Literary Non-Fiction: Speeches
Rhetorical Devices:
Repetition is the repeated use of the same word or phrase—usually for emphasis.
Parallelism is the repetition of similar words, phrases, sentences, or grammatical structure. * Shows that ideas are related or equally important. * Helps to stress a phrase or idea.
Aphorisms are expressions of an opinion or a general truth.
Epigraphs are a quotation from the beginning of a book, chapter, or section of a book, used to emphasize a point and usually related to the theme.
Reading Skill: Comparing and Contrasting:
Writers often make their points by comparing and contrasting subjects. (Noting their similarities and differences)
Background Information:
Not everyone agrees on what we should teach or on how it should be taught. Often what is considered important to learn depends on where and when we’re living. For example, the speech and letter that follow were written before Native American cultures received much respect from European Americans. Native American leaders have had to argue that their culture, language, history, and way of life are useful knowledge.
In the 1700s, the British and the French were competing for land and resources in North America. English colonists thought that by offering Iroquois boys the chance to attend the university in Virginia, they would convince the Iroquois to support their side. Chief Canasatego of the Onondaga Tribe was an influential leader in the Iroquois Confederacy, a group of tribes in the upper New York State area.
In 1927, Mayor William Hale Thompson of Chicago raised a protest against school textbooks he believed presented history in a way that was prejudiced in favor of Great Britain. The mayor wanted to revise textbooks to be what he called
“100 percent American.” The members
of the Grand Council Fire of American Indians—led by its president Scott H.