Pocahontas Research Paper

It is said that there are many different versions to a story. There is one persons story, then there is an other person’s story, and then, there is the truth. “Our memories change each time they are recalled. What we recall is only a facsimile of things gone by.” Dobrin, Arthur. "Your Memory Isn't What You Think It Is." (online magazine). Psychology Today. July 16, 2013. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201307/your-memory-isnt-what-you-think-it-is. Every time a story is told, it changes. From Disney movies to books, to what we tell our friends and colleagues. Sometimes the different sides to the story challenge the

Many people believe the 1995 film, Pocahontas, to be the true story of a young Powhatan woman. However, the story lacks facts. Pocahontas isn’t even her real name. Matoaka, the real Pocahontas, faced mush more misery than the movie showed. Mataoka’s life in America, life in England, a comparison between the movie and real life, and how fictional portrayals of real people effect society today will show you that Disney’s inaccuracies could change history.

Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of Chief Powhattan, acted as the intermediary for Jamestown. Pocahontas was kidnapped and held for a ransom of captured English prisoners and weapons (“Jamestown and the Indians: The First Decade.”). When the tribe refused to pay the ransom, she agreed to marry John Rolfe and take the name Rebecca in order to gain her freedom (“Pocahontas.”). She played the role of diplomat and translator during negotiations with the Powhattan to obtain a truce that lasted until 1622 (“Pocahontas.”). As a way to promote their endeavors in the New World, The Virginia Company celebrated Pocahontas when she accompanied her husband to England (“Pocahontas.”). The role Pocahontas played helped the English gain an advantage in interactions with the Natives, but failed to diminish long term hostilities. In contrast, Massasoit acted as a voluntary intermediary with Plymouth. In 1620, Massasoit, wearing heavy red face paint and a beaded necklace, approached Plymouth accompanied by 60 of his men with goad of trading food for small trinkets (“Massasoit.”). On several occasions, Massasoit and his tribe saved Plymouth when the warned of impending attacks by other tribes, (“Massasoit.”). He even welcomed a starving religious renegade, Roger Williams, into his own house (“Massasoit.”). He acted

Life in the New World sounded very promising to many Europeans around the seventeenth century, causing many people to set off on ships hoping the promise of better life in America to be true. Many of the newcomers felt that their way of life was far better than the life the Indians had been living for many years before. Camilla Townsend tells the story of a young Indian girl, Pocahontas, and some of her experiences with the new English colonists in the book, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma. In the story of Pocahontas, there are many examples of how the English colonists overwhelmed and destroyed Indian cultures in Virginia during the opening decades of colonization.

As young children we are often misled to believe that the stories and movies we are exposed to are presumably based on factual history, but are in reality myths, keeping the truthful, important, and fair facts hidden. Amonute is an accurate example of learning the real events that occurred in a person’s life while the typical myth of Pocahontas saved an Englishmen from being killed by her father. In the beginning of the book we are briefly introduced to Pocahontas, the Powhatan people and the English colonists. As the book continues we follow Pocahontas when she is kidnapped, her married life, and her trip to London where she got sick because of foreign illnesses and died. Camilla Townsends “Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma” wants Pocahontas’ true story to unfold because she is worthy of respect for her bravery and sacrifice and because “everyone subverted her life to satisfy their own needs to believe that the Indians loved and admired them” (Townsend, pg. xi). I also believe that the author was trying to argue that even though the Englishmen believed that the Native Americans were uncivilized and lived like savages, that instead they were wise people.

Pocahontas was born in 1595, with the given name of Matoaka and later got the nickname Pocahontas. She has been known as the favorite daughter of the powerful Powhatan Chief but she is also famous in history for contributing greatly toward the survival of the Jamestown colony. When the English colonists settled in Jamestown in 1607, there became tension between the Colonists and the Powhatan Indians. During the 1600s, the leader of the Colonists, Captain John Smith was caught by the Powhatan’s men. It has been said that Pocahontas saved Smith’s life and has had great influence on early relationships between the colonists and Indians. During Pocahontas’s life, she has faced many tragedies but triumphs have also played a role in her time.

[1] Disney’s Pocahontas has understandably received a lot of flak about the historically inaccurate story that is told about the legendary Pocahontas and Captain John Smith. There is a good reason for that. The movie does little that can be construed as historically accurate, yet Disney claims that was never their intent. Disney, in their previous movies, has been attacked for being racist and unsympathetic to racial minorities. Their answer was a movie whose sole purpose, as stated by Disney, was to promote racial tolerance. The question is, then can a movie promote racial tolerance when the issue is built on false history, history that if told accurately would depict the exact opposite?

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.

A quote from the website called (¨Pocahontas Leadership and Legacy¨), it is said that, ¨She had preferred to live with the English and kept her new found faith breaking barriers on religious freedoms.¨ This is a legacy of Pocahontas because her name meant ¨playful one¨ or ¨naughty child¨ and she always wanted adventure and exploration. As said in the website called (¨Pocahontas Leadership and Legacy¨), it says, ¨She, in her efforts broke down walls of religious freedoms, and interracial inequality all while changing the demographic of stereotypes early settlers had on native Americans. Which led to enriching our country financially, ethically, and socially directly affecting the prosperity of our county as we know it.¨ This is a legacy of Pocahontas because she wanted people to stop the fights and arguments to have peace. (¨Encyclopedia Virginia/Pocahontas¨) says, ¨¨In fact, she did not become a celebrity until the 1820s, when southerners sought a colonial heroine to compete with the story of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts and so establish Virginia (more accurately) as the earlier of the two English colonies.¨ This is a legacy because it shows that at one point, people didn't know about Pocahontas and that it took awhile to find out about her. These are some of the legacies of

Faith: Good afternoon, I’m Faith Conover, and you are listening to “TWS”, that’s “Things Worth Sharing”. Today we have with us Rebecca Rolfe, wife of John Rolfe, or better known as Pocahontas. I’d like to thank you for being here today, Rebecca.

The well-known story of Pocahontas is fairly new to me. Only knowing her selflessness and her saving of John Smith, I knew my knowledge had holes. Between there and her death I knew scarcely anything. However, from what I did know, I believed it to be the truth like many other normal people. Her life and legend, upon further examination, may be quite different from the story we grew up with and were told to believe. Pocahontas is sometimes referred to as the mother of America and in her short life did many truly wonderful things, but her life has become a myth.

Pocahontas' relationship with the animals is part of a Disney tradition. The transformation of wild animals into equivalents of pets and accessories is supported in the Disney film by the assumed notion of a fascinating, enchanted world within which all life forms are connected. For example, in the enchanted scene: "Color of The Wind," Pocahontas picks up the bear cub, which enhances the harmony with nature. Native Peoples lived in much closer propinquity to the nonhuman world than the explorers ever would. Thomas Slaughter, in Exploring Lewis and Clark (2004), confirms this idea when he states: "Those, who used bows and arrows . . .

Pocahontas was born in 1597. In 1607 the natives welcomed English at Jamestown. The settlers say that about 200 armed natives attacked Jamestown on May 26. In early December, John Smith is captured by the Powhatan tribe. In late December, Smith was taken to Chief Powhatan. In 1608 Chief Powhatan released Smith. Smith wrote a book about his captivity. In 1614 John Rolfe and Pocahontas got married. Pocahontas and her family sailed to England in 1616. John Smith claims he wrote a letter to the Queen urging to host Pocahontas. Pocahontas is now known as Lady Rebecca. Pocahontas made a media splash in England. Pocahontas died in 1617. In 1624 Smith wrote a second book.

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

Pocahontas. Americans know her as the beautiful, Indian woman who fell in love with the white settler John Smith and then threw her body upon the poor white captive to protect him from being brutally executed by her own savage tribe. The magical world of Walt Disney came out with their own movie version several years ago portraying Pocahontas as a tan, sexy Barbie doll figure and John Smith as a blond-haired, blue-eyed muscular Ken doll. Although Disney attempts to instill racial tolerance, inter-racial friendship, and nonviolent resolutions in Pocahontas, they contribute to the inaccurate Indian woman stereotype that has evolved from such stories. While it can be argued that Disney has