How Did Pocahontas Impact A Woman's Life?

The Disney film Pocahontas can be viewed as a false portrayal of American history. Although it may have been made for entertainment purposes, Pocahontas is regarded to be a coming of age film for children due to its didacticism. The life lessons that one could possibly take away from the film are considerably positive, but the depiction of Native American and European cultures is deceitful. Most Disney films involve “epic romances,” in the case of Pocahontas one is not necessarily needed to convey the message of the film. Even though historical films cannot always be accurate to actual events, this film manages to stray away from the actual historical story of Pocahontas entirely. Due to this, children are presented with false information

One of the things Pocahontas is most known for saving John Smith’s life. It all started when one day, the Pamunkey tribe caught a white man. The man was to be presented to Pocahontas’ father, Chief Powhatan, that night. The village prepared large feasts, and Pocahontas was thrilled to finally get the chance to see one of the mysterious outsiders who had come to their homeland. When the man was finally brought out, many villagers screamed in horror when he glanced at them, although Pocahontas didn’t understand why everyone was afraid of this man to be called “John Smith”. Pocahontas’ father declared that the handsome man with the blue eyes was to be killed! The toughest warrior poised his arms above his head with a club in hand and… Pocahontas

John Smith surprised many by becoming a significant leader and a ray of sunshine in an otherwise increasingly desperate situation. He strategically involved the Indians in order to increase the chance of survival of the colonists. This strategy caused him to develop personal relationships with Indians; some good, some bad. Although captured and sentenced to death twice by Chief Powatan, he was saved by Powatan's daughter Pocahontas. Many historians however, believe that Pocahontas did not actually save John Smith; they believe he was mistaking an adoption ceremony for his execution. David Price writes that there is no way to describe what happened other than an impending execution. "Nothing is known about seventeenth-century Powhatan adoption ceremonies, nor is any other tribe in North America known to have had an adoption procedure comparable to what was undergone by Smith."(pg.243).Either way, the romance between Smith and Pocahontas emphasized in children's stories is seemingly impossible; Pocahontas would have been eleven years old upon acquaintance with John Smith. Pocahontas

A major contrast between the Disney Stories and movie of Pocahontus, was that they had failed to mention her kidnapping. Pocahontas’ kidnapping was unjust and surprising as it was by the community of the man who would be her husband and later the father to her child, although Pocahontas had already been married since the age of twelve or thirteen to a man named Kocoom. Pocahontas’ early marriage was then ended when her warrior Kocoom had then disappeared, for reasons unknown. After this disappearance, Pocahontas later then married to John Rolfe as she had the choice to choose any man she wanted without the fear of being judged and called cold for her remarriage.

After reading both of John Smith's accounts, I think that Pocahontas never saved John Smith. Both his pieces of writing give many clues to why this is true. From background information, it is known that the Virginia Company censored what writing was being sent back to Europe and England. They were instructed to write

With this policy, the survival rate grew to nearly ninety percent that year. He organized successful trading with the Native American Powhattan. Smith was however captured by him and only spared when Powhattan’s daughter Pocahontas pleaded for his life. This is where the story of Pocahontas comes from. Smith wrote a letter about this encounter to Queen Anne when he heard of her coming to England years later. He wanted to ensure that she would not be treated as someone that could not be trusted. He wanted to show her loyalty to him and to England.

To begin, unlike Disney’s portrayal of what most people thought of as an epic romance of the ages, Pocahontas and John Smith were never intimate with each other. In addition, while being the

John Smith's tales of the Indian princess, Pocahontas, have, over time, encouraged the evolution of a great American myth. According to this myth, which is common knowledge to most Americans, Pocahontas saved Smith from being killed by her father and his warriors and then fell in love with John Smith. Some versions of the myth popular among Americans include the marriage of Smith and Pocahontas. Although no one can be sure of exactly what happened almost four-hundred years ago, most historians agree that the myth is incorrect. Pocahontas did not save John Smith's life from "savages" and never showed any affection for him. The events of her life differ greatly from the myth Americans have created.

1608) he makes no mention of the threat or rescue, and uses words like “friendship” and kindness” to describe meeting Powhatan. He generally presented a favorable picture of his captor, Pocahontas' father Powhatan, and he did not mention either having his life threatened or Pocahontas' saving him. In his other account, written 16 years later (General History), presents a different picture of his captivity by mentioning Powhatan's general cruelty and specifically his attempt to kill Smith. He uses words like “barbarous” and “fearful” to describe the meeting with Powahatan. Moreover, the specific details in Smith's earlier writings do not coincide with those in his later writings, indicating that the latter are full of exaggerations and half-truths.

 captured by Powhatan who ruled over Algonquian Indians @ today Virginia & close to beating his brains BUT Powhatan’s 11 y/o daughter, Pocahontas, got in the way  Smith is saved  back to Jamestown

Pocahontas was a Native American woman. She as a big part in American’s history. Pocahontas assisted helping the English colony thrive through the hard time. Pocahontas is most known for saving John smith life and falling in love with him. It didn’t work out due to John smith getting hurt and had to be taken back to is him land. During Pocahontas younger years as a kid she was daughter of the Powhatan which means the leader of alliance. Her mother is unknown. She Also had Four brother and two sister. After her and John smith love life got done. But her life did do good because she was held captivity for quite some time. During her captivity she learned so English word and begin her new life as a christian. She then changed her named to

He started scouting around and began drawing maps immediately. He met Pocahontas by almost shooting her by a water fall, and later they fell in love. He was captured later in the movie while venturing out alone at night to meet Pocahontas. John Smith was going to be executed on top of a rock at dawn, in front of an army of colonists who planned to rescue him. In reality, John smith was arrested and chained in irons during the voyage over, and he was released a month after arriving to Jamestown, Virginia. After he was set free, he did a lot of exploring and trading with the Indians. John Smith mapped most of the Jamestown area. He was eventually captured while seeking food along the Chickahominy River. John Smith was brought to Chief Powhatan and was sentenced to be executed. This is when he actually met Matoaka, the real name of Pocahontas, and she rescued him from execution. Matoake was the oldest daughter of Chief Powhatan. John Smith became good friends with Matoake, and eventually Chief Powhatan adopted Smith as his son. (Squidoo, Inc., 2012)

Back in 1995, as a 20 year old woman, I was, absolutely, still in love with everything Disney. I was still very much enamored with the romance and fairy tale aspects of all their stories and movies. So when the Walt Disney Company released the animated feature “Pocahontas” in the summer of my 20th year, I had to see it. At the time, I thought I had hit the jackpot with this movie. “An American legend comes to life” is the tagline to get viewers interested in this movie. [1] A heroin, whom was a beautiful Indian and a love story, who could ask for more from a Disney movie, I thought to myself. Now, being ignorant of the true facts about the Indian woman Pocahontas and even about Indian culture and history itself, I took this story more

English colonists invaded by father's land, I warned them about an ambush, I have been kidnapped, and I have been kept hostage. But let's start from the beginning… Kwey! That's Algonquin for 'Hello!' My name was Pocahontas which means 'spoiled one' and I was born in Werowocomoco in 1595, no one really knows when I was born specifically but it was known because of the involvement with the English colonists. My mother's identity was unknown but my father was named Powatan who was the chief of over twenty tribes. I was just one of the twenty children my father and mother had, out of the twenty children, I was my father's favorite, he called me his "delight and darling". But I was just like any other girl

In Camilla Townsend’s book, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, Townsend points out that there are many historical inaccuracies and myths that are associated with the story of Pocahontas. Using historical evidence to support the story of Pocahontas, Townsend attempted to create an accurate timeline bringing the past to the present. At the same time, the Disney film Pocahontas attempted to depict Algonquian culture accurately, however, according to history, much of the material presented in the film is full of misconceptions and is historically imprecise. In fact, Disney’s Pocahontas epitomizes John Smith and