Paper 1, final draft

Julia Labbe

Dr. Klein

05 March 2018

English

In the book “Days Of Theft” Hedges and Sacco mention problems in Pine Ridege that are still important and relevant in today's society. It brings up the issues of poverty, alcoholism,violence and culture. Culture, that isn’t mentioned directly is an important part of the chapter, because culture is what will/ would have saved the people of Pine Ridge. Through rhetorical appeals, the reader can really have an idea of what the author feels, what the facts are behind Pine Ridge and why it has all of these problems, and why it is important to look at the history from back then and compare it and share it with today’s society.

Hedges and Sacco use ethos in order for readers to believe they are a credible source by personally going to Pine Ridge and interviewing a bunch of different people, it’s credible because they went there and while they are sharing the stories they heard, they also included some facts from those stories. An example of a fact given was right in the begging of the book when it said “Alcoholism on Pine Ridge, although the sale of liquor is banned on the reservation, is estimated to be as high as eighty percent”(Hedges, Saco 3). This is just one of example of how the authors mixed in facts with some experiences on Pine Ridge. Another example is on page 17 when the authors give background knowledge on how Pine Ridge was discovered and how it became known as “Pine Ridge”. Because the authors are giving these facts and adding with their personal experiences on Pine Ridge it gives the audience entertainment from their stories and its factual.

The authors use pathos by explaining all the awful things that go on at Pine Ridge, such as rape, poverty, or the alcoholism, it pulls in the reader by making them feel what the authors felt. An example would be when Long Wolf says  “‘Forty-two dollars. That was what divorce costed back then on the reservation. So we save all that money and then we gave it to (our mom). She went out and got drunk with my dad’” (Hedges, Sacco 5). This is not only explaining one major problem, but it is explaining how one major problem lead to another major problem. In this case it is talking about how money was scarce, but once adults got a hold of the money, it was automatically put towards alcohol. The authors are making us feel how we should feel as readers after reading what the child said, which was sadness. After they shared the child's story, they went on to explain how employment was hard to find, which means it was hard to make money.

The authors use logos by stating “The liquor stores dispense the equivalent of 4.5 million 12-ounce cans of beer or malt liquor a year, or 13,500 cans a day” ( Hedges, Sacco 3) This is showing just how severe the alcoholism is at Pine Ridge, and how much liquor gets into Pine Ridge, even though it is illegal to have on the reservation. The reason why alcoholism is big at Pine Ridge, is because the older generation (people who fought in the war) drink because of their personal problems. This is because they do not have access to resources that would help them. The alcoholism gets passed down from each generation because when the kids see their parents drinking, and see how this is the way to solve their problems, this is what the kids will repete. With the right resources, there would be a correct step taken in order to solve this problem.

Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco use kairos by giving some background of Pine Ridge, with giving a description of how Pine Ridge looks and how little the people of Pine Ridge have. Hedges and Sacco describes how Pineridge looks by describing it as “Pine Ridge, the vast and impoverished residue of the Indian Wars in South Dakota, is a monument to a defeated ethic. It then gives a visual description “The roads pass marooned trailers, often with junk cars and discarded appliances out front, and sweep into dusty and forlorn towns, including Pine Ridge itself, and then out again into the vast expanse of grasslands “(Hedges, Sacco 13).  It reflects that Pine Ridge is poor, and it always has been historically, and it still is today. This is important to know now, because it is giving a big issue for the people of Pine Ridge and being aware that this has been a problem forever, there can be steps taken in Pine Ridge in order to change history and have Pine Ridge get on track in order to get the help they need.

An important part of Pine Ridge is their culture. Their culture is very spiritual and a way to explore and see that spirituality is by attend pow wows which is part of their culture. With alcoholism being a big problem in Pine Ridge, more and more people are losing their ability to follow their culture and find their spirituality. A big reason why Pine Ridge is still suffering is because they do not have the money, or help from the government for the resources and help they need to get back on track. This is not something the people of Pine Ridge can control, but something they can control is their culture. If the people of Pine Ridge started to get more involved with their culture and helped each other out, this would be a huge step in getting back on track and giving Pine Ridge another chance at ending the problems they face. When someone follows their culture, they usually follow it strictly, so if the people of Pine Ridge could get back into their culture, it would in the end, do nothing but help them.

By bringing up the historical background of Pine Ridge and hearing the stories from some of the people of Pine Ridge, we still see today a lot of these problems, not only in Pine Ridge, but everywhere. In Pine Ridge, with all of the poverty, alcoholism, and violence we see how these problems affect the people of Pine Ridge and how there are no resources for help, the government will not help, so this leaves it up to the people of Pine Ridge to find something bigger. Something like getting back into their culture and remembering who they are and how these problems shouldn’t be taking over their life like it is, with identifying ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos we really get a feel, background, education history of Pine Ridge, and what exactly they have had to face historically.