“She [Pocahontas] never spoke of herself, she never represented her emotions, presence or history. He [John Smith] spoke for and represented her” –Edward Said Orientalism 62
Pocahontas, a Powhatan Indian Princess, emerged from a culture of dark superstitions and bettered the relationship with a small group of English settlers in Jamestown and the English rulers of the New World. Her father, Chief Powhatan, was a respected and influential leader, who, by the seventeenth century had made his people not less primitive, but certainly stronger and more formidable than before. In 1605 the English were just discovering the promise land, and the Indians were just discovering the Europeans along with their weapons and diseases. Young Pocahontas managed to uphold moral relations between the Powhatan Indians and early English colonists in Jamestown, Virginia through John Smith, and English captain. Pocahontas single handily instigated one of the scarce eras of harmony between the Indians and the European colonist.
John Smith and two of his troops were shot at from behind bushes and wounded by the Powhatans. John Smith took up his gun and started shooting; killing four of the fifteen Indians, but the Indians backed Smith up to a river. He fell in, and could either let go of his gun or drown. Smith released the firearm and accepted the help of the Indians. Pocahontas, who Smith recalled as "a child of ten years old", witnessed this catastrophe and “Got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death: whereat the emperor was contented he should live to make him hatches.”
The Powhatons were a ceremonious tribe who greeted important visitors formally with a large feast and festive dancing. However, it was not uncommon...
... middle of paper ...
... US: Pantheon Books, 1997.
Horwitz, Tony. 2013. "POCAHONTAS ENGRAVING." Smithsonian 41, no. 7: 91-118. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed January 28, 2014).
Kelly, James C., and Barbara Clark Smith. Three North American Beginnings.
Edited by Nacy Eickel. N.p.: HarperCollins, 2007.
Nabokov, Peter, ed. Native American Testimony. New York, NY: The Penguin Group,
1991.
"Pocahontas," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/pocahontas-9443116 (accessed Jan 28, 2014).
“Pocahontas,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/topics/pocahontas (accessed Jan 28, 2014).
World History: The Modern Era, s.v. "Pocahontas," accessed January 28, 2014. http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/.
World History: The Modern Era, s.v. "John Smith: quote on Pocahontas," accessed January 28, 2014. http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/.
Chief Joseph and Helen Hunt Jackson are two very important people who both share strong yet different perspectives toward the treachery of the U.S. Government along with the unfair treatment of Indians around the 1800’s. Chief Joseph was born in 1840 in the Wallowa valley of Oregon, and belonged to the Nez Percé tribe, which was made up of some 400 indians. The Government had made many valid promises among the tribes, just to come back and break these words with more conflict and war. All Chief Joseph was in search for was for the chaos among the whites and indians to be replaced with peace, brotherhood, and equality. Stated in the text, “We ask that the same law shall work alike on all men.” In other words, Chief Joseph believed that people
Pocahontas Powhatan Opechancanough, tells the story of the interactions between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians, and how the European arrival changed the lives of the natives. the book focuses on the three Indians it is titled for and tries to explain the story of Jamestown through a less Anglo-biased view. At many times the book contradicts the story most people know of the Jamestown settlement and the major players involved. Throughout the book, author Helen Rountree goes to great lengths to tell the whole story truthfully, and when she can't give the whole story she makes it clear as to what is accepted to be true.
Powhatan questions why the colonist is not willing to live in peace and instead take by force. During his viewpoint, Powhatan shows the effects of the colonist getting along and having cooperation with the natives. Which is no violence, sharing of resources, the abundance of supplies, safety, rest, and enjoyment of life? Powhatan compares how life would be if they live in peace than to live with conflict. I am not so simple as not to know that it is better to eat good meat, lie well, and sleep quietly with my women and children; to laugh and be merry with the English, and, being their friend, to have copper, hatchets, and whatever else I want, than to fly from all, to lie cold in the woods, feed on acorns, roots and such trash, and to be so hunted that I cannot rest, eat, or sleep. Chief Powhatan states, “I, therefore, exhort you to peaceable councils.” In addition, he insists that the guns and swords be removed and sent away indicating he seeks a peaceful relationship between the two
Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, provides a vivid and brutally honest account of the atrocities committed against Pocahontas and her people, unlike the popular animated film released by Disney. We will never know the absolute truth behind Pocahontas and her people, or the early settlers who emigrated to Jamestown, but one truth, however, remains evident. The English had succeeded in destroying an entire culture, rich with diversity. This may not have been what the English had intended at first, but it untimely was the result of their actions against the Powhatan people and the other tribes of the surrounding region. They imposed harsh conditions which included abduction, conversion, violence, and tributes which practically impossible to
merely a foul English seaman in his early thirties with dark dingy hair. Pocahontas did not
This book goes above and beyond to separate the facts from mythology in regards to Pocahontas’s life and provides us with information on the cultural context and in which she was raised. The book tries to recapture and show us the humanity of Pocahontas. While reading the book we learn a lot about the unknown truth behind America’s beloved story and of course we learn about the Native American girl Pocahontas. Camilla argues what she believes happened and what facts she has to prove what she believes. Since we were kid’s proponents of American exceptionalism, romantic poets, and Hollywood moguls have continued to change reality to the point that it is said that the real Pocahontas no longer exists. It shows us that she went against what people actually thought of women during that time and became her own person. According to the book, “she was as brave as all her people--not a simple, joyful worshipper of English men or power, but a real and complicated woman with her own plans, goals, and ideas” (p. xi). This book goes against anything we have ever been told and lead to believe and makes us see the story in a new
The Powhatans were not savages, as John Smith would later claim in his The General History of Virginia. Instead, they were a ceremonious people who greeted important visitors in a formal manner with a large feast and festive dancing (Sahlman). Although they did occasionally put prisoners to death in a public ceremony, it was no more savage than the English customs of public disembowelment of thieves and the burning of women accused of being witches (Sahlman).
Pocahontas was an influential Indian who shaped Jamestown. Pocahontas’ real name was Matoaka. She was the daughter of Wahunsenaca or chief Powhatan. Pocahontas was a Powhatan Indian and at the time the Powhatan tribe was strong. It was Pocahontas who helped save a colonist named John Smith from being clubbed to death. Because Pocahontas had saved John Smith she built trust between the colonists and the Powhatans. Pocahontas became an important figure for the peace and negotiation during this time period. She had helped the Indians from not fighting the colonists and vice versa. As an immediate result of her saving John Smith the Indians and the new colonists worked together and were beneficial to each other. In the future Indian and Colonists began to fight again. But Pocahontas relationships with the colonists did not end, she continued to associate and help other
After examining the sources, I strongly believe that Pocahontas did not save John Smith from the urgent, deadly circumstance that legends speak of. Although history textbooks such as The Americans: A History write that Pocahontas “rescued Smith when he was captured”, it refers to her rescue as a legend. While some legends may be exaggerated versions of partial truths, many are purely just stories. Although Pocahontas may have “saved” John Smith from a less dire circumstance, the odds of her rescuing him from a desperate, violent capture is probably not true. Furthermore, Smith did not mention any threat or capture in his book written a year after the “actual” event. However, in order to gain more fame and money, he included an epic, detailed description of her rescue in the Generall Historie of Virginia. If Pocahontas truly tried to “save him from death” (Smith), John Smith would’ve had to mention her rescue in his first book.
...n a bit of a glamorous image as Pocahontas has been depicted as a beautiful, free spirited, brave and independent girl. Pocahontas is known, primarily because she became the hero of Euro-Americans as the "good Indian", one who saved the life of a white man. Not only is the "good Indian/bad Indian theme" inevitably given new life by Disney, but the history, as recorded by the English themselves, is badly falsified in the name of entertainment. Bibliography http://cougar.ucdavis.edu/nas/varese/nas191/Marie/home.html http://mytwobeadsworth.com/NAreclaimhollyimage.html http://www.academon.com/lib/paper/5846.html http://www.indiancountry.com/article/2565 http://www.free-termpapers.com/tp/30/mlo89.shtml http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/clastext/clspg135.htm http://www.powhatan.org/pocc.html http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/alison-thesis/relation.html
Other novels might simply tell the story of Pocahontas, using accounts that were left by Pocahontas and may not give enough information into the intentions of the Englishmen, instead Townsend includes and rationalizes both sides of “dilemma” that surrounded Pocahontas’s short life. This is achieved in Townsend’s novel through her use of third person narrative while incorporating what the person might have been thinking or what their intentions might have
To conclude with “The General History of Virginia” and Disney’s version of Pocahontas, the two stories had two different opinions and views. Although, Disney’s portrayal of Pocahontas was perceived as an offense to the Native Americans, no one really knows the actual events that took place during that time. People will continue to think that John Smith’s version was a bit hysterical, while the Native Americans will take the Disney movie Pocahontas to an offense. John Smith and Disney both gave their own versions of their story. Others will continue to do the same.
The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles by John Smith, portrays the enormous troubles the settlers were faced with by the Native Americans. He explains how he was captured by Indians and also saved by a young Native American girl, Pocahontas. He vividly describes the ceremonies and rituals of the Natives performed before his execution. However, the execution never occurred due to the tremendous mercy showed by the king’s daughter who blanketed John Smith’s body her own. Pocahontas went on to persuade the Native Americans to help the settlers by giving them food and other necessities. Despite her efforts to reach peaceful grounds, her people were still bitter and planned an attacks on the colony. Nevertheless, Pocahontas saved them once again by warning the settlers of attacks. Pocahontas went on to marry an Englishman and traveled to England. She resembled the prosperity and good that was to be found in an untamed land.
Correspondingly, Allen’s argument that Pocahontas’s contributions were overlooked can be backed up by many other writings by knowledgeable scholars. One of those writings is “Living with Europeans” by Daniel Richter. In it he states “...writings of at least fourteen seventeenth-century English chroniclers… their works reveal that Pocahontas was a nickname…”(Richter 307). This demonstrates just how much she was overlooked; they gave her a nickname instead of calling her by her birth name. By doing this they showed just how much they didn’t respect her. Moreover, it ties into “saying I was a simple wanton, a savage maid” (Allen 322) in Allen’s poem. Coupled together with “Letter to Queen Anne of Great Britain” by Captain John Smith, Allen’s argument is backed up even further. In it, John writes all about how Pocahontas saved his life and occasionally helped feed the Europeans. This is a major understatement. In Allen’s poem she said “And indeed I did rescue you- not once but a thousand times… you slept, a foolish child” (Allen 322). Pocahontas saved both his and his men’s lives, and was their saving grace. Given that she taught them how to tend the land and grow tobacco; without her they would have
The Disney movies of Pocahontas tell a plot of a Native ¬American tribe and English colonists that fight for the land the Native Americans live on though war ultimately creating moderate peace. While keeping to their own sect, the imbalance of power between the two social groups is prevalent throughout much of the story. Walt Disney’s Pocahontas is more than a classic children’s movie. It is a thoughtful, well contrived narration that portrays a message that in order to fit in, you must be a certain race and born into a specific culture. Disney’s Pocahontas suggesting that the color of our skin shouldn’t matter when being accepted into social groups as well as the idea that arranged marriage should be rejected. Thus, treating people right could ultimately have a positive outcome and lastly, the film also suggests that family roles change without a mother figure.