Well, just by the author and then after reading, I can tell that this was written by an Indian. I do not know what exactly the Indians were fighting about, however I can assume that it was probably about land or property, and not just the fact that some Indian cheated on another Indian's wife. I would have to say that of the three categories, this short speech falls under being realism, and that would have to be it. I might be able to get naturalism into there as well, however, I believe that it is more realism. Just because, Chief Joseph is telling everyone he is done fighting and he is done with everyone else, so he is basically just giving up, which is never cool. Although, since I do not know the exact circumstances of why they started fighting, or how long the battle has been going on, I do not know which would be the correct response to this speech. Because for one, he kind of did need to give up, but at the same time, he should wait and try to win the battle, if possible. Which, that would be kind of hard with limited men and a low morale in the group. However, since Chief Joseph titled his speech, "I Will Fight No More Forever," I can assume that the war was going on for some time, because if he was saying he does not want to fight forever, then he and his men must have been fighting for quite some time then, although that is just an assumption I have made from the title given to the story.
Despite the fact that this speech was quite short, I do not blame Chief Joseph for the short speech, because for one he was tired, and second he probably was not really in the mood to give some wam bam amazing speech. One line that the chief said was, "Tell General Howard I know is heart. What he told me before, I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too Hul Hul Suit is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes and no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets (Joseph 533). That passage right there shows the disparity of the men and how helpless and hopeless they feel. After reading that, I kind of thought about just you know, giving up. Because if it was so easy for Chief Joseph to just say he is giving up, then why can't I. Then I got to thinking about it, and the chief actually had a reason to be giving up, which is what I think he ultimately was trying to get across to his men and then later after he passed on, to his reading audience of today.
One thing I did notice was that he made the hero sound like the enemy, which does not make too much sense, but he gave them the credit for running his men down, many to death. That is just an observation I made while reading this short speech.
Works Cited:
Joseph, Chief. "I Will Fight No More Forever." American Literature Textbook. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 533. Print.
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