Pawnee Chief Speech Analysis

The Downfall of Emotion
The Speech of the Pawnee Chief is not only a speech of great importance but also a speech of great power. The Pawnee Chief, Petalsharro, was invited to visit with President Monroe on behalf of trying to make an attempt to negotiate peace between the tribes and America. Petalsharro was invited because of his actions that eventually earned him the title of “the bravest of the brave.” When he received a medal for his actions he responded with, “I did it in ignorance. I did not know that I did good!(Petalesharro)” This statement explains the reason that Petalsharro’s speech is so powerful. His innocence and truthfulness not only leads the listener to believe his words but to also identify with them. Petalsharro relied heavily on pathos, or the use of emotion, in his speech. In doing this he was able to persuade people to see the …show more content…
Before persuading the people he first had to get them to trust him, and so ethos, or ethical appeal, was also used frequently. Petalsharro focused on the importance and trustworthiness of President Monroe and thus transferred the credibility of the President to himself. The only pitfall of his speech is his lack of logos, or logic. While Petalsharro makes a convincing speech because of the use of pathos and ethos, the lack of logos incredibly weakens his argument. Petalsharro relied almost solely on emotion in his speech. One of the most emotional sections is when Petalsharro pleads for President to let his people continue their lives without interference from others by saying, “let me enjoy my country...we have everything we want—we have plenty of land, if you will keep your people off of it.” Before this point, Petalsharro has been explaining the similarities between the different cultures. In doing this, Petalsharro creates a sense of unity. For example, in one section he says “You love your country you love