition laid by the speaker before he accepts the white man’s proposition is that they will not be
denied the privilege of visiting at any time the tombs of their ancestors, friends and children as it was
sacred ground for them.
31. How is every part of the soil sacred to his people?

Every part of the soil is sacred to his people because every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove,
has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long gone by. Even the rocks, which are now
dumb and dead are connected with memories of events from the lives of his people, and the very dust
upon which they stand responds lovingly to their footsteps because it is rich with the blood of their
ancestors.

32. When will the shores swarm with the invisible dead of the speaker's tribe? Why?

The shores will swarm with the invisible dead of the speaker’s tribe when the white man’s children’s
children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of
the pathless woods, but they will not be alone. And they will not be alone because in all the earth there
is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of the white man’s cities and villages are
silent and they think that they are deserted, the fact would be that the streets throng with the returning
spirits of his people that had once filled them and still love this beautiful land.

33. What does the speaker say about death? Explain.

The speaker says that death is inevitable and is the destiny of both the races, whether the Indians or the
white people. They all have to die one day one may decay earlier than the other but the ultimate fate is
death. So he feels that death unites them and they are like brothers. He says that infect there is no
death, only a change of worlds.

34. What plea does the speaker make to the white men?

The speaker pleads with the white men to be just and kind to his people.

35. Show how the author uses tone and style to reinforce his memories and make upon his audience?

Few speeches have captured the imagination of both Europeans and Americans. Chief Seattle’s
legendary address has. It was originally made in the Suquamish language as chief Seattle could not speak
English. Reputedly delivered in the 1850s to Issac Steven the governor of the Washington territory, it
took on a life of its own in the late 20 th century when several different versions, many with an emphasis
on the environment, surfaced.

Chief Seattle shares his precious land’s memories by forming two different tones. Chief Seattle creates a
passionate and a sorrowful tone through diction and imagery. He made his speech passionate and
sorrowful to move the audience’s heart and hoping that the people would take care of the land like the
chief did.

The first part of Seattle’s speech of the land is packed with memories and what they mean to his people.
He says that if he sells the land everybody must remember that they should treat “every” part of the
land as if they were their “brothers”. The tone of his words is sorrowful because he focused on what
he’s going to lose, the things and values that are precious to him- everything in his memory, his
brothers. Every detail of the land, part of the land came from his memories. Seattle uses detailed words
or imagery such as every “shining” pine needle, every “humming” insect, and every “perfumed” flower.
Seattle uses detailed words to describe a scene that had impacted him. His imagery centers and puts
deeper meanings to his speech that he is going to miss the land.

The second part of Seattle’s speech presents is not his memory- it is what Seattle wants the inherent of
the land to do and not to do and what the land means to him. He says to love and to care for the land
because it is precious to everyone and all things are united and harming the land is the same thing as to
have contempt for its creator. The tone of his words is passionate because the land is very precious to
him and he wants everyone to take care of the land. Seattle uses repetition of “love” and “care” in the
sentence. “love it as we have loved it, care for it as we have cared for it.” Repeating the two words
emphasizes them and it makes it sound that he is really passionate about the land. Seattle says that “No
man, be he Red man or White man can be apart.”

36. How does Seattle justify his religion as opposed to what the white men had said about it?

Chief Seattle also responds to the charge of “godlessness” circulated by the conquerors by comparing
his religion with Christianity. He exclaims ‘Your God is not our God! Your God loves your people and
hates mine! ..... if we have a common Heavenly father He must be partial, for He came to His paleface
children. We never saw Him. He gave you laws but had no word for His red children.’

These statements highlight the absurdity of expecting the American Indians, having been isolated from
the Europeans for thousands of years, to have adopted the same religion. In place of Christianity, Seattle
introduces the religion of his people. “Our religion is the tradition of our ancestors……”. He points out
several areas in which his religion is superior to Christianity. He says, “Your religion was written upon
tablets of stone….. so that you could not forget…… Our religion….. is written in the hearts of our people”.
Similarly, “Your dead cease to love you…. Our dead never forget this beautiful word that gave them
being”. These comparisons pose a direct challenge to the earlier portrayals of the Indians as godless and
devil- worshiping. Furthermore Chief Seattle also responds to the Euro- American belief that the Indians
had no claim to the land by expressing their profound attachment to it. He declares, “The very dust
upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to our footsteps than yours, because it is rich with
the blood of our ancestors.” In direct opposition with Euro-American representations, Seattle
demonstrates that the natives, like the Europeans, have a complex religion and culture.

37.Discuss trans- culturation as represented in Seattle's speech?

It has elements of trans-culturation. Although Seattle tended to emphasize the differences between
native Americans and Euro-Americans, the Euro-American idea that the native Americans were going to
become extinct surfaced throughout his speech. This idea of the inevitable extinction of the native
Americans as a race originated from the colonists. This idea served the colonists quite conveniently. It
justified what ring calls the “transfer of real estate,” the process in which European settlers gradually
moved into established Indians communities as the Indians “disappeared”. Apparently, killing and
stealing from an already – doomed race was easier to accept.
Throughout his speech, Chief Seattle indicates his acceptance of this belief that the native Americans
would become extinct. He refers to their “untimely decay” and laments, “It matters little where we pass
the remnant of our days. They will not be many”, although he does not provide any concrete reasons for
these sentiments. Instead, Seattle settles with the warning, “When the last Red man shall have
perished….these shores will throng with the invisible dead of my tribe… The white man will never be
alone”. In accepting the ultimate defeat of the Indians, chief Seattle adopted an element of the
dominant, Euro-American thought, demonstrating the trans-culturation predicted.

38. How are the Red man and white man different in their religious beliefs and spiritual practices?

Chief Seattle says that the ashes of their ancestors are considered to be sacred and their resting place is
hallowed ground. The white man wanders far from the graves of their ancestors and seemingly without
regret. The religion of the white man is written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of the God of the
white man so that they cannot forget. The red man can never comprehend or remember it, for their
religion is the traditions of their ancestors- the dreams of their old men, given them in solemn hours of
the night by the great spirit; and the visions of their sachems, and is written in the hearts of their
people.

The dead of the white man cease to love them and the land of their nativity as soon as they pass the
portals of the tomb and wander away beyond the stars. They are soon forgotten and never return. Chief
Seattle says, in contrast, that the dead of the red man never forget this beautiful world that gave them
being. They ever yearn in tender fond affection over the lonely hearted living, and often return from the
happy hunting ground to visit, guide, console, and comfort their people.

39. How does chief Seattle present the force of his argument for the statement- ‘Your God is not our
God!’?

In his words, ‘Your God is not our God! ‘Chief Seattle and his people believe that the God of the white
man loves only them and hates the red man. The God of the white man protects the ‘’paleface’ and
leads them by the hand as a father leads an infant son. But, He has forsaken His red children, if they
really are His. Chief Seattle says that their own God, the great spirit, seems also to have forsaken them.

The God of the white man makes His people become stronger every day, while the red man’s tribe
continues to dwindle. The white man’s God cannot love the red man’s tribe or He would protect them.
They seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help. Chief Seattle questions – How then can they
be brothers? How can the God of the white man become their God and renew their prosperity and
awaken in the red man’s tribe dreams of returning greatness?

He continues to say if they had a common Heavenly father. He must be partial, for He comes to the
rescue of only His paleface children and that chief Seattle’s men never saw Him. He gave the white man
laws but has no word for His red children. Chief Seattle firmly concludes that they are two distinct races
with separate origins destinies. There is little in common them.

40. How does chief Seattle conclude? What condition does he lay? Why does he say that the white man
will never be alone?

Chief Seattle says that they would ponder on the proposition and when they decide they would let the
white chief know.

But he makes, here and now, the condition that they will not denied the privilege, without molestation,
of visiting at any time the tombs of their ancestors, friends, and children. He declares that every part of
this soil is sacred in the estimation of his people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has
been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be
dumb and dead as they swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events
connected with the lives of his people, and the very dust upon which they now stand responds more
lovingly to their footsteps than those of the white man, because it is rich with the blood of the ancestors
of the red man, and their bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch.

The departed braves of the red man, fond mothers, glad, happy hearted maidens, and even the little
children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, love these somber solitudes and at
eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And after the last red man perishes, and the memory of
his tribe has become a myth among the white men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of
his tribe, and when the future generations of the white man think themselves alone in the field, the
store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all
the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of the cities and villages are
silent and deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this
beautiful land. In this way the white man will never be alone.

Chief Seattle concludes saying that the dead are not powerless. There is no death, only a change of
worlds.

41. Quote the lines, from the extract that show personification and simile. How is chief Seattle’s
conviction and sincerity highlighted in his assurance using nature?

The beautiful example of personification is ‘Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my
people for centuries untold…..’The example for simile is ‘My words are like the stars that never change.’
The sentence, ‘Whatever Seattle says, the great chief at Washington can rely upon with as much
certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons.’ indicates that his words will hold good,
and he is as sincere and reliable as nature and the rhythms in nature are.

42. What does he say about the changing numbers of their races?

Chief Seattle says that the white man’s people are many. They are like the grass that covers vast prairies.
His people are few and resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain. Chief Seattle says that the
great, and good, white chief sends them word that he wishes to buy their land and is willing to allow
them enough to live comfortably. The offer seems to be just and wise, as the red man is no longer in
need of an extensive country, his numbers having dwindled. Chief Seattle speaks of a time when his
people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long
since passed away with the greatness of tribes that was now but a mournful memory.

43. What is his opinion about Youth?

Chief Seattle says that youth is impulsive. When their young men grow angry at some real or imaginary
wrong, and disfigure their faces with black paint, it denotes that their hearts are black, and that they are
often cruel and relentless, and the old men and old women are unable to retrain them. It has always
been this way. It was so, when the white man began to push their forefathers ever westward. But he
hoped that the hostilities between them may never return. They would have everything to lose and
nothing to gain. Revenge, by young men, is considered gain, even at the cost of their own lives, but old
men who stay at home in times of war, and mothers who have sons to lose, know better.

44. What is one more allusion to the sea that chief Seattle makes? What does he predict about the
White man?

Chief Seattle says that he will not mourn at the untimely fate of his people. Tribe follows tribe, and
nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. The white
ma, n’s time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the white man whose God walked
and talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. They may be
brothers after all.

45. What are Chief Seattle’s words about the fate that awaits his people?

Chief Seattle expresses that day and night cannot dwell together. He states that the red man has always
fled the approach of the white man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. He feels his
people will retire to the reservation they were offered. Then, they will dwell apart in peace. It doesn’t
matter where they pass the remnant of their days, for they will be not be many. The Indians night
promises to be dark. Not a single star of hope hovers above his horizon. Sad-voiced winds moan in the
distance. Grim fate seems to be on the red man’s trail, and he will hear the approaching footsteps of his
destroyer and prepare stolidly to meet his doom, as does the wounded doe that hears the approaching
footsteps of the hunter.

Chief Seattle concludes that when the last red man shall have perished, the memory of his tribe shall
have become a myth among the white men. Chief Seattle finally says let him be just and deal kindly with
his people, for the dead are not powerless. There is no death only a change of worlds.

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