"Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the historian Camilla Townsend's new book, "Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma", in which she attempts to shed some light upon the history behind the myth of Pocahontas. It discusses Townsend's reconstruction of the life of Pocahontas and the difficulties that she faced in doing so. It also looks at Townsend's attitudes to the early Jamestown settlers.

From the Paper:

"Townsend admits that in reconstructing the life of Pocahontas, she faces many difficulties, including the fact that Pocahontas came from a non-literate society that left no formal records, and that the settlement of Jamestown and the records of Smith cannot always be relied upon as a true and fair depiction of what Indians were 'like' at this time. However, she believes that the relationship of the tribes of the area were more complex than that of two people who were at war, who suddenly were brought to a truce by Pocahontas. Sometimes, the Indians would provide the colonists with food, as the people of Jamestown were struggling in the new climate and the demands the settlement made upon their fortitude, although for a time Powhatan began to kill the men who openly came begging for food, in an attempt to make the colonists go home (96)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Townsend, Camilla. Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004.

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