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Irony
Definition of Logos
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Volume 2, Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Eliot's Speech:
In Volume 2, Chapter 9, John Eliot appears at Magawisca's trial and speaks to the courtroom on behalf of her and her people. Eliot uses logos to convince non-Native attendees that Magawisca should not be put to death:
He recounted in the narrative style, then much used in public devotions, the various occasions on which they had found their fears of the savages groundless, and their alarms unfounded. He touched on divers instances of ‘kindness and neighbourlike conduct that had been shown them by the poor heathen people, who having no law, were a law unto themselves.’ He intimated that the Lord’s chosen people had not now, as of old, been selected to exterminate the heathen, but to enlarge the bounds of God’s heritage, and to convert these strangers and aliens, to servants and children of the most High!
Eliot is a real historical figure. He was a Protestant missionary who made it his life's work to convert American Indians to Protestantism, and who tried to convince other white settlers to be less violent toward them. Magawisca is on trial for allegedly conspiring against the Puritans. In the speech the narrator describes, Eliot offers the Puritans a "narrative" that runs counter to the idea that Magawisca and her people are cold-blooded killers and conspirators. Eliot reminds the Puritans to think logically about how often they have been wrong about their suspicions against Magawisca's people. He reminds them of how much they owe to the Pequot people for their "neighborliness." Playing into his own and his audience's sense of moral superiority, he tinges his argument with pity for the "poor heathen people" who he sees as doing their best without the guidance of moral, religious, and legal frameworks like the Puritans have. Eliot goes on to ask his audience to see themselves as "the Lord's chosen people," tasked with converting Magawisca's people to their own religion, so that they would have (as Eliot and his fellow Christians see it) the benefits of knowing God. This idea is at odds with the notion that "the Lord's chosen people" are supposed to commit genocide against anyone who does not already believe in a Christian God.
Eliot's logos helps the Puritans (and Sedgwick's white readers) see Magawisca and her people as fellow humans, even though his perspective that they need to be converted is problematic from a modern perspective, particularly where conversion is seen as threatening Native people's cultural identity.
Related Themes:
