I went down not long agoto the Mad River, under the willowsI knelt and drank from that crumpled flow, call itwhat madness you will, there’s a sicknessworse than the risk of death and that’sforgetting what we should never forget.Tecumseh lived here.The wounds of the pastare ignored, but hang onlike the litter that snags among the yellow branches,newspapers and plastic bags, after the rains.Where are the Shawnee now?Do you know? Or would you have to write to Washington, and even then,whatever they said,would you believe it? SometimesI would like to paint my body red and go intothe glittering snowto die.His name meant Shooting Star.From Mad River country north to the borderhe gathered the tribesand armed them one more time. He vowedto keep Ohio and it took himover twenty years to fail.After the bloody and final fighting, at Thames,it was over, excepthis body could not be found,and you can do whatever you want with that, sayhis people came in the black leaves of the nightand hauled him to a secret grave, or thathe turned into a little boy again, and leapedinto a birch canoe and wentrowing home down the rivers. Anywaythis much I’m sure of: if we meet him, we’ll know it,he will still beso angry.
6. What insight does the painting of Tecumseh provide into his character that the poem does not?
A. His facial expression in the painting shows his fear of poisonous serpents.
B. The painting shows him with his weapons to demonstrate his strength
C. The coin he wears around his neck in the painting shows that he is not as worried about the white people as he sounds.
D. The painting shows what Tecumseh may have looked like
7. How would the meaning of the passage change if it was written about the painting?
A. It would focus more on Tecumseh’s appearance and his strength as a leader
B. The mood would be gloomy
C. The speaker would not be as focused on Tecumseh
D. The speaker would not need to describe Tecumseh’s appearance
Brothers,—We all belong to one family; we are all children of the Great Spirit; we walk in the same path; slake our thirst at the same spring; and now affairs of the greatest concern lead us to smoke the pipe around the same council fire!Brothers,—We are friends; we must assist each other to bear our burdens. The blood of many of our fathers and brothers has run like water on the ground, to satisfy the avarice of the white men. We, ourselves, are threatened with a great evil; nothing will pacify them but the destruction of all the red men.Brothers,—When the white men first set foot on our grounds, they were hungry; they had no place on which to spread their blankets, or to kindle their fires. They were feeble; they could do nothing for themselves. Our father commiserated their distress, and shared freely with them whatever the Great Spirit had given his red children. They gave them food when hungry, medicine when sick, spread skins for them to sleep on, and gave them grounds, that they might hunt and raise corn.Brothers,—The white people are like poisonous serpents: when chilled, they are feeble and harmless; but invigorate them with warmth, and they sting their benefactors to death.The white people came among us feeble; and now we have made them strong, they wish to kill us, or drive us back, as they would wolves and panthers.
8. If the speech and the poem were made into a film, what choice below would be most helpful to the viewer to understand the central idea?
A. Tecumseh’s anger and how he empowered his people to fight.
B. Tecumseh’s defeat and how he was never found.
C. Tecumseh’s fierce yet cowardly actions led to his defeat
D. Tecumseh doesn’t care if they lose, he just likes fighting.
9. What insight does the painting of Tecumseh pointing provide into his character that the speech does not?
A. The painting demonstrates Tecumseh’s fear of the “white men”.
B. The painting shows how Tecumseh and his people died
C. The painting shows Tecumseh’s fearlessness and anger
D. The setting of the painting shows how native americans lived
10. How would the meaning of the speech change if it was written about the painting?
A. The speech would not be given by Tecumseh
B. The focus of the speech would be directed toward the white men and not his people
C. The problem would be how Tecumseh was captured by the white men.
D. The mood would be somber because of his death
