Pocahontas

Pocahontas is a woman of myth and legend; she has mainly been depicted in fictitious movies such as the Disney version. She does have a small place in history as the one who saved John Smith, an Englishman. There was a copious amount of things that she did in the movies that did not really happen in real life. For one, she did not marry John Smith, but instead she married a man named John Rolfe, a tobacco planter. Pocahontas is a very strong woman with many traits that helps be in the elite ranks of women in the native American community. She put her life on the line to save a white settler so that is what she did that solidified herself in American history because it not only showed the courage of herself, but of her Native American Tribe. She was a brave girl who had quite the history growing up. The story of Pocahontas is an often-told tale. In the telling it has acquired mythological elements shared with other stories of encounters between Europeans and Indians, to such an extent that the original “facts” (if they are certain enough to be worthy of the name) have been distorted or obscured. In 1616 John Smith, one of the early English colonists in Virginia, recounted in a letter that ten years before he had been saved from certain death at the hand of the Powhatan Indians by a young teenage girl, named Pocahontas, who was the daughter of the chief of the Powhatans. Pocahontas grew to be on friendly terms with the colonists, but Smith made no suggestion that he was ever her lover. Smith was eventually obliged to return to England. Then, in 1613, the English took hostage Pocahontas, and in 1614 she married John Rolfe, a tobacco planter. Two years later the couple journeyed to England, where Pocahontas was presented at court. They planned to return to Virginia, but Pocahontas fell ill and died at Gravesend in 1617. The settlers also reportedly kidnapped Pocahontas during her lifetime. While Barbour wrote of Pocahontas' kidnapping by Samuel Argall, her stay at Jamestown, and her baptism and marriage were more of peace treaty securities than noble savage transformations. Barbour portrayed Pocahontas in her own world, with her own people, and, in doing that, argued against the sanctification and noble savage her image so often portrays. Since she was kidnapped she also learned the English language, which was a benefit from her. When the strong-willed Pocahontas found out she had been tricked aboard Argall's ship, she was furious. Then she calmed down. Instead of pining for long as a prisoner, she seems to have resumed her fascination with the English and, now well into her teens and an adult by the standards of both societies, began making up for lost time. She had learned some English during her early acquaintance with the colonists; now she worked to perfect it. An Anglican minister named Alexander Whitaker taught her English customs. In a visit with her half brothers after almost a year of gentle captivity, she acted so coolly toward them as to suggest that she was making an emotional transition. Then she announced she wished to stay with the English. Pocahontas is mostly famous for saving the life of John Smith when he was about to be murdered by her tribe for trespassing the land. Two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could laid hands on him [Smith], dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs to beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the King's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, 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. A few months later Powhatan sent his daughter to Jamestown as a sign of good will and to plead for the return of Thomas Savage, whom her father "loved exceedingly," as well as of some Indians the English had been holding as prisoners. Thanks in large part to the young girl, whom Smith described as "for wit and spirit, the only nonpareil of [Powhatan's] country," relations improved rapidly. Smith adds, in his letter to Queen Anne, consort of the monarch for whom Jamestown had been named: "Such was the weakness of this poor commonwealth, as had the savages not fed us, we directly had starved. And this relief, most gracious Queen, was commonly brought us by this lady Pocahontas”. Evidently she found the English fascinating. As Smith told the queen, 'Jamestown with her wild train she as freely frequented as her father's habitation; and during the time of two or three years, she next under God was still the instrument to preserve this colony from death, famine, and utter confusion." There were other witnesses. William Strachey, who arrived in 1610, reported accounts that "Pocahontas, a well featured but wanton [i.e., mischievous] young girl, Powhatan's daughter, sometimes resorting to our fort, of the age then of eleven or twelve years, [would] get the boys forth with her into the marketplace and make them wheel, falling on their hands, turning up their heels upwards, whom she would follow and wheel so herself, naked as she was, all the fort over." It seems implausible that a child performing cartwheels who was also a princess bestowing essential aid would have had a romantic relationship with Smith. Yet they undoubtedly had a strong emotional connection that lasted as long as either of them lived. His enemies among the endlessly contentious colonists, who found his military discipline too harsh, gossiped that he might be planning to marry her, young though she was, in order to make himself Powhatan's heir Pocahontas was a famous part of history during the early stages of American History. She saved John Smith’s life by almost giving herself up to save him. She was also kidnapped because she was lured in and she happened to learn the English language while she was kidnapped. What she went through as a young girl is pretty amazing seeing that most girls her age did not do anything remotely close to what she did so she is great for that.

Bibliography
Edward Buscombe, Film Quarterly (University of California Press, 2009), 35-40. 62:3 Beth Cusack, The Life, Legend, and Legacy of Pocahontas (Early America Review, 2010) 9:3 Christopher Clausen, Between Two Worlds: The Familiar Story of Pocahontas was mirrored by that of a young Englishman given as a hostage to her father (American Scholar, 2007) 76:3

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[ 1 ]. Edward Buscomb, “Film Quarterly”, University of California Press, 2009, 35-40
[ 2 ]. Beth Cusack, “The Life, Legend, and Legacy of Pocahontas”, Early American Review, 2010.
[ 3 ]. Ibid.
[ 4 ]. Christopher Clausen, “The familiar story of Pocahontas was mirrored by that of a young Englishman given as a hostage to her father”, American Scholar, 2007.
[ 5 ]. Ibid.
[ 6 ]. ibid.