In The Hands Of The Great Spirit Chapter Summary

I have always imagined that there was more to the culture and history of Native Americans than just what I was taught in school; for that reason, In the Hands of the Great Spirit by Jake Page attracted me. Although I realized that a book about the twenty thousand year history of Native Americans would be like reading a textbook, which is not something I do during my free time, I considered the fact that I would actually learn more about a topic that is not “properly” taught in school. One of the biggest topics that I explored in this book was Native American culture; this is an aspect that I had never been taught anywhere else, but that Jake Page really illuminates with myths and pictures placed throughout the book. In addition to that, I …show more content…
While reading about the influence that the Europeans had on the Native American society, I was surprised to find the real story of Pocahontas and John Smith. Although that was only one section of the whole chapter on European influence, the stance that Jake Page had during that section was interesting to me. Particularly, in chapter six, he takes the side of the Native Americans, mostly to explain their “untold stories”. When I encountered the story about Pocahontas I was quite excited to learned about it, since I am only aware of the Disney version of Pocahontas, who is the “most romanticized American Indian personage”, according to Page. (Page 160) In short, Pocahontas seemed attractive to John Smith and his companions because she presented herself without clothes, therefore grabbing Smith’s attention and leading to their intimate relationship. Unlike the Disney movie, Page portrays Pocahontas’ father, Powhatan, as a furtive and sneaky person who was trying to gain an advantage: “In fact, this was probably an act carefully planned and parts of a larger ceremony in which Powhatan was essentially adopting Smith so that he would be one of his district chiefs” (Page 160). Page insists that while John Smith himself believed that he was not punished by Powhatan for the crime (having a relationship with Pocahontas) because Pocahontas was begging for his life, Powhatan had the intention of using John Smith to his advantage. It’s interesting that a small portion of a chapter can already give me more knowledge than what most people know; the best part is that whenever the romanticized story of Pocahontas is mentioned, I can give the historically accurate version of it. In summary, this book taught me the one fact that will stay in my memory forever: the accurate relationship between John Smith, Pocahontas, and her