Question

We learned about different types of argumentative techniques, or appeals, when we studied Thomas Paine’s from Common Sense. Read the first paragraph of Last Rites for Indian Dead. What if museums, universities, and government agencies could put your dead relatives on display or keep them in boxes to be cut up and otherwise studied? What if you believed that the spirits of the dead could not rest until their human remains were placed in a sacred area? What type of argument or appeal is Susan Harjo making in this paragraph?

Answer 1

Susan Harjo uses an emotional appeal or pathos in the first paragraph of 'Last Rites for Indian Dead,' attempting to evoke empathy by discussing the sacredness of burial sites.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the first paragraph of 'Last Rites for Indian Dead,' Susan Harjo employs a type of argumentative technique known as an emotional appeal or pathos. By posing rhetorical questions about the treatment of one's dead relatives and their spiritual rest, Harjo seeks to evoke empathy and moral outrage in the reader. This appeal to emotion is aimed at making readers understand and feel the weight of the issue from the perspective of those who value the sacredness of burial sites and the rest of the dead.

Answer 2

In this opening paragraph Susan Harjo is appealing to emotion. She uses shock tactics to raise the reader's consciousness. By inviting readers to imagine an abhorrent situation that might affect them personally, she brings her argument close to home in a powerful way, Her "what if" sentences are a striking way to introduce her argument for outlawing commercial transactions in Indian artifacts.