Reading Journal | “Last Rites for Indian Dead" Suzan S. Harjo

In the shorty story, Last Rites for Indian Dead, Harjo argues that her ancestors should not be treated the way that they are like being put up for display and being sold to private collectors. She fights for her rights throughout this piece using ethos and pathos. As I was reading the short story, ethos was easily spotted. In the first paragraph, Harjo starts off by saying, "What if museums, universities, and the government agencies could put your dead relatives on display or keep them in boxes to be cut up and otherwise studied?" This is a perfect example of ethos. She is trying to draw sympathy with that horrifying sentence. Harjo uses ethos to make an argument that what was happening to the Native Americans was not fair. Harjo also uses ethos effectively to create credibility and character for herself to make it her seem more appealing to the readers. Harjo also uses pathos in her writing. At the end of her writing she offers a solution for Congress to act and the outcome she provided was, "Let us bury our dead and remove this shameful past from America's future." She uses this solution to provide a valid reason to solve the problem that appeals to the reader's emotions.