Reading from John Smith's "A Description of New England" I felt like I was being preached to. But the tone was very bullying, as though one could only benefit from acting as John Smith dictated. John Smith and the other colonists left England because they felt as though they were being pressured to follow a certain religion and act and live a certain way, yet in his writings to England are a narrative on how those still in England should be living their lives. Apparently the journey to America was quite long, long enough to forget their reasoning for wanting to leave England in the first place. This is only shown further when John Smith explains the native Americans, or as he refers to them, the "savages." According to John Smith and the other colonists the "poor savages" must be converted to Christianity.
Religion was very influential in the lives of those in England as well as the colonists, even if it was a source of conflict and John Smith knows this. John Smith uses the religious conscience of those in England to his advantage referring to "God's blessing" and what could be "more agreeable to God." God is being used almost as a way to guilt trip those reading his essays. John Smith does not do much to actual describe New England which is supposed to be the purpose of his writings instead he uses propaganda and weaknesses of the English to make them believe that by traveling to New England they will be satisfying God and leading happier, more productive, more beneficial lives.
In his second writing from "The Generall Historie of Virginia," John Smith explains the story that all children grow up hearing. The story of John Smith and Pocahontas and how she saved his life. This story is written differently than the first because in this one John Smith writes entirely in the 3rd person, this and the one-sided way the story is written appears to be John Smith's way of ensuring his place amongst the legends. I'm sure if the viewpoints of a few native Americans were added to the story would be quite different, as would the universal belief as John Smith as a hero.
6 comments:
I agree with what you said about how john smith uses god and religion. i feel like he was stooping to low levels to attempt to get people to follow him. using religion, and englands weaknesses as a form of propaganda isnt right. it should just be about the truth rather than manipulating peoples feelings.
It's funny that you mention the story of Pocahontas and John Smith as a tradition in childhood. Honestly, I thought Pocahontas was totally made up until after I saw the movie. The name John Smith just seemed too generic to me, I guess. Either way, I agree with your opinion on why the story was written in the 3rd person.
I agree that John Smith did have a bullying attitude and he did try to persuade people to think the way he did. I agree with this because John Smith did impose his beliefs on the Native Americans. He said that you have to cultivate the land and farm and if you don't your going against God. He also is a lot like Columbus in that he came in and killed a lot of the natives and took over their land.
When you say that the reading sounded like it was being preached and than John Smith was a bully i really do agree with you. I feel like he was just trying to find a similarity with the people that he was trying to get to go. I think that this was the point so that they could get there. I also agree with you when John Smith targeted religion. I think he deffinitely tried to manipulate people's thoughts to get them to go.
I love that you used the word "dictated." When I read that, thoughts of people such as Hussein and Hitler filled my head. This is kind of strange because now I am comparing Smith to brutal dictators forcing people to live a certain way, and in class we compared him to president Bush. This new comparison that I am currently making in my head is very strange because there is a very big difference between the three people I just mentioned, and I am now curious as to which one Smith was most like, or if I am right in my original thinking of a combination of the three. He clearly suffers from "the white mans burden (like bush), but he did have qualities of a dictator. Very interesting.
Excellent points, Lindsay. I think you have a great commentary on the two pieces of writing by John Smith. He did seem to forget why he came to America from England, didn't he? It reiterates the point we made in class about the contradictions in his attitude and his writings. I also think you make a good point about the fact that if there were some thoughts from Native Americans in the Gen. Hist. of Va., we would obviously have a very different piece of writing.
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