Questions of Chief Seattle's speech with answer

 

Chief Seattle’s Speech*

1.    “Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold, and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change. Today is fair. Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change. Whatever Seattle says, the Great Chief at Washington can rely upon with as much certainly as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons. The While Chief says that Big Chief at Washington sends us greetings of friendship and goodwill.”

i.                   Who was Chief Seattle?

Answer: - Chief Seattle who was an important figure in the early American History, was the Chief of Suquamish and Duwamish tribes. He had been fighting for the rights of his native people in the face of American colonisers.

ii.                 What kind of influence did he have?

Answer: - He had marvellous influence. He ruled his loyal subjects with kindness and paternal benignity.

iii.              Why did not Seattle want to accept the offer?

Answer: - As an old Chief who had seen natives killed, he reluctantly accepted the offer, since he believed, turning it down will only result in the total annihilation of his tribe.

iv.              What do you mean by ‘Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds?’

Answer: - Chief Seattle, just after opening his speech commented this about the future of his people, the Red Indians the tribal Americans. He talks about the possible untimely destruction of the Red people. ‘Overcast with clouds’ refers to the uncertainty that looms large over the future existence of his tribe.

v.                 What do you mean by ‘Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold’?

Answer: - In the above quoted line, Chief Seattle says that nature has been a great sympathizer not only for the Red Indians but also for the entire human race for the centuries untold. Nature has given us everything we need to live on this earth.

2.    “Youth is impulsive. When our 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 our old men and old women are unable to restrain them. Thus it has ever been. Thus it was when the white man began to push our forefathers ever westward. But let us hope that the hostilities between us may never return. We 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.”

i.                   What massage did the chief Seattle convey here?

Answer: - Seattle’s speech was both consolatory in nature, helping his people to understand what was going on, their weak position in the political climate and helping them to understand the transition they were now forced to make.

ii.                 Why do you think does Chief Seattle thank the white chief?

Answer: - Chief Seattle thanks the White Chief for acknowledging his greetings of friendship and goodwill.

iii.              What happen when the white man begins to push the native west words?

Answer: - When the White men began to push the native Americans westward, the young grew violent and without caring the after consequences, indulged in revengeful acts.

iv.              Should the natives take the revenge on the white man? If not why?

Answer: - The native people should not take revenge on the White men because the Whites are more in number as well as powerful.

v.                 What does the Chief Seattle want to mean here by ‘Youth is impulsive’?

Answer: - Youth is impulsive because they grow angry at real or imaginary wrong and they often become cruel and relentless. In this case, it becomes difficult for the old men and women to prevent them from going to the path of violence and destruction.

3.    “Your God loves your people and hates mine! He folds his strong protecting arms lovingly about the paleface and leads him by the hand as a father leads an infant son. But, He has forsaken His Red children, if they really are His. Our God, the Great Spirit, seems also to have forsaken us. Your God makes your people wax stronger every day. Soon they will fill all the land. Our people are ebbing away like a rapidly receding tide that will never return. The white man’s God cannot love our people or He would protect them. They seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help. How then can we be brothers? How can your God become our God and renew our prosperity and awaken in us dreams of returning greatness? If we have a common Heavenly Father He must he partial, for He came to His paleface children.”

i.                   What are the differences between God of white children and God of natives?

Answer: - Chief Seattle mentions that the God of the White man is not the same as their as the White men’s God only protects the whites and forsakes the Red Indians. He moreover says that the God of the White men is partial to the Red Indians.

ii.                 Why are the red children regarded themselves as orphans?

Answer: - The Red children regard themselves as orphans because in the time of trouble their God, the Great spirit has left them in miserable state and has forgotten them. He (God) seems to have left them in the hands of fate. Now they have no one to help or show the way.

iii.              Explain the following line: - ‘Our people are ebbing away like a rapidly receding tide that will never return.’

Answer: - While delivering the speech, Seattle compares the present situation of his tribe to a rapidly receding tide, that is going back from the shore, losing its might and with no hope to return again. This symbolises the decay of the native people.