The True Story Of Pocahontas Analysis

The True Story of Pocahontas, written by Dr. Linwood “Little Bear” Custalow and Angela L. Daniel “Silver Star”, is a written account of what truly happened in the story of Pocahontas from the oral history of Powhatan tribe. Chapter four begins by stating that after the summer of 1608, the relationship amongst the English colonists and the Powhatan tribe began to crumble. The leader and captain of the colonists, John Smith, begins to mistreat his position as a werowance. He demands food from the Powhatans, despite being aware that the Powhatans had less of a supply due to draughts that limited their harvest. In response to John’s greed, a Mattaponi woman exclaims, “You call yourself a Christian, yet you leave us with no food for the winter!” Overall. John Smith’s

Despite the Powhatans effort of peace, John goes on to write negatively about the tribe in his second account of the incident, The General History. In this account, John claims that Pocahontas, a young 10 year old girl, approached him in the cold night to warn him about her father’s plan to kill John. However, this claim is not feasible. Pocahontas is seldom left without the watching eyes of a protector. It is unlikely that Pocahontas met Smith at this time. In Smith’s first account of the incident in True Relations, the Englishman neglects to write about Pocahontas’ important role in supposedly saving his life. Because Powhatan never intends to hurt Smith and merely wishes for peace amongst the groups, Smith’s claim that Powhatan issued a death warrant against the captain is not feasible. When The General History was published, both Pocahontas and Powhatan, two key witness were no longer living to scrutinize the changes made to the story. John has reason to fabricate and exaggerate, because two years prior to publishing the second account, the Uprising of 1622