"I Will Fight No More Forever"-Chief Joseph

"I Will Fight No More Forever" by Chief Joseph is about him fighting in the war.  Chief Joseph does not want to fight in the war any longer because everyone around him is dying and not surviving.  There is a lot of pain and loss that he has to go through just for his people to contribute to an almost senseless war.  He is tired of seeing the young men, his young men, along with their leaders, dying right in front of him.  This has to be torture for him. "I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohulhulsote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men is dead(Chief Joseph)." This above deals with the opposite thoughts of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson because those two believed in the philosophies of never giving up and these Indians at this point are basically giving up.  They have fought long and hard nights but they feel they have to give up(Chief Joseph). He then talks about this children freezing to death and no one knows why this should be happening to them.  All Chief Joseph wants is peace and you cannot get peace without self reliance(Wayne).  Self reliance is essentially not seeking things outside yourself(Chief Joseph).  This is really hard to grasp for chief Joseph because he cannot just look within himself before he looks to other to help.  He does not understand the individualistic point of view so he can not have peace.  This relates to Ralph Waldo Emerson because Chief Joseph does not display Self Reliance.  in fact, he lacks the idea completely. "I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. "Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever(Chief Joseph)." I feel sorry for the man because he cannot get past others to find peace within himself.

McCloskey, Mary. "I Will Fight No More Forever." Welcome to Georgia State University. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www2.gsu.edu/~eslmlm/chiefjoseph.html>

Wayne, Tiffany K., ed. "Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson." Critical Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.