The colonists portrayed the natives as uncivilized barbarians, and John Smith’s account is the epitome of this idea. His portrayal of the story reflects the natives as inferiors while displaying the colonists as superior individuals who always have the upper hand. Smith describes how for “six or seven weeks those barbarians kept him prisoner,” however he was able to improve their image in the natives’ eyes so much that “those savages admired him more than their own” and he was able to gain back his freedom (Smith 63). John Smith uses bias in his account in order to generate a better look for himself over the natives. He expresses the overall general consensus in how the colonists felt about the natives, portraying them as overwhelmingly barbaric and savage-like who captured him for such a long period. …show more content…
He reinforces this idea further of their inferiority when speaking about their attack on a small community of colonists. He claims that “sixty or seventy of them” came rushing from the woods, “singing and dancing” in their bright paint and “well armed with clubs, targets, bows and arrow, [and] they charged the English that so kindly received them with their muskets loaded” (Smith