What is beauty? Beauty can be defined differently by each individual. To some people beauty can be a physical attribute to others it could be found only within a person. Yet, in the book O Pioneers by Willa Catcher and Chief Seattle’s Speech of 1851 beauty is perceived and acknowledge through vivid illustrations of the simplest character: the land. The two describe the land in different ways and at the same time they have very close similarities.
The book O pioneer was written 62 years after Chief Seattle’s speech. It tells the story of the first settlers trying to establish a settlement on the Nebraska tableland, and the speech by Chief Seattle speaks about the degrading of his tribe over land. Early in O Pioneer, “Men were too weak to make
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For example, in O Pioneers the author illustrates how “the homesteads were few and far apart; here and there a windmill gaunt against the sky, a sod house crouching in a hollow” (Cather 11). This phrase demonstrates that the people were eager to make the land its home to be able to raise a family within its premises. This line is also very closely related to what Chief Seattle stated: “To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground” (60). This line illustrates that even though his people are few, he will love this land until the end of his …show more content…
For example, at the end of part one in O pioneers the characters of the book discuss how the land has finally, after so many years accepted their presence: “It seemed beautiful to her, rich and strong and glorious” (Cather 39). This quote demonstrates how not giving up can lead to something much more glorious and beautiful. Another example, of the acknowledgment of the people by the land would be the quote by Chief Seattle: “Thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch” (62). This quote demonstrates how his people were welcome by the land even though they faced discrimination by the white people. It also demonstrates that his ancestors were grand people who believe that the land had more to
Capote begins the novel with a complete description of not only the town as a whole, but also the people and landmark buildings, which allows Capote to characterize the town completely. In the first line of the passage Capote uses the rhetoric of diction and imagery, to not only expose the surroundings to the audiences, but also to begin the higher and implicit meanings of his words. “Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area”, this quote from the passage provides the implicit understanding that the land surrounding this town is unkempt, and lacks human interference. The “high wheat plains” act as a barrier to the outside world that those who live in the village, want to stay isolated from. The ending of the same line uses diction to explicitly show that this one little area is divorced from other communities. “Area that other Kansans call “out there””, shows that even to people who live in Kansas, which Americans consider “out there” can call this town “out there” providing exemplary evidence to Capote’s purpose of proving the seclusion of the village. “The countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert- clear air”, shows the use of diction and implicit meaning. ...
It is not out of line to expect Native Americans to live like their ancestors, and I agree with the way that O'Nell made the government look like the wrongdoers. She talks like "indians" are just part of stories or like they have not kept up with the times. This book points out many of the problems for native americans by bringing out problems in identity, culture, and depression dealing with the Flathead Tribe in Montana. The book is divided into three parts to accomplish this. Part 1 is about the American government's policies that were put on the reservations and how it affected the culture of the Flathead Tribe attached to that reservation. This is the base for is to come in the next two parts, which talk about how lonliness an pity tie into the identity and depression.
O Pioneers!(1993) by Willa Cather begins on a blustery winter day, in the town of Hanover, Nebraska, sometime between 1883 and 1890. The narrator introduces four main character: the very young Emil Bergson; his older sister, Alexandra; her friend Carl Linstrum; and a little girl, Marie Shabata. Alexandra's father, John Bergson, is dying. He tells his two oldest sons, Lou and Oscar, that he is leaving the farmland, and all of what he has accomplished, to their sister.
Servomaa, Sonja. “Nature Of Beauty—Beauty Of Nature.” Dialogue & Universalism 15.1/2 (2005): Academic Search Premier. Web.
In Sherman Alexie’s “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” and “Dead Men’s Path”, the reader is given a glimpse into two different stories but share many similar characteristics of traditions. Tradition is the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information and cultures within a group of people from generation to generation. However, these two stories will reveal that the protagonists in these stories, Michael from “Dead Men’s Path” and Victor from “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,” will ignore their own traditions that they face throughout the story. In other words, the protagonists are westernized and have forgotten their own culture, which reflects the theory of the melting pot. The ignorance of ancestry and traditions brings the worst fates into the lives of the protagonists in each story.
The book, “History of the Ojibway People”, is over 410 pages of tradition and culture that provide incredible insight into the Ojibway people. William W. Warren had a unique position of trust from both the whites and the Ojibways, a passion for listening to and telling these stories, as well as the rare ability to speak the languages of both people. All of these abilities make for a rare glimpse into the life of the Ojibway people of early America.
Chief Seattle Speech is about how the whites have come over into the Indians land and how they have tried to destroy and remove the Indians. He was totally against the actions of the whites. Trying to get them to understand how his people felt about the things they were doing, he used rhetorical devices. To strongly show his feelings to describe how he feel about the whites, Chief used hypophora, appeal to emotion, and imagery.
Such stories and their settings establish the Native American presence on this land from time immemorial by relating how the Creator placed the First Peoples in their traditional homelands. Homelands are stable and permanent cultural and physical landscapes where Native nations have lived, and in some cases, continue to live to the present day. (Handsman 13). Creation stories thus reflect the central place their relationship with the land occupies in the culture and hi...
To understand Jackson’s book and why it was written, however, one must first fully comprehend the context of the time period it was published in and understand what was being done to and about Native Americans in the 19th century. From the Native American point of view, the frontier, which settlers viewed as an economic opportunity, was nothin...
Sontag, Susan. “Beauty.” The Black Book: A Custom Publication. 3rd ed. Ed. Sam Pierstorff. Modesto: Quercus Review Press, 2012. 34-36.
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
In his oration to Governor Stevens, Chief Seattle tries to persuade the whites into treating his people with more respect, even though his people are seen as inferior. Through his use of metaphors, religious ethos, and multiple allegories, Chief Seattle is able to show Governor Stevens that the Natives, although minimal in size and numbers, are not powerless.
...Seattle uses emotional appeal to reach his audience. Moreover, he tells how the earth is important to the people, but the strangers that are coming are the ones that do not understand the earth and the joy that it offers to the people. In the letter Chief Seattle use his words carefully so that all the readers reading his letter will understand that the land is essential to the people of the land. The lives that the Indians live are bonded to the land and Chief Seattle tries to let the “white man” know that I they do not stop what they are doing they will not only suffer but the land will suffer as well. (1373 words)
As stated by ‘The Duchess’, Margaret Wolfe Hungerford’s famous quote “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” As a result, beauty can describe as an inspiring view present in everything that can be seen. To begin, beauty can be viewed in a building as large and extravagant as the white house to the small hometown market or even in the sight of a single flower to a field filled with a million flowers. Also, beauty can be seen in the sunrise over the peaks of the mountains and also in the sunset glowing across a calm lake surrounded by the bright colors of the fall trees. Furthermore, people have physical beauty, which can be found in a person’s features, figure, or complexion. In the poem “Beauty & Dress” by Robert Herrick he explains the beauty he sees in his wife. Herrick states,
...e ability to achieve anything in life. Hopefully, readers would learn from this novel that beauty is not the most important aspect in life. Society today emphasizes the beauty of one's outer facade. The external appearance of a person is the first thing that is noticed. People should look for a person's inner beauty and love the person for the beauty inside. Beauty, a powerful aspect of life, can draw attention but at the same time it can hide things that one does not want disclosed. Beauty can be used in a variety of ways to affect one's status in culture, politics, and society. Beauty most certainly should not be used to excuse punishment for bad deeds. Beauty is associated with goodness, but that it is not always the case. This story describes how the external attractiveness of a person can influence people's behavior and can corrupt their inner beauty.