Summary Of Pocahontas And The Powhatan Dilemma

While reading the book, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, I learned a great deal about early Indian life, in a way I had not before. Of course, in grade school you learn about “Pocahontas” but not in the way Camilla Townsend describes her. I started this book not really knowing what to expect besides to learn more than I had previously known. I know recently a lot about history has come up for discussion in ways it has never before. Native Americans and Africa Americans have been a topic of discussion for the past few years, shedding light on their history. Times have changed and so is the presence of their history. When I was young it was okay to dress up as an Indian. I did once for Halloween. We did not think about the way Indians would

There was so much content and information that I had never even heard of until reading this book. It makes me think just how much other history has been stolen and not told rightly. All this time, I just assumed the rightful story was the one portrayed in the Disney movie. That sounds funny to type out, and quite ignorant. Finding out that she never married John Smith was eye opening for me. The book tells us that “Pocahontas was only about ten years old” when she first came in contact with John Smith (52). Who would ever think that just a young ten year old girl, even as brave as she might have been, would stand up for a man she barely knew, to her father, who was a large portion of her world. From what I read in Townsend’s book, I have come to the conclusion that her main argument was to get the just truth out there and get rid of the lies. I think she did just

Very rarely did she state that something was true or accurate, almost always she kept things real and said that it was possible, or could 've happened. With the very little information the world actually has on Pocahontas, it is hard to know exactly how she felt. Many times the book states that she did not really write things down. Much of the information that was included in this book is from many of the Englishmen’s writings, journals, diaries, etc. Some of the information is even hear-say. It is very hard to know what of this time is true and accurate. Camilla Townsend strongly proved that in her book. One of Townsend’s weaknesses in Pocahontas and the Powhatan People, is that some things seemed redundant. I get that she was just trying to make a point, but I felt I read almost ten times that she was in fact only ten years old, in regards to John Smith. The book tells us she was more around 15 or 16 when she was around John Rolfe, her future husband. Another thing that came to my surprise, was that she later went by the Lady Rebecca. I had no idea she had changed her name. With this information, I think about how you never hear about John Rolfe’s wife, Rebecca, which just reminds me how very few people know she changed her name after conversion to