Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being Response

 

Response to Harold Napoleon

Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being by Harold Napoleon gives off a variety of mixed emotions. On the one hand, by the way, Napoleon writes it is clear that he is very knowledgable and retains strong ethos throughout the entire passage. He also gives anecdotes and stories to establish pathos. On the other hand, once exploring who Harold Napoleon actually is the paper starts to fall apart. It changes from a “call to arms” for Native Alaskans to a way to get early parole and push the blame of his actions onto a “spiritual disease”.

The paper begins with Harold Napoleon explaining that he regrets drinking alcohol as it resulted in the death of his son. Not addressing any specifics on how the events happened. He then shifts gears to explain some core aspects of pre-Westerner Native Alaska identity, such as their customs, ideas of spirits/the spirit world, and disease. The passages then transitions into the history of Native Alaskan people. Specifically how the arrival of Westerners impacted the Yup’ik people. Following several pages of Native Alaskan history, Harold Napoleon focuses on why all the information was relevant. He connects the Great Death to modern-day depression and alcoholism, quote “The present epidemic is a little harder to explain, but certainly it

was born out of the Great Death itself”. He addresses how Alaskan Natives today compare themselves to American ideas of success. This, he concludes, is why there are such high rates of suicide, depression, homicide, and abuse in modern Native Alaskan households. He then concludes the paper with a “call to arms” of sorts; stating what changes should be made to relieve the suffering of the Native Alaskan people.

    Overall, the paper is very well written. Harold Napoleon establishes ethos, pathos, and logos effectively, and repeatedly connects all the topics he addresses to one central idea. Personally, however, I made the mistake of search up Harold Napoleon on the internet prior to reading Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being. This, in turn, created a situation where I can praise his writing ability, however his argument would fall on deaf ears. I discovered that his son’s “resulting death” due to alcoholism was from Harold Napoleon beating him to death while drunk. I also discovered a current arrest warrant for Harold Napoleon, due to repeated violation of his parole (drinking on parole). Personally, I that murder under any circumstance is inexcusable. That aside, however, despite Harold Napoleon “deeply regretting” his actions he still continues to fuel his alcoholism to this day. The passage that was written here is definitely moving, however, I feel that had it been written by a non-criminal offender the argument would have made a better impact. Knowing the reasons behind the paper makes a possibly great piece become nothing more than an omission of guilt.