“Listen!” said he; “You know a part, but not all of the cause of hatred there is between our nation and the abhorred enemies whose name I mentioned. Long back than I can remember, they did mortal wrong to your fathers, and your father’s people. The scalp of two own brothers hang in Kansi tents; and I have sworn, boy, to bear for them a never sleeping hatred
(Page 13 FranklinEvans)
This paragraph is very strong willed, deep and powerful. It has it own tone that transcends the reader into its feelings. The words in this paragraph can simply be represented in-to our own period in time. Our nation is young when it comes to hatred, but it has a gruesome past between the Native Americans and the Colonies that moved in, as well as the period of slavery that lasted for such a long time. However, in our daily life, the news, and various headlines we still can see this type of anguish developing.
Interesting thoughts, Nicole. I’d love to see you analyze this is a little more detail, though. Look carefully at the particular phrases used in the paragraph and try to figure out how that specific language affects the meaning of the paragraph as a whole.
Here are some questions to begin with:
— Who is speaking? Who is being spoken to?
— What is the general context of this scene:? (ie., where does it appear in the novel, what led to this moment, how is it relevant to the larger action of the story?)
— What is the “hatred” that the paragraph refers to? Can you explain the references behind terms such as “our nation,” “abhorred enemies,” and “mortal wrong”? Who are the Kansi?
— And what does it mean to “bear for them a never sleeping hatred”? (Why does the speaker use the metaphor of sleep there — what kinds of images does it conjure up?)
I think that your analysis begins to get at these points, but I’d love to see you address them more specifically.