“An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs”

By: Chief Joseph

English I Literature East Clarendon High School C. Edge

Writer’s Purpose, p. 452

• • Writer’s purpose – the writer’s motivation or reason for writing a particular text Four purposes: – Exposition – Description – Narration – Persuasion

Expository Writing

• Exposition – writing that informs or explains • Example: an essay that explains how to make a peanut butter sandwich OR an essay that informs the audience of the new procedures for getting a driver’s license.

Narrative Writing

• Narration – writing that tells about a sequence of events (story plot line) • Example: An essay that tells about your experiences on vacation in Myrtle Beach.

Descriptive Writing

• Description – writing that creates a mood using images that appeal to our five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing • Example: an essay that describes the sensory details surrounding your latest birthday party.

Persuasive Writing

• Persuasion – writing that tries to make the reader think or feel a certain way about something • Example: an essay that tries to convince your audience that your favorite band should be their favorite band.

Identify the main purpose.

• • Most essays will have more than one purpose —i.e. they will persuade by giving new information, or they may describe the setting as they narrate the story.

A text will; however, have a main purpose that outweighs all the rest.

• What is the main purpose of “An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs”?

Appealing to the Head and the Heart, p. 446

• Persuasive techniques: – Logical appeals – using reason, facts, statistics, and examples to persuade – Emotional appeals – using words, phrases, and anecdotes that appeal strongly to the audiences’ feelings—their fears, hopes, even prejudices —to persuade

KWL Chart

• • • • Make a KWL chart.

K – write what you already know about “Indian affairs” W – write what you want to know L – write what you have learned after reading the selection K W L

Language Link Worksheet

• • • Denotation – the dictionary definition of words Connotation – the emotional overtones of words – Example: • The U.S. government

sent

Chief Joseph to a reservation.

• The U.S. government

exiled

Chief Joseph to a reservation.

– The word

exiled

suggests that he was forcibly removed from his home against his will. The connotations of

exiled

add an element of suffering to his situation.

Loaded words – emotionally packed words that have strong connotations —either positive or negative —that arouse powerful feelings – Especially common in advertising and politics, where they are designed to replace reason with emotion.

Recognizing Persuasive Techniques, p. 447

• Why does Chief Joseph repeat the phrase “Good words will not”?

• Possibly to make his audience feel his anger at the empty promises he has heard; to emphasize the ironic contrast between what is said by the whites and the suffering they have inflicted upon his people.

Logical and Emotional Appeals, p. 448

• What logical appeals does Chief Joseph use here to argue for the tribe’s freedom?

• He compares placing his people on a reservation to tethering a horse to a stake —neither will prosper in captivity. He asks whites where they get their authority to restrict his people’s freedom.

Connotations, p. 448

• What associations are suggested by the words

outlaw

and

animals

?

– Both words suggest traits of fierceness and uncontrollability.

• What point is Chief Joseph making with these words?

– White society thinks of Native Americans as being uncivilized and treats them as less than human.

• • • • • Chief Joseph believes the best hope for peace is treating all people alike.

Chief Joseph wants freedom for his people?

Chief Joseph discusses many concerns such as: his children, his land, and the health of his people.

According to Chief Joseph, “good words” are unable to pay for his horses and cattle.

Chief Joseph speaks of the government breaking promises to provide homes where the American Indians can live in peace.

Persuasion

• • Chief Joseph refers to the deaths of his people in order to plead for a solution to the problem so that peace can be realized.

Chief Joseph supports his argument with facts such as: the government has broken promises to his people, the government representatives have talked to him about the plight of his people, and his people were once free to go wherever they wished.

p. 450, Question #1

• Were you persuaded by Chief Joseph? Tell how you responded to his speech.

• Most students will say the speech persuaded them to feel sorry or angry about the treatment of Chief Joseph’s people Others may remain unpersuaded perhaps because of the lack of statistical information.

p. 450, Question #2

• Does Chief Joseph use

logical

or

emotional appeals

or both to persuade his audience? Find some examples. What does he want to persuade his audience to do?

• Chief Joseph uses both logical and emotional appeals. Logical appeals: he asks whites to recognize Native Americans as people and to treat them equally under the law. Emotional appeals: he describes how his people are “shot down like animals” and expresses a desire to hear “no more groans of wounded men and women.” He wants to persuade his audience to treat Native Americans as equals.

p. 450, Question #3

• Who is “The Man from Washington” in the

Connections

poem on page 449, and who is the speaker? Compare this speaker’s message with Chief Joseph’s.

• The man is probably an official from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the speaker a disillusioned Native American. Students may say that the speaker, unlike Chief Joseph, seems to have no hope that his people will ever achieve equal rights.

p. 450, Question #4

• • Are actions always more important than “good words”? Support your opinion with examples from history or from your own experience.

Student may say that words without action mean little, citing such examples as empty campaign promises to improve the school.

p. 450, Question #5

• Fill in the L column in the KWL chart you made for the Quickwrite. If you have any unanswered questions, do some research and share your findings with the class.

Main Ideas and Supporting Ideas, p. 450

Main Idea: ____________________ Main Idea: ____________________ Supporting Ideas 1. 2.

3.

Supporting Ideas 1.

2.

3.