Pocahontas

 

Reading 1

2. a. Who was Pocahontas? How did she get her name?

Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan. She got her name for her beauty and liveliness. Pocahontas means playful one.

b. Why did the Powhatans not like the settlers?

Powhatans didn’t like the settlers because the settlers kill the native people and take their lands.

c. How did Pocahontas help John Smith twice?

Pocahontas helped John Smith twice by saving his life. The first time, she persuaded her father not to kill John Smith. The second time, she revealed her father's secret plan of murdering John Smith, enabling him to escape.   

d. How did Captain Argall manage to capture Pocahontas as a hostage?

Captain Argall took the help of Chief Japazaws to lure Pocahontas onto his ship. He invited the Chief with his wife and Pocahontas to visit his ship. Thus he managed to take Pocahontas as a hostage.

e. What did Captain Argall expect to achieve by holding Pocahontas to ransom?

Captain Argall expected the release of English prisoners and the return of English weapons tools by holding Pocahontas to ransom.

f. How did captivity change Pocahontas’ life forever?

Pocahontas learned the English language. She also learned English customs and way of life. She took Christianity and married an Englishman. Her marriage with an Englishman brought peace and harmony among the warring natives and settlers.

g. Why did Pocahontas go to England?

Pocahontas and her family along with some native women went to England to raise support for their settlements in America.

h. How was Pocahontas received in England?

Pocahontas was received well in England. She toured all of England and her presence in London created a sensation. He visited several important persons there including the king.

Reading: 2

1. This narration brings out the conflict between the Native Americans and the colonists. List the reasons of conflict and how it was resolved?

Colonists were occupying the land and other resources of the native people. They were killing the native people with their modern weapons. The native people were resisting their efforts to establish colonies. The native people were refusing to give the colonists the necessary food.

The conflict is resolved by trading. The native people offered food in exchange for the colonists’ tools and other goods.

2. What do you think of the settlers who sailed thousands of miles away to unknown lands in the 17th century, when travel and communications, healthcare, etc. were not very advanced as today? What difficulties do you think they faced?

I think the settlers were desperate to find new lands and new opportunities. Some of them mush have died because of ill health and malnutrition. Some might have lost their way in the sea. Some might have been killed by natives.  They braved vast expanses of seas, unfriendly natives, unknown diseases, and unpredictable weather to reach places that were thousands of miles away. These were the difficulties they faced.

3. The memory of Pocahontas is honored with a life-sized bronze statue at St George Church in Kent. You have been invited to write an epitaph (words written about a person on their gravestone) in about 50 words to be engraved under the state. Write the epitaph.

Here is the woman who brought peace between two warring communities with her love and compassion. She had made her people prosper. History remembers her as the first-ever black woman to marry an Englishman. She is a true daughter of the Powhatan clan, who ensured the safety of native people.