While the piece "A Description of New England" was quite confusing on the surface, the class discussion helped me gain alot of insight. The old language used was difficult to follow, and I felt that the account was quite dry. However, after looking more deeply into exactly what John Smith was trying to say it became a little more understandable. John Smith wanted more Englanders to come to the new lands and use the earth for their gain. It just goes to show how ironic John Smith's stance on others coming to Virgina. The whole reason the English left was because they felt held down by the rule of the King, John Smith felt that the Native American's were savages that needed to share his values and religion. He was trying to impose his morals on a group of people that were surving just fine in their way of living. He was doing the same exact thing that he fled. Also, it showed how he used a sort of propaganda. John Smith tried to will people to come to Virginia by bragging about the rich natural resources that were prevelant. While this is true, his account is majorly exaggerated.
Reading John Smith's other account where he refers to himself in the 3rd person was also an eye opener. I felt that anything John Smith said in that in that account was practically unreliable. The fact that he was talking about himself in teh 3rd person shows that he was trying to make a name for himself. John Smith was hoping to be a legend.
I also liked how we watched a clip from the Disney movie Pocohantas. It just showed how everything gets turned around and made to be so nice and fluffy. Really, John Smith was an old man, and Pocohantas was a teen age girl. I'm sure they were not in love, and in actuallity she never even marries John Smith. Strange.
2 comments:
I agree with you about watching the video clip. Prior to watching the clip I did not really see how exaggerated the story really was. The clip was a very interesting way to look at just how romanticized the piece was. However, I think that in a way this was the predominate theme of many writings coming from the south at that time.
Smith portrayed the natives of savages that the people from England needed to "help." This is also kind of ironic because these they had been living there and cultivating the land just fine without his help for a long time before he got there.
Liz, I think it is an interesting point to note that the New England piece was a bit of propoganda. This would make sense because it is so different from the Virginia piece. The New England piece is so rather enticing to people who may be considering moving to the new world while, as Kate noted in her blog, the other piece is a deterrent to moving to America.
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