Assertion Analysis: #5

“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.”- John Lame Deer (Lakota)

In Lakota's assertion he is talking about the value of people and how things were changing at the white mans arrival. The white man came to the land and brought their ideas of wealth. It was quite confusing to the natives, because they were used to sharing, and giving to others, the total opposite to the white civilization. Their idea of "civilized" was quite surprising to the natives because if such things were to be done in their society, it would be morally incorrect. The white man ideal causes for negative things, while the Native ways are quite positive. The white man civilization "cheats and swindles one another," and encourages ideas of "private property" and of everything's mine. On the other hand, natives had no prison, no lawyers, no politicians, no money, no wealth, no locks, nor keys, and would help the poor. He claims that according to white men they were "uncivilized" but to the natives the white form of civilization was quite horrific.  

Lakota also uses rhetorical and literary devices such as syntax, anaphora, tone, parallelism, connotation, imagery, logos, and pathos. He uses syntax by structuring his sentences by listing reasons and giving descriptions before he makes his point."No written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians," in this section of the quote Lakota uses anaphora when listing this, giving equal importance to everything he lists after the first term. He uses parallelism through the text by structuring his sentences and verbs in a way that gives great sound, and rhyme. He uses connotation when using the words "civilized and uncivilized," meaning he's being non-literal towards the matter. Lakota uses pathos at the beginning of his assertion when he talks about the poor man and how kind natives are, drawing emotion to the reader. At the same time Lakota uses Imagery, when he describes the whites natives ways of living. He uses logos in his assertion as well when he gives reasons why they wee said to be "uncivilized" and when he gives reason to why the white men where "civilized." One of the main rhetorical devices Lakota uses is tone. Throughout the whole assertion/quote Lakota uses a sarcastic tone when talking about the natives and how "uncivilized" they were. "We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.” In the last sentence of the assertion, one can tell Lakota is being sarcastic due to the diction he uses and as he had said before in previous context, it is quite obvious that the native way was far better than the white's civilization ideas.