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Pocahontas

In Paula G. AllenÆs Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat, the author maintains her goal in writing this account of the Powhatan nativeÆs life was to offer a corrective to the romantic story of Pocahontas (also known as Matoaka, Amonute, and Lady Rebecca Rolfe) offered by Anglo-American accounts from individuals like Captain John Smith and others like the Walt Disney Company. As Allen maintains, ôWhat I wanted to do in my book was to make Matoaka the central figureùthe entrTe, not a side dish, large footnote, or ingTnueàMy book takes Pocahontas from the situation of victim to that of actor, from object to subject of her own story. Its primary context is Algonquin, not Anglo-American,ö (Braxton, p. 13).

In so doing, Allen (p. 31) provides us with a different account of Pocahontas, one who is painted as a visionary and gifted young woman who is dedicated to the spiritual traditions of her people, the loose alliance of Algonquin tribes known as the Powhatan Alliance or ôTsenacommacah.ö AllenÆs account of Pocahontas not only shows us a young woman able to bridge the distinctions between the English and the Algonquin, but also illustrates how the interaction of these two distinct cultures resulted in lasting changes on each group.

The story of Pocahontas offered by Allen is one that provides great insight into the legendary Native American from a native perspective. Pocahontas roughly translates as ômischief,ö Allen tells us, but Pocahontas also had another name, Amonute, which illustrated her standing as much more than an Indian maiden, for Pocahontas ôas Amonute, medicine woman- was following her Dream-Vision. She was much more than a simple Indian maiden: she was an initiate and a powerful practitioner of the Dream-Vision People, a shaman-priestess in modern terms,ö (Allen, p. 136). PocahontasÆ dream-vision was established when English colonists began establishing Jamestown in the early sevent...

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Pocahontas. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:59, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709917.html