A Brief Analysis
From The General History of Virginia, New England, and the summer Isles by John Smith is a memoir about Captain John Smith’s encounters in the New World. Briefly, the short memoir talks about Captain Smith’s hardship from arriving in Jamestown to starvation all the way to being rescued by the well know Pocahontas. Captain Smith encounters many challenges in his endeavors in Jamestown, but he does it all in the “Company’s name (69).”
Throughout the memoir, Smith presents himself in a very selfless personage. Smith talks about his hardships as not only being the Captain, but also representing the company and his certain death sentence with Powhatan. Everything that Smith did, he did it for the people of Jamestown. These people have suffered enough and Smith took his appointment as manager for “all things abroad” (61) to his advantage to save the dream. We see an example of his selfless personage on page 61 of the text:
“… committed the managing of all things abroad to Captain Smith: who by his own example, good words, and fair promises, set some to mow, others to bind thatch, some to build houses, others to thatch them, himself always bearing the greatest task for his own share, so that in short time, he provided most of them lodgings, neglecting himself.”
By the works of third person, Smith is speaking about himself. He is a leader. He administered the direction of the people to carry out tasks so they may survive. The idea of Smith being selfless comes from the quote- “neglecting himself.” ‘Himself’ is referring to the author directly -John Smith. Smith very well could have decided to build and secure his own house and his own well being, but would rather help secure the people’s well being first. It is very rare to see a leader, especially one that is granted total control over a particular event, to be selfless. Referring to the same quote, we also witness Smith’s ego. Smith describes himself using terms like “by his {Smith} own example” and “good words” and “promises”; all words portraying the idea that Smith viewed himself as a significant person. Some may criticize this characteristic, but others, like myself, praise it because he was indeed a significant person. Smith knew he was neither ‘god’ nor a savior of men; he saw himself as an equal and would do anything in order to protect Jamestown.
Interesting as it is, Smith does an amazing job at hiding himself in third person. Someone reading this may not realize this at first, but his personal narrative on his first encounters in New England is remarkable. When you think of a personal narrative, the author (which is you) usually writes what he/she encounters. Therefore, being the author, the story can be enriched in detail and factuality since you are the author. However, a drawback of this is the manipulation of so said events. As the author, you can easily distort certain details that can really take away from the story at hand.
Yet, to verify the factuality of the story, a reader must verify what they are reading. In this particular story, Pocahontas and her father, Powhatan would have been deceased by the time someone wanted to verify Smith’s encounters, but based on other published pieces of Smith, you can safely assume the events take place are accurate. Having the author write what they encounter paints a perfect illusion for the reader. When I was reading this, I could easily imagine certain parts of the story. For instance, on page 66 when Smith was destined to die, Pocahontas “..got his head in her arms and laid her own upon his to save him from death..” (66). I can easily imagine Smith laying his head down while Indians hold clubs in their hands ready to murder this man. I can see a big fire going and the Indians chanting and yelling things. But, visualize a distressed, brave woman, comes running and throws her body over this man. An advantage to having the author be the storyteller can help describe the feelings that they were not only feeling, but also the feeling in the atmosphere bystanders were feeling.
In order to suggest that Smith is a reliable author, the reader must view how the narrative is constructed. First, Smith criticizes himself. This is important because it helps build credibility that the author is not afraid to speak the truth. It is hard sometimes for others to criticize and admit their fallacies. Also, the vivid detail and the remorse, emotions, and painful stories Smith discusses also help aid he is a reliable author. Smith uses his ego to his advantage in helping aid the creation to a phenomenal memoir to show the struggles of the creation of New England.