There is a debate on whether or not Pocahontas saved John Smith. In order to consider this issue one should first look at the events that were happening around the time John Smith had that certain encounter. During that time, colonization to the ‘new world’ was starting to become popular. This meant that many people were trying to advertise colonization. Considering the historical context, Pocahontas did save John Smith because evidence that support “yes” has been more reliable, the evidence that supports “yes” is written with the purpose to inform, and because evidence pointing to “no” is less reliable.
Pocahontas did save John Smith because evidence pointing to “yes” is more reliable. John Smith himself stated that Pocahontas put his “head in her arms and laid down her own upon it to save me (John Smith) from death” (Smith’s later version). This clearly states…show more content… One may ask, what is the significance of this? Well, recalling back to the sixteen-hundreds, this was the time of colonization and many people were trying to advertise colonization. It is also important to keep in mind that John Smith was an explorer and there is a high possibility he was trying to advertise colonization as well. Keeping this in mind, it is noticeable that John Smith changed his story from the emperor welcoming him “with good words and great platters of food” (Smith) to his head being laid on stones “ready to beat out my (his) brains” (Smith’s later version). Noticing this, one may ask why he would change his story. This was likely because at first he was trying to advertise colonization so he did not include any details in his writing that would cause fear in people and would therefore, prevent colonization. Eighteen years later, after colonization had advanced and the need for advertising was not as great, it is likely that he wrote this later version to inform what really
