Critical Reading/Questioning the Text: Student Sample

Below are one student's answers to some basic questions about "Letter to President Pierce, 1855."

• What is the thesis or main point of the text? The main point seems to be to point out how unnatural the behavior of white people seems to the Indians.
• What methods does the author use to support these points (illustration, example, citing authorities, citing studies and/or statistics, description, personal experience, history, etc.)? He uses a few specific examples based on his personal experience, some pretty general descriptions, and he uses history. He also uses devices like irony and repetition to emphasize what he's saying.
• What value position, if any, does the author present? Is the author either directly or indirectly presenting her or his moral framework on an issue, or is he or she summarizing or describing an issue? He is presenting a moral framework. He believes that the whites are behaving unnaturally, and he tries to present this belief in a way that makes this behavior seem crazy to white people too.
• Does the author use any special terms or expressions that need to be clarified? Not really.
• What is the level of discourse of the essay? What level of educational attainment does the author presume in the audience? He uses fairly simple language, perhaps because he is speaking to people in their native language and not his own (I think).
• Who is the implied audience for the essay? Is it written for a specialized profession or for individuals with a focus on their particular role in society? Supposedly, the president of the U.S. is the audience, but Chief Seattle seems to want to reach an audience made up of educated and powerful white people who might realize the error of their ways and work to change the way whites interact with nature.
• What other questions arise after a careful reading of the text? What does Chief Seattle think about white people? He seems to think that it's too late--the implication is that there aren't any white people who care about the things he cares about, who have a vision for their children's future.

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