Analysis of “Yonder Sky Has Wept Tears of Compassion on Our Fathers” Seattle’s speech (yes, the city is named after him) has an
interesting history. It was delivered in what’s now the state of Washington. At that time, it was called the Washington Territory, and the new governor of the territory, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, was traveling through it, trying to convince Native Americans to give up certain stretches of land so that railroads could be built there. Seattle’s speech was written down by a man named Harry Smith, who published his translation 33 years later in a Seattle newspaper. His translation is obviously very much his own, as he uses words and expressions that a Native American wouldn’t be familiar with. Seattle’s speech is interesting today for several reasons. First is his use of language. His speech relies heavily on figurative language, especially metaphors. The speech opens with the personification of the sky. Consider this statement: “Yonder sky has wept tears of compassion on our fathers for centuries untold”. Seattle uses that statement to show that ordinary language can’t capture the sense of grief Seattle feels. “Look,” he’s saying, “our suffering is so great that even the sky weeps for us!” Personification also makes the Native Americans’ connection to their land and environment clear. Because they were so close to nature, they felt that the land and sky would feel compassion for them. They wept for their land—why shouldn’t the land and sky weep for them? Pontiac continues using ecological metaphors—metaphors that have to do with earth, sea, and sky. “Today it is fair, tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds” is a metaphor explaining Indian relations with white people. They may appear “fair” at the moment, but Seattle doesn’t believe that these conditions will last. The next sentence—“My words are like the stars that never set”—employs a simile. The statement suggests that Seattle’s speech will never be forgotten. Like the stars that “never set,” his words will be forever in the minds of Native Americans. The next sentence—“My words are like the stars that never set”—employs a simile. The statement suggests that Seattle’s speech will never be forgotten. Like the stars that “never set,” his words will be forever in the minds of Native Americans. The second reason Seattle’s speech is remarkable is for its tone. His words seem to say one thing—“Okay, we’re giving up; we’ll try to get along.” But his tone is different. He uses veiled threats. He doesn’t come right out and say, “All right, white man, if you mess with us, we’ll kill you.” Instead, he suggests that he can’t control his own people. For example, he refers at several points to our own angry young men who are capable of relentless cruelty. He pretends that he’ll try to rein them in, because “their hearts are also disfigured and turn black” when they’re angry at the whites. But his real meaning is clear: “Our old men are not able to restrain them” means that he’ll unleash them against the whites if the whites break treaties and try to drive the Native Americans from their homelands. Seattle’s main theme is that while Native Americans and whites may be forced to coexist, they can never be integrated. The overall strategy of the whites was to try to eliminate Native American culture from the North American continent. The most effective way to do this was to try to get Native Americans to forsake their traditional culture and blend in with the whites. Here are Thomas Jefferson’s words on the whites’ strategy: Two measures are deemed expedient [to be done quickly and efficiently]. First: to encourage them [Native Americans] to abandon hunting. . . . Secondly: to multiply trading houses among them . . . leading them to agriculture, to manufactures, and to civilization. This is precisely what Chief Seattle said should never happen. In fact, he says that it’s impossible to integrate the two races because their cultural values are so different. To emphasize this point, he uses examples of their different spiritual practices. The basic difference between the two cultures’ spirituality, he says, is in the way they treat their dead. The whites basically forget theirs. The Native Americans continue to pay homage to their dead. This focus on the dead provides Seattle with a way to make his final, spooky threat. Native Americans believe that the dead still walk among them, he says. The whites would do well to think about this, for the land will be filled with the walking dead—so “let him [the white man] be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not altogether powerless”. Reflect and Respond Now that you have read the speech, ask yourself these questions: 1. What elements in the speech sound as though they were probably part of the original myth? 2. How does Pontiac make the myth relevant to the current situation he wants to remedy?
