Who really was Pocahontas? Was she like the Indian girl in the Disney movie, who saved her reservation? Yes and no. She was an Indian of the Algonquian Indians. Her father was Powhatan, the chief. Her original name, however was in fact, Matoaka.
But Pocahontas mean “playful, frolicsome little girl” and so they nicknamed her that. The meeting and capturing of her acquaintance, and possible first love, John Smith, was in fact true. But, the saving of him may be as made up and make believe as the movie. Many people speculate the authenticity of the “execution and salvation” story, told by Smith. Supposedly, Smith’s Englishmen team landed in Jamestown, 12 miles from the Indian reservation.
John Smith was captured and forced to stretch on two flat stones, then out of nowhere, and little Indian girl cam up and put herself on his body as to say, “Kill me instead”. Weather this is true or not, it doesn’t change the rest of her story. After the “saved’ him, Smith and the Indians became friendly for the following year. Smith stayed in Jamestown, and Pocahontas visited him frequently. She carried messages from her father, and other Indians carried food, fur, and then traded hatchets and trinkets. After a while, Smith’s relationship with the Powhatas worsened.
Pocahontas’s visits started to lessen, and in 1806, Smith was injured, and had to go back to England. Pocahontas went on with her life though, she married an Indian “Pryvate Captyne” named Kocoum in 1610. Although in 1614, she fell in love with an Englishman, John Rolfe. They married and she got baptized. They went to London with a man named Sir Thomas Dale, and a dozen other Indians. She was presented to King James I, and all of the royal family.
John Smith, the man who she had not seen in eight years, was also in London at the time. They met, and talked about the past, but at first she couldn’t speak, she was overcome with emotion. This was their last meeting.After 6 months, Ralf and his family wanted to go back to Virginia, but unfortunately, Pocahontas didn’t make it. She was ill from pneumonia. Pocahontas affected society, she was a compassionate girl, and saw to it that the colonists got food. She was also known to have saved lives of certain colonists.
John Smith wrote that Pocohontas was “ the instrument to pursurve this colony from death, famine and utter confusion.
In the movie, Pocahontas and John Smith actually fall in love even though Pocahontas was going to marry another man. In real life, Pocahontas ends up marrying John Rolfe, yet she is still friends with John Smith. As a matter of fact, Pocahontas still saved John Smith’s life in reality. Disney probably created the fake love story because every Disney movie needs a love
middle of paper ... ... John Smith. Pocahontas was 12 and John Smith was possibly as old as 50! The things that were left out include diseases that were brought over from Europe, high deaths rates and the fact that the Europeans often stole food from the Indians. These were left out as including them may have made the film unsuitable for the audience it was aimed at.
As a young child many of us are raised to be familiar with the Pocahontas and John Smith story. Whether it was in a Disney movie or at a school play that one first learned of Jamestown, students want to believe that this romantic relationship really did occur. As one ages, one becomes aware of the dichotomy between fact and fiction. This is brilliantly explained in David A. Price's, Love and Hate in Jamestown. Price describes a more robust account of events that really did take place in the poorly run, miserable, yet evolving settlement of Jamestown, Virginia; and engulfs and edifies the story marketed by Disney and others for young audiences. Price reveals countless facts from original documents about the history of Jamestown and other fledgling colonies, John Smith, and Smith's relationship with Pocahontas. He develops a more compelling read than does the typical high school text book and writes intriguingly which propels the reader, to continue on to the successive chapters in the early history of Virginia.
The main plot of the film focuses on the relationship between John Smith, Pocahontas and John Rolfe. The film was a romantic film and had a lot of romantic scenes that were probably not portrayed in actual historical events. For example, the two main characters in the film were of course John Smith and Pocahontas, and there were many scenes in the movie that implied their romantic relationship. Scenes, such as when the two are connecting with one another, spending time together and learning about each other mostly through touch and sign language, after Pocahontas had saved John Smith from execution. In these few scenes each character narrates and discusses their idea on love and expressing their feelings on one another. Although, entertaining, John Smith and Pocahontas weren’t actually romantically involved with each other as the film portrays in these few scenes. It is uncertain what the relationship John Smith and Pocahontas actually had. Most likely, it was a beneficial relationship between the two, since there was a lot of trading between the Native American tribes and the colonists. (Read, 2005)
La Malinche, also called Malintzin, Malinalli or Doña Marina, was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast. “She was born into a noble family sometime between 1496 and 1501 in the Paynalla province in Coatzacoalcos, in the Veracruz region of southern Mexico” (“Creator or traitor”). Pocahontas was born around 1595; she was the daughter of Wahunsenaca (Chief Powhatan). Her name was Matoaka, but she was called by her nickname Pocahontas, which means “Little Wanton” (“Pocahontas 1595 – 1617”). She lived in eastern North America, present day Virginia. These women belonged to different region of America and different time. Malinche had contact with Spanish conquerors and Pocahontas was related to English conquerors.
Smith, on the other hand, describes his account in a boastful manner. His account of Indian life reads like a fantastic adventure novel in which he is the glorified hero. He continuously refers to the Indians as “savages” (Smith 46) or “barbarians” (Smith 48) throughout his account. He even describes them as “devils” (Smith 51). At one point, he thinks that the Indians are trying to “fat him to eat him” (Smith 50). Smith’s account is so incredibly dramatic that he expects “every hour to be put to one death or other” (Smith 52). Also, the incident with Pocahontas saving Smith appears to be highly romanticized. Smith’s manner of writing, in which he writes of himself in the third person, only adds to the boastful tone of this account. It makes the entire account seem impersonal. It also makes Smith appear self-important and frivolous.
Disney movie “Pocahontas” and John Smiths “The General History of Virginia” there were many differences, other than things someone could compare. The two versions had different thoughts and views on the accounts of Pocahontas, the Native Americans, and John Smith. The way Disney portrayed Pocahontas had more of a view of mending enemies, compromises being made between two parties, and that there is more to life than materialistic things. On the other hand, John Smith’s account of what happened was way different than Disney’s version of what happened. For example, John Smith describes his journey to Virginia as a long journey, filled with Hunger, with a majority of the people who attended the voyage with john smith ended up dying. At the end, with him and others being captured by Native Americans who reside on that land. Although, no one knows the actual events that took place during this time.
Pocantahs is problem the most famous American Indian woman ever. She was the daughter of Wahunsenacah. The most important Powhatan Indian was Chief Powhatan. His real name was Wahunsonacah. Chief Powhatan was his title as the leader of the Powhatan Confederacy. Chief Powhatan was actually more like a European king than a traditional Algonquian chief.
Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan which made her an Indian Princess. When she was 12 years old, she saved a colonist named John Smith from being clubbed to death. After this, the relationship between the colonist and the Indians were at peace. Captain Smith sent many presents to Powhatan and the Indian woman gave food to the colonist. When John Smith left Jamestown because of a gunpowder accident, the peace between the Indians and the colonist weaken. In 1612, Governor Thomas Dale ordered for Pocahontas to be kidnapped, held for ransom that would be paid in corn by Chief Powhatan. While she was held captive, Pocahontas was baptized Christian and given the name Rebecca. Also while she was imprisoned, Pocahontas fell in love with John Rolfe, who then asked for her hand in marriage. Sir Thomas Dale and Chief Powhatan gave their consent and they got married in Jamestown on April, 1613. This marriage brought peace between the English and the Indians for many years. On 1615, John and Pocahontas had a child named Thomas. Pocahontas became the center of English society’s attention. She had then become Lady Rebecca Rolfe. Before going back to Virginia, Pocahontas became sick. She died on March, 1617, at the age of 21 in England. She was buried in the chapel of the parish church in Gravesend. Rolfe returned to Virginia, where he manufactured tobacco. I liked Pocahontas because she was the kind of person who was willing to do new things and she did the right thing even if no one would agree with her. She is famous for her actions (even if Disney exaggerated them) and I admire her strength and courage to stand up for what she believed in.
There is a great significance of John Parker story/memoir in telling us of enslavement in antebellum U.S. John Parker was a African American abolitionist that was also a inventor , and iron molder. He was very active when it came to helping African descendent slaves escape from the slave states. He was an industrialist that helped hundreds of slave escape to the Underground Railroad resistant bases in Ripley Ohio. He help rescued slave for fifteen years and was one the first African American patent as an inventor.
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.
Her story all started in Lemhi County, Idaho in 1778, where she was born. She was born into the Shoshone tribe of witch her father was the chief (The true story of Sacagawea).
The essence of Pocahontas’ history is debatable, with very few documented facts. Pocahontas lived over four hundred years ago, and the known facts may also be manipulated. The story John Smith recounted of his own ordeal may have been altered to suit his own needs. The truth of the story may not be the facts given of the story. The essence of Pocahontas’ legend is really what is argued. Some may object to Disney’s version of the tale; however, it is Disney’s version to tell.
...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
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