Analysis of “the master of life” chief pontiac was born in 1720. his father was an ottawa and his mother was a chippewa. in 1755, he became chief of the ottawa nation. he also became a follower of a native american religious leader named neolin, who preached against the english colonists. he said that the native american spirits were angry with native americans for becoming dependent on english goods and adopting their customs. the french and indian war occurred a few years before the american revolution. pontiac supported the french in this war, which ended the french occupation of north america south of the canadian border. when the french and indians were defeated, pontiac carried on and waged a private war against the british colonists. in 1764, the british ended this rebellion once and for all. in 1769, pontiac was murdered by another native american from a different tribe, who was possibly paid by the british to kill him. pontiac’s speech begins like many others delivered by leaders who want to explain to their people why it’s necessary to go to war. leaders use their own words or phrases, but the reasoning is usually the same. pontiac gives his reasons: we’ve been victims of injustice. we’re being threatened by an enemy. the enemy isn’t as strong as it appears. we need to go to war now to defeat the enemy. you can find a similar logic in the declaration of independence. you can also find it in the speeches to the united states and to the united nations when us politicians urged war on iraq in 2003. but pontiac’s speech takes a very interesting turn. pontiac takes an ancient myth and uses it for his own purposes. his audience would have heard many myths about the wolf. here, pontiac takes the myth and rewrites it, so that it can be used to serve his own political ends. now read "yonder sky has wept tears of compassion on our fathers" by seath’tl (seattle). when you've finished reading the speech, return to this assignment, and read to speech analysis. reflect and respond now that you have read the speech, ask yourself these questions: 1. what elements in the speech sound as though they were probably part of the original myth? 2. how does pontiac make the myth relevant to the current situation he wants to remedy? read the speech again, underlining other metaphors and similes. in your journal or using your computer, write out your interpretation of each metaphor.