"I Will Fight No More Forever"

"I Will Fight No More Forever" is a speech that was written by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe. Usually, the Nez Perce tribe was one of the more warlike tribes. This speech, however, is about how Chief Joseph is giving up the fighting. He says he wants to have time to look for his children and see how many he can find (Joseph 533). This is a Realism speech mainly because the events in the speech actually happened. Also, since this was a speech, it was written in the vernacular with the intent to be spoken out loud. There is not really any form of Regionalism present in this speech, nor are there any defining characteristics of Naturalism. I really do not see how speeches are supposed to be able to be classified into Realism or not. I mean, obviously if you are going to give a speech, you would be talking about realistic events. So naturally, one could come to the conclusion that all speeches would have to be at least somewhat Realistic in nature.

Religion has nothing at all to do with this speech. Government is a part of this speech to a certain degree. The American government was killing the Native Americans, which caused this whole mess that Chief Joseph was writing about in "I Will Fight No More Forever". Nature also has very little to do with this speech. The only way nature is included is when Cheif Joseph states, "It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food." (Joseph 533). Here, nature is killing Chief Joseph because it is cold outside, and they ran to the hills where it is even colder. In this speech nature is used only in this way and is not described in detail. Human nature has more of a part in this speech than regular nature. Chief Joseph's human nature kicks in and he loses his will to fight. In this speech, he sounds like a tired old man who just wants to be with his family. Which he has every right to do. If we want to bring Naturalism into this, Chief Joseph would be an example of Social Darwinism's natural selection philosophy. Obviously, Chief Joseph was not the fittest because he and his tribe were eventually killed. Human nature is also in the background by reading into the context of the speech. People are usually greedy and do not like to share. This is evident in the Americans taking all of the Native American's land and killing them in massive numbers. This speech came about because of the American Dream at its worst. Everyone wanted their own place where they could raise their family. Unfortunately, they belived the best place to do that was out West. That meant they had to get rid of the Native Americans like Chief Joseph who stood in the way of them persuing that American Dream.

Joseph, Chief. "I Will Fight No More." Glencoe American Literature. comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. 533. Print.