Passage - 1
(i) These words are spoken by Chief Seattle. Meaning of the above line is that the nature has been sympathetic towards the Red Indian for many years.
(ii) The speaker wants to tell that the future of the Red Indians is dark because the whites are over-powering them.
(iii) President George Washington , who was the president of America is the 'Great Chief at Washington'. He had sent the greeting of friendship and goodwill to the Red Indians.
(iv) Chief Seattle's words are like the stars that never change. The Great Chief at Washington can rely upon his words with as much certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons.
(v) Chef Seattle says that it is kind of the Great Chief of Washington (George Washington) to send the greeting to him. According to him the whites have very little need of Red Indians and they are also more powerful than them.
(i) The whites are more in numbers as compared to the Red Indians. Chief Seattle compares the whites to grass of vast praries and the Red Indians with scattering trees of a storm-swept plain.
(ii) The White Chief informs that they must get ready for land settlement treaty between the US government and Native American tribe. According to the treaty, the Native Americans should surrender their land to the Whites and move farther from their ancestors’ land.
(iii) Chief Seattle says that there was a time when his peoples covered the land as waves of a wind ruffled sea covers its shell-paved floor.
(iv) The White Chief sent words that he wishes to buy the land of Red Indians but he will also provide enough land for them to live in comfort. Seattle says that the proposition seems to be just, kind and generous s the Red man no longer has rights. The offer appears to be wise since the Native Americans are less in number and don’t require a vast territory.
(v) The young Red Indians turned violent and indulged in revengeful acts when the white men pushed the westward. According to Chief Seattle there is no use in taking revenge on the White men because they are large in number as well as more powerful. In times of war, they not only lose their own lives, but also the family that wants them at home also bears the loss.
Passage - 3
(i) George Washington has been referred to the 'father in Washington'. Since, King George has moved his boundaries further north, he has become the father the Native Americans.
(i) George Washington has been referred to the 'father in Washington'. Since, King George has moved his boundaries further north, he has become the father the Native Americans.
(ii) Youth is impulsive because they grow angry at real or imaginary wrong and they often become cruel and relentless. They become hostile and lose their lives in violent acts.Seattle discourages such kind of behaviour from the youth and it indicates his love for peace and friendly relationship. He is against war and he does not glorify war but condemns it.
(iii) If the Native Americans (Red Indians) sell their land to whites then whites will protect them from foreign enemies like Haidas and Tsimshians.
(iv) They are two tribes who constantly at the Suquamish tribe. Haidas are indigenous people of North America. Tsimshains are North American Indians of the North-west Coast.The White Chief’s brave men will provide the natives strength and his ships would fill their harbors so that Hidas and Tsimshians cease to frighten the natives.
(v) The God of the White man loves his people and hates Seattle’s people. He protects them lovingly and leads them like a father leads his infant son. But he has forsaken Seattle and his people.
Passage - 4
i)The Great Spirit is referred to as the God of the natives. The Great Spirit has forgotten his people because Suquamish tribe has almost become extinct and their number is declining rapidly. The Great Spirit is no longer a father figure to them; “they seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help.”
ii). Their population is rapidly reducing and they have almost become extinct. They are called orphans because their God, the Great Spirit has forgotten them.
iii). Because he came to the help of His paleface children and never came to the help of Red Man. He gave them laws to be followed but none to his Red children. They have separate origin and separate destinies. He makes the White people stronger every day but does nothing for the well being of the natives.
iv.) They are two distinct races-the native Americans and the White colonists.The natives’ origin is the American land that is being contested; the Whites here originally belonged to Europe who came and colonized these native Americans.Their destinies are different-the natives are receding every day while the Whites are like the grass that covers vast prairies.
v). The Whites unjustly exercising authority over the Native Americans. It is the natives’ land that the Big Chief in Washington ‘wishes’ to buy but ‘wish’ is a word sarcastically used by Chief Seattle. The Whites are so powerful in terms of their army and navy that the Red Indians need to bow down. Chief Seattle says that Whites are willing to allow them enough land to live comfortably which is symbolic of their master-slave relationship.
Passage - 5
i). Give the meaning of :
a) Tablet of stone - Refers to the words written on to stone tablets that later were brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses. The tablets were also known as the Ten Commandments.
b) Iron finger - Biblical phrase which means Finger of God.
ii). The religion of the Red Man is the traditions of their ancestors-the dreams of their old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of their sachems, and is written in the hearts of their people.
iii). The religion of the Red Man is the traditions of their ancestors-the dreams of their old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of their sachems, and is written in the hearts of their people. The White men followed Christianity and it was written by the iron finger of their God, symbolizing strict adherence to rules and principles. The God of this religion is partial and has forsaken his Red children. Seattle says that this God loves only his paleface children and not the natives.
iv). Seattle says that the ashes of his ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. They love to stay in the land where their ancestors’ memories are alive. Whereas the Whites wander far from their ancestors’ graves. The Whites once they are dead, forget their native land and never return. The dead of the Red men will never forget their native land and year to visit this beautiful land.
v). The White men followed Christianity and it was written by the iron finger of their God, symbolizing strict adherence to rules and principles. The God of this religion is partial and has forsaken his Red children. Seattle says that this God loves only his paleface children and not the natives.
Passage - 6
i) This is because they never connect with their land their people spiritually. Their relationship with their land and their people is not sacred or holy; it is materialistic. As soon as they die, the link to their earthly life breaks and devoid of spiritualism they are incapable of an afterlife.
ii). The dead of the Red man never forget their native land where they lived. They still love its verdant valleys, its murmuring rivers, its magnificent mountains, sequestered valleys and verdant lined lakes and bays, and ever yearn to visit this place again. Moreover the spirits of the dead keep visiting to guide, console and comfort the living.
iii). The Red men should surrender their native land to the Whites. In return of this, the Whites will protect them foreign attack from the Haidas and Tsimshians. The Whites are willing to allow them to enough land to live comfortably.
iv). The Native Americans will have to leave their native land where their ancestors are resting in eternal peace. They lose their land which is full of memories. The land that they have been asked to sell is sacred for them.The Whites unjustly exercising authority over them. The Whites are powerful in terms of their army and navy that the Red Indians need to bow down. The Whites are willing to allow them enough land to live comfortably which is symbolic of their master-slave relationship.
v)The Native Americans would be transported to a reality beyond what is felt by the senses. The ‘shores’, ‘the pathless woods’, ‘the field’ would never be empty of their spirits. This land will make them eternal. “In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude,’ and hence they will be a part of land forever. Their spirits would still love ‘this beautiful land’ and its ‘magnificent mountains’ and ‘sequestered vales.’ Their death here would not be death but only a gateway to the eternal world.
Passage - 7
i)He feels as if not a single star of hope hovers above the natives’ horizon. The winds moan and grim fate follows them. Their situation is similar to a wounded doe that is being hunted down. Moreover he feels that in a few more years, their race will disappear. This is how he reflects his unhappiness about the fate of his people.
ii)Every person, tribe, or culture that is risen to great glory would definitely meet its fall one day and that would be surely be the day of justice. Seattle believes that time will come when the Whites would also be moving towards their inevitable doom.
iii)This is a reference to the Biblical God and his ten commandments that always supported and guided the White men.
iv) ‘We may be brothers after all.’ -Seattle believes that White settlers too will have their decay one day. It would be then that the White men and Red men would share a common destiny. They would be brothers only when the Whites would be able to empathize the Red men.
v). The common destiny of man is that his decay is inevitable. It is through the White man’s decay the Seattle foresees the unity of all beings. He says: ‘we may be brothers after all. We will see.’
Extract - 8
i). This is because even after the last native has perished ‘shores will swarm with the invisible dead’ of Seattle’s tribe. The natives’ love for their land makes them immortal. Thus, the Whites will never be alone.
ii). The shadowy spirits visit the places at nights when the streets of the Whites’ cities are silent and it is falsely believed that they are deserted.
iii). The memory of the tribe would become a myth among the White men when the last Red man shall have perished from the natives’ land, but this would be momentary as it would the ‘swarm with the invisible dead of the tribe.’
iv). Native Americans even after death don’t forget the world that gave them their being and identity. They keep on loving its valleys, its rivers, its magnificent mountains, and its lakes. The dead feel one with the nature and its surroundings.
v). The Native Americans would be transported to a reality beyond what is felt by the senses. The ‘shores’, ‘the pathless woods’, ‘the field’ would never be empty of their spirits. This land will make them eternal. “In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude,’ and hence they will be a part of land forever. Their spirits would still love ‘this beautiful land’ and its ‘magnificent mountains’ and ‘sequestered vales.’ Their death here would not be death but only a gateway to the eternal world. They will only change their world and hence will become immortal. He ends his speech with the assertion that ‘there is no death, only a change of worlds.’
v). The Native Americans would be transported to a reality beyond what is felt by the senses. The ‘shores’, ‘the pathless woods’, ‘the field’ would never be empty of their spirits. This land will make them eternal. “In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude,’ and hence they will be a part of land forever. Their spirits would still love ‘this beautiful land’ and its ‘magnificent mountains’ and ‘sequestered vales.’ Their death here would not be death but only a gateway to the eternal world. They will only change their world and hence will become immortal. He ends his speech with the assertion that ‘there is no death, only a change of worlds.’