Pocahontas Essay, Research Paper

Who really was Pocahontas? Was she like

the Indian girl in the Disney movie, who saved her reservation? Yes and

no. She was an Indian of the Algonquian Indians. Her father was Powhatan,

the chief. Her original name, however was in fact, Matoaka. But Pocahontas

mean ?playful, frolicsome little girl? and so they nicknamed her that.

The meeting and capturing of her acquaintance, and possible first love,

John Smith, was in fact true. But, the saving of him may be as made up

and make believe as the movie. Many people speculate the authenticity of

the ?execution and salvation? story, told by Smith. Supposedly, Smith?s

Englishmen team landed in Jamestown, 12 miles from the Indian reservation.

John Smith was captured and forced to stretch on two flat stones, then

out of nowhere, and little Indian girl cam up and put herself on his body

as to say, ?Kill me instead?. Weather this is true or not, it doesn?t change

the rest of her story. After the ?saved? him, Smith and the Indians became

friendly for the following year. Smith stayed in Jamestown, and Pocahontas

visited him frequently. She carried messages from her father, and other

Indians carried food, fur, and then traded hatchets and trinkets.

After a while, Smith?s relationship with

the Powhatas worsened. Pocahontas?s visits started to lessen, and in 1806,

Smith was injured, and had to go back to England.

Pocahontas went on with her life though,

she married an Indian ?Pryvate Captyne? named Kocoum in 1610. Although

in 1614, she fell in love with an Englishman, John Rolfe. They married

and she got baptized. They went to London with a man named Sir Thomas Dale,

and a dozen other Indians. She was presented to King James I, and all of

the royal family. John Smith, the man who she had not seen in eight years,

was also in London at the time. They met, and talked about the past, but

at first she couldn?t speak, she was overcome with emotion. This was their

last meeting.

After 6 months, Ralf and his family wanted

to go back to Virginia, but unfortunately, Pocahontas didn?t make it. She

was ill from pneumonia.

Pocahontas affected society, she was a

compassionate girl, and saw to it that the colonists got food. She was

also known to have saved lives of certain colonists. John Smith wrote that

Pocohontas was ? the instrument to pursurve this colony from death, famine

and utter confusion.?

I would consider her to be a hero to the

lives she saved, and a role model for someone who helps out someone without

asking for anything back. She doesn?t really affect us today, unless you

know about her, and when you do, your outlook and accomplishments with

life seems so little compared to her great achievements.

I have learned a lot from reading about

her, and her life. I have learned that she was a REAL person, and not some

little Indian girl in love with a strong, Englishman, like the movie. She

is said to be an enthusiastic young girl, a lot like me, and she is respected

for that. I respect her for her compassion and heart, and I think everyone

should, because behind that love story, there is a honest, innocent, loving

woman.