When the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock, they were poor and hungry – half of them died within a few months from disease and hunger. When Squanto, a Wampanoag man, found them, they were in a pitiful state. He spoke English, having traveled to Europe, and took pity on them. Their English crops had failed. The native people fed them through the winter and taught them how to grow their food.

How does Keeler use emotion in this paragraph from "Thanksgiving: A Native American View" ?

She uses such words as “poor” and “pitiful” to make us understand how the American Indians viewed them.
She uses a statistic to show how many died.
She describes Squanto and the American Indians to make us feel grateful to them.
She describes the Pilgrims to make us respect them.

1 answer

In the paragraph from "Thanksgiving: A Native American View," Keeler uses emotion by employing words like “poor” and “pitiful,” which evoke sympathy for the plight of the Pilgrims. This choice of language highlights their desperate situation and emphasizes how the American Indians viewed them during that time. Additionally, she shares the statistic about the death toll among the Pilgrims to further underline the severity of their hardship. Overall, her descriptions cultivate a sense of gratitude and respect for the assistance provided by Squanto and the Wampanoag people, effectively drawing on the reader's emotions. Therefore, the most accurate analysis of her emotional appeal in this paragraph would be:

She uses such words as “poor” and “pitiful” to make us understand how the American Indians viewed them.