Chief Joseph Flashcards
PAF
PURPOSE- initial speech used to announce his surrender to the “white man”
to illustrate his respectability despite his frustration.
to portray the widespread damage on his people.
upon visit to Washington he wished to advocate for the rights of his people and petition return of his people to their homeland too.
AUDIENCE - his tribe, in first speech addressing general Howard directly
FORMAT- spoken, aspects of planned but predominately unplanned particularly in first speech
the spoken word was imperative in native American culture- doing a speech will have been greatly valued by the tribe
lexis
use of monosyllabic lexis dominates first speech
“our chiefs are killed”
use of collective pronoun “our” still belonging to the tribe despite death perhaps an element of denial.
auxiliary verb of certainty “are” harsh reality- loss of energy to compose perhaps more complex emotive sentences.
simple sentence - lack of motivation and energy exhaustion and defeat.
imperatives “hear me” “tell general Howard” shift of responsibility- surrender in all aspects wishing for his voice to still be heard without capacity of doing it hmself
perspective
shift in perspective from a disillusioned leader who sill maintains an interest in protecting his reputation as a respectable leader into a man experiencing a great deal of frustration following time to reflect on the situation.
“I know his heart” - declarative “know” connotes understanding despite the rivalry he is empathetic
Heart - metaphorical representation of feelings and intentions that he is aware of
This illustrates him to be gracious in defeat.
Use of vocative “general howard” respectful gracious
Contrastingly, lack of understanding in second speech “ I cannot understand” “such a government has something wrong about it” referred to with deictic pronoun “such a government” = loss of respect not using vocative perhaps illustrates ultimate frustration willing to appear disrespectful in order to achieve equal liberty for his people.
Comtinued use od possessive pronoun “my” to describe the people and the country - still taking responsibility of leadership despite surrendering ti the whites
Sentence structure
Text opens with simple sentences in initial speech- this clearly mirrors the mental and physical state of deterioration that chief Joseph is enduring and his wish for this experience to be over.
The simple sentences consist of monosyllabic lexis and are bluntly stating the destruction that has occurred appearing and sounding harsh. Despite the monosyllabic lexis and simple nature of the sentences and language there is still a huge amount of emotion packed into the speech.
“Maybe I shall find them among the dead.” Adverb of uncertainty maybe depicts the unfair nature of his leadership has so far been unable to locate and prioritise his own children- sacrificial and demanding role- at a moment of crisis. The preposition “among” emphasises the overwhelming extent of loss od life.
Second speech- varying sentence structure heightened criticisms of the government of the whites - organised thoughts mirrored by more use of compound and complex sentences “I cannot understand why so many chiefs are allowed to talk in so many different ways and promise so many different things”
Repeated use of quantifying phrase so many- illustrates feeling of betrayal on such a large scale
Chain of simple sentences ”treat all men alike. Give them the same laws.” Imperative and declarative in tone
