Text Studied: Chief Red Jacket Rejects a Change of Religion by Chief Red Jacket (Pg. 70)

Text: Brother, continue to listen.

You say that you are sent to instruct us on how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind; and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this to be true?

1. The words you say are repeated several times in the sentence. What is the repetition's function?

I believe it primarily serves to establish a strict and distinct barrier between the "white man" and the presumably native people from whom's perspective this is told. Sort of how the words "us" and "they" serves to create a barrier.

2. The question at the end of the passage is a rhetorical question. What attitude towards the audience is expressed by the use of a rhetorical question?

Distrust. Distrust. Distrust.