The Death of Pocahontas and A New Beginning

The Death of Pocahontas and A New Beginning
(Blog Post #6, Film Part 5)
Invited to England to meet the King, Pocahontas and John Rolfe leave for the Old World. Landing in England, the new sounds, smells, sights and wonders overwhelm Pocahontas and her Native American companions. The strange buildings, crowds, markets, the unfathomable culture, all are disorienting to Pocahontas. In a way, this is a "new world" for Pocahontas. How will she be able to adjust? What does this say about the importance of acculturation in the diffusion of culture?

The carefully tended topiary on Rolfe’s country estate, the architecture of the houses, the orderly streets and blocks of the town, the systemic organization of English society and the regimented, controlled pace of life contrast starkly with the unfettered, unrestrained, joyful freedom of the Indian culture of Virginia. The simplicity and celebration of life the indigenous culture of the New World represents contrasts with the ossified culture of the Old World.

Pocahontas asks her uncle to apologize to her people for her as she expresses her regrets over what transpired with her people. She also expresses her difficulties in what is for her, a new world. She is more resigned than happy, it seems.

How well would you do if you were transplanted into a completely different culture and forced to survive? How happy would you be? What kind of a life do you think you would make for yourself?


When Pocahontas and John Smith meet again, they resolve their relationship and come to an understanding about each other. Who is John Smith exactly? What kind of a man is he really? And Pocahontas, has she changed? Is she really a different person now? Pocahontas has been acculturated into the world of the English, but has she forgotten her former life? Is it possible for anyone to completely forget their culture of birth for a new one?

Ultimately, Pocahontas and John Rolfe set sail to return to Virginia, only to see Pocahontas sicken and die before leaving sight of England. She left behind a son, a grief stricken husband and a legacy to be remembered in the history of civilizations. She was the point of contact between the Old and New Worlds, between European and indigenous peoples of North America. Today there are 100,000 people who can claim descent from Pocahontas. What is her role in world history? How has the world changed because she lived? How influential is this young woman in world history? What do you think?

The end of the film showed the memorial to Pocahontas in Gravesend, England of Pocahontas. If you were to write the epitaph for her, what would it say?

Transformative Acculturation: Pocahontas Becomes Rebecca

Transformative Acculturation: Pocahontas Becomes Rebecca
(Blog Post#5 Film Part 4)

John Smith left Jamestown and Pocahontas was told a lie, that he drowned while on his latest expedition. With Smith out of the picture, Pocahontas becomes morose and unhappy. How does she express her unhappiness? What kind of a future does she have among the English? Does it seem she will ever find herself again? Is it possible to be acculturated into another culture and become completely a part of it, right down to the core of your being?

Is John Smith a hero for refusing to turn Pocahontas into a hostage? Or is he a jerk for lying to her and leaving Jamestown for further expeditions? How difficult do you think it was for Pocahontas to become acculturated into the ways of the Europeans? How do you think it felt to her to reject everything she had been raised with and accept a strange, new culture? Do you think she could ever have been really happy in such circumstances? 

Pocahontas is acculturated into the life of a European at Jamestown, taught European customs, dress and given a new name, Rebecca. When the ships returned from England, new settlers, including John Rolfe are on board. Her entry into the Old World will be one of discovery for her, cultural conflict within herself and ultimately, a short relatively unhappy life. As the point of connection between the Old and the New Worlds, do you think it was her fate to end up this way? Do you think she ever realized how important she was in helping to bring the two worlds together to create a new global, interconnected world?

Captain Christopher Newport spoke to the surviving colonists about starting over in America, creating a new world. He said God gave the English a great inheritance, a promised land to start over again. The English intend to stay and build on what they started in Jamestown. How might it be said that through the experience at Jamestown they were inventing America? Do you think the supports the thesis of the Time Magazine articles on Jamestown we have been reading?

In short order, the English forcibly remove the Indians from their land in order to take it from them, burning villages and confiscating food, driving the Indians deep into the woods, a pattern the Europeans would repeat over and over again in the New World. Is this kind of brutal cultural conquest inevitable when colonization is the goal? Is there ever an upside to be colonized? What do you think?

Pocahontas is baptized, becoming a Christian. She also receives a new Christian name, Rebecca. This marks the start of her acculturation into the English world. At this point she enters the cultural world of the English and embarks on the journey of acculturation into a proper Englishwoman.

John Rolfe begins a courtship with her. Newly acculturated to European ways, Pocahontas follows the ritual and develops a relationship with Rolfe, helping him to cultivate tobacco, which will be the cash crop for Jamestown. In order to marry, Rolfe has to explain why he wants to marry Pocahontas. How does this show the culturally superior attitudes of the English? What kind of man is John Rolfe? Does he have any of the qualities Smith had? How important is John Rolfe to both Pocahontas and the Jamestown colony?

Pocahontas has a kindly, gentle nature and a free spirit, which is what got her involved with John Smith in the first place. Do you think this is what attracted John Rolfe to her? Is this what endears her to the English and someone special and worthy of reverence?

John Rolfe proposes and Pocahontas accepts, although not without reservation. The question of where they will live, the conflict within her about her identity and the loneliness of being at a cultural crossroads haunt her.

After Pocahontas and Rolfe marry, they lead a life that is stable and Pocahontas becomes a wife to Rolfe in the way Europeans expected her to. But she never forgot John Smith. As she finds out King James has invited her to England for a royal audience, she also learns that Smith is, in fact, alive and in England. This now causes a personal conflict for her and a problem for John Rolfe, who now must try to find a way to reconcile her feelings for John Smith. What do you think she will do if and when they eventually meet again?

Acculturation and Culture Conquest: The English Take Over and the Colonists Take Pocahontas

Acculturation and Culture Conquest: The English Take Over and the Colonists Take      Pocahontas
(Blog Post #4 Part 3 of Film)
When it is clear that the English are not leaving (the fact that they are growing corn attests to their intentions) the Native Americans attack Jamestown in an attempt to drive the English into the sea. The all-out war puts the colony in mortal danger. When the hostile Indians rip out the corn and lay seige to Jamestown, the situation becomes dire.



Pocahontas, who was clearly helping the colonists, is exiled by her father and captured by a rival tribe as an outcast from her own people, without a place to go.

The colonists mutiny against John Smith when he refuses to make Pocahontas a captive and use her as a hostage to stop further Indian attacks. Shackled and put to hard labor, Smith is no longer in control. Pocahontas is purchased from a local tribe for a copper kettle and is brought to Jamestown, never to return to her people. She is kept as a human shield to prevent further attacks.

When Pocahontas is taken as a captive she loses her freedom and has to live among the colonists in an alien environment, where houses, books, candles and other implements are new to her. As she tries to orient herself to her new reality, do you think she will be able to acculturate herself? If she is exiled from her people does that mean her only recourse is to live among the colonists as a European? What are her choices and how would you feel if you were in her shoes?

John Smith, Pocahontas and the Clash of Cultures

John Smith, Pocahontas and the Clash of Cultures
Blog Post #3 (Segment 2 of Film)

John Smith understands the Indians and has an intuitive feel for how to deal with them and communicate with them. When he is taken prisoner and about to be killed, Pocahontas intervenes with her father, Chief Powahatan, to secure mercy and spare his life.

Why do you think Powahatan spared Smith? What was the role of Pocahontas and what does her father expect from her as the two cultures continue to try to understand each other?

John Smith is taken in by the Indians and is schooled in their culture by Pocahontas. Pocahontas is charged with learning about the English and their intentions. She is warned by her father to always put her people first, but there seems to be a connection between her and John Smith.

He is released back to Jamestown with the understanding that the English would leave in the spring. What does he find when he gets back to Jamestown? What is the condition of the settlement? How well are the English surviving?

John Smith becomes the leader of the colony by acclaim. He is a leader and his leadership style improves the odds for the struggling colony. “He who does not work shall not eat” is the command that Smith issues to galvanize the lazy colonists, who are more interested in trying to find gold than in doing the work necessary for survival.

How effective a leader is Smith? What is it about him that the colonists recognize and acknowledge, even if they find him irritating? Are there aspects of an arrogant bully in Smith's personality? Do you think there are times when this sort of a personality can be useful? As a person, do you think there is anything special about Smith, unique perhaps, that makes him essential to the story of Jamestown?

As the colonists in Jamestown starve during the winter, Pocahontas leads a group of Indians with much needed food, seed for crops and provisions to get them through the winter, an act of generosity and kindness that is representative of the Native American culture. How do the colonists treat Pocahontas? How is she perceived? How do you think they will repay her act of kindness?  Does Pocahontas empathize with the plight of the English or is it her feelings for John Smith that cause her to take such a risk and feed the colony against her father's wishes? How do you think her father will react when he finds out she helped him? What kind of a woman is this extraordinary young woman? How would you describe her?

Contact and Culture Conflict: Worlds Old and New

Contact and Culture Conflict: Worlds Old and New
Blog Post #2 (Segment 1 of the film)

The arrival of ships bearing colonists from England to the shores of Virginia caused consternation on the part of the native Americans who witnessed the event and the colonists themselves, unsure of what they would find and the reception they would receive. John Smith, the man who will play a pivotal role in the establishment of the Jamestown colony arrived in chains with a death sentence to be carried out. He will, along with Pocahontas, provide a crucial link between the civilizations of the Old and New Worlds.

When John Smith and the rest of the company of colonists land, they are observed by and later greeted by curious Native Americans who are perplexed by the strange clothes, smells and objects the newcomers possess. They smell the Englishmen, touch their clothes, look closely into their faces, curious to understand. They visit often and are timid, decidedly non-aggressive.

It is obvious that the Indians have no concept of private property and are mystified by the European desire to cut down trees, build walls and watchtowers, and fortify their settlement. This contrasts with the open, peaceful nature of the Indians, who share what they have and have no sense of ownership. The serious, fearful Europeans are a stark contrast to the happy, curious and contented Indians.

Since there is a language barrier and communication is difficult, cultural conflicts and misunderstandings emerge as the two peoples try to find a way to coexist. These misunderstandings will explode into open conflict. As the shortage of food intensifies, the survival of Jamestown was in doubt.


What happens to make the “naturals” hostile to the settlers? What events transpire to cause the Indians to want to throw the Europeans out? How does this illustrate the difficulty of cross-cultural communication and the tragic consequences of cultural conflict?

What examples of the Colombian Exchange did you see in this segment of the film? What did the English introduce to the Native Americans and what did the "naturals" introduce to the English? How typical do you think this is when two cultures come into close contact? Do you think cultural exchanges like this are happening today?

Pocahontas is the point of cultural contact, the nexus between two worlds. Based on what you have seen, what do you think she will achieve and what price will she pay for bearing this unique and historic burden?

The Age of Exploration and Discovery

The Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration, an offshoot of the Renaissance, was the fulfillment of the Renaissance mission of enlarging the scope of human endeavor. Fueled by capitalism, the quest for profits drove the early explorers on in a frenzy of exploration that opened up the world to the Europeans and set the stage for the globalization of commerce that has continued until this day. The process of spreading culture and colonizing has continued unabated into the present, where man is on the brink of colonizing the moon and Mars.

The colonists who settled at Jamestown in 1607 might as well have been on the moon. Thousands of miles from civilization, families and the protection of their king, they tenaciously carved out a settlement, battled disease and hostile natives, not knowing what, if anything of value they would find.

What do you think drives people to want to risk everything to settle a new world? What obstacles must be overcome and what do you think would give you the incentive to leave your home, risk your life and settle a new world? What would make you want to take such risks? Is it adventure, money, power, what is it that would drive you to take such incredible risks in exploring and colonizing an unknown world?