The student who annotated "Letter to President Pierce, 1855" made the following notes and outline to help her recall the main points of the essay. Notes: I'm a little confused by all of the pronoun shifting. Does he change from he to you so the president will take notice? Is he trying to achieve some kind of effect with this? I think Chief Seattle is being ironic when he uses savage. Obviously he thinks the "savages" have a better way of responding to the earth. Outline: I. The white man's ways of using the land are different from the Indian's. A. White man takes from the land--no personal connection to it. B. Whites create ugly cities.
II. The white man's cities are different from the Indian's ways of using the land. A. Noises of cities make it hard to hear soft, natural sounds. B. The stench of cities makes it hard to smell the air.
III. Animals are necessary--all living things are connected. IV. The end of the Indian tribes will come soon. V. Whites will die out, too--Indians are puzzled by their ways. A. The white man's present habits of taming nature will change everything. B. Dreams of whites are unclear to Indians.
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