Pocahontas Dbq Essay

In 1608, John Smith was brought before Chief Powhatan to be executed. Pocahontas, then 12, runs up and covers John, effectively saving his fate. This is the typical story of how the John Smith-Pocahontas story goes, but did Pocahontas actually save John Smith? Looking at all available evidence, the answer is no.

First of all reasons, in 1613, “Pocahontas is captured and brought to Jamestown.” (Timeline). This scenario is an oddity, as why would Jamestown colonists capture Pocahontas, after she saved John Smith. John Smith was an important figure in the Jamestown story, so if Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life, why would the people of Jamestown want to capture Pocahontas? Why would Jamestown capture the one who saved their leader’s life? This

timeline of events is very odd, and makes absolutely no sense. There is only one explanation for this. Pocahontas did not save John Smith’s life, as if she did, she would not have been captured. The reasoning is simple. There is no reason why anybody, in any scenario, would capture someone who has saved their leader’s life. It never happens. Unless, the “savior” did not actually save their leader’s life. In this case, Pocahontas is a fake and never saved John Smith’s life.
To follow, John Smith may have published these events through his own mouth, but the timing of the publications is too convenient.

In Paul Lewis’s interpretation of these events, “ In 1617, Pocahontas became a big media event in London… While all this was going on, John Smith published a new version of True Relation, adding footnotes that say that Pocahontas threw herself on Smith to save him. Smith even takes credit for introducing Pocahontas to the English language and the Bible.” (Document A: Paul Lewis, Historian). The publication time of the version of True Relation was perfectly aligned to be when Pocahontas was in England and famous. The reason John would publish this version of heightened drama and the story of Pocahontas saving his life is because he wanted to be noticed. John Smith wanted to get a piece of the action Pocahontas was experiencing. Because John Smith wanted to be involved, the publication date is planned and already decided because John wanted the action. Also, John Smith claims that he introduced Pocahontas to English culture, which is his doing, trying to portray himself as Pocahontas’s teacher. That way, he can be known in the world as Pocahontas’s mentor. No man who would be chronicling a story of events would claim something that has no connection to what happened in the events he was

telling.
Finally, John Smith was not saved by Pocahontas, because he didn’t retell the event in his first publication. This is because in True Relation, John Smith did not document the scene where Pocahontas saves his life. For example, “ Arriving in Werowocomoco, the emperor welcomed me with good words and great platters of food. He promised me his friendship and my freedom within four days… He asked me why we came and why we went further with our boat…. He promised us to give me what I wanted and to feed us if we made him hatchets and copper. I promised to do this. And so, with all this kindness, he sent me home” (Document A: “True Relation”). This is John Smith’s first book, and the burning question is, why didn’t John Smith write down when Pocahontas saved his life? This is because, if she did save his life, John would write the scenario down immediately. It would change his life dramatically, and in turn, he would have wrote it down. So why didn’t he? This therefore points us to the conclusion that Pocahontas did not save John Smith’s life. In fact, “ 1607: In late December, Smith is taken before Chief Powhatan. … 1608: Smith writes a book about his captivity.” (Timeline). This shows that Smith wrote the book just a few months after his release. With the details fresh in his mind, Smith did not write down that he was about to be executed and was saved. This is because he was never going to be killed, and Pocahontas never “saved” him. The reason is that John Smith didn’t write it down because it never happened. The scene happened just mere months before, but John couldn’t write it down because it never happened. That shows John Smith was never saved.
With all these pieces of evidence, being Pocahontas is captured, the announcement of his saving being too coincidental, and John Smith never reporting the scene in his first book, it becomes obvious Pocahontas never saved John’s life. To conclude, the Pocahontas- John Smith scene was all a hoax, as the evidence stacks up against it.