The story of Pocahontas and John Smith has been popularized in the modern culture by a vast number of plays performed about them since the 19th century, as well as novels, films, and one of the most popular interpretations of this story – a Disney’s animated film released in 1995. All these versions show spectators a love story of a young American Indian girl and a British colonist. However, it has not a lot to do with the reality.
In real life, Pocahontas, an Indian Chief’s daughter, was only about 11 years old when she met Captain John Smith, who was in his late twenties. They certainly were not lovers, but just good friends. Pocahontas had an interest to the British settlers and was looking for ways to communicate with them. She brought food to their camps and even warned them when her father had had plans to attack them (Rountree, 1995). This can explain her interest to John Smith as well. However, there is still a mystery in their relationship and it concerns the story of Pocahontas saving Smith’s life. Did she really love him and was eager to save him, or was it merely a part of an Indian rite? The principal points about John Smith’ story will be examined and analyzed in the present paper.
Different historians have different opinions on John Smith’s story of his rescue. Some believe he was telling the truth, some think he was lying, or have at least misunderstood the ceremony (Chargot, 1995). The first version to be examined is the one of skeptical historians, who are sure that Smith lied about the day of his conjectural execution.
The main reason for which some historians do not believe Smith’s story is the fact that it took him 16 years to bring himself to telling it to the world. He mentioned it only when Pocahontas was dead and could not agree or disagree with the story (Chargot, 1995). In addition, Pocahontas had become widely popular in England by that time, and possibly John Smith just wanted to take advantage of the fact of knowing her closely to enhance his own status (Lemay, 1992). He is described as an ambitious man by a lot of historians, so such an opinion may seem logical. Moreover, his story resembles two other stories – one of an English adventurer who was seized by a Turkish sultan and saved by his daughter; and the second is of a Spanish soldier rescued by another Indian princess (Chargot, 1995).
Other historians believe that Smith wrote the truth, but say that he might have been wrong interpreting the facts. What he considered to be a rescue could be only a traditional tribal sacrament, a part of a common adoption ritual for the Algonkians (Rountree, 1995). Likewise, it could have been a test of Smith’s courage and ability to deal with the tribe and its Chief Powhatan (Chargot, 1995).
Smith was sure that he was facing death, while Pocahontas, her father and all their tribe …