After reading Malea Powell’s essay, “Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins”, I have had some ideas in my mind verbalized and now I have the language to speak about what interests me in regard to American Indian Rhetoric. Powell’s statement about Winnemucca’s writing and speeches are “an acknowledgment and a negotiation of that intersection, one in which she consistently positions and repositions herself as both apart from and a part of Euro-American and Paiute cultural discourse” (72) is what gave me the terminology of negotiating and repositioning. Personally, I thought that Powell articulated the story and the rhetorical devices that Winnemucca was aware of very well.
My first impression of Winnemucca was that she dressed up as an Indian Princess because she thought that was expected of her, but after reading Powell’s essay I think that the argument that Winnemucca was dressing up as an Indian Princess in order to complicate the meaning of “the Indian” for her audiences (who were predominately white) was a rhetorical device is more accurate. Powell gives the readers insights into Winnemucca’s motivation and her careful consideration of who her audience was.
A “civilized Indian woman” is whom Winnemucca represents – to the Paiutes and to the American public. This representation demonstrates Winnemucca’s ability to take on multiple roles and to read her audiences well enough to speak to their values in order to effectively persuade them. Powell describes Winnemucca’s primary audience as being Christian women, who value civilized manners and Christian ideals. In order to persuade these women to assist the Paiute tribe, Winnemucca talks about the important role of women/mothers and appeals to the emotions by taking on the role of the mother toward her tribe.
Overall, I think that Powell offers a new approach to examining Sarah Winnemucca’s texts and shows audiences how thoughtful and deliberate the use of rhetoric and rhetorical devices can be.
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