포카혼타스 이야기들을 통해서 본 인종과 젠더

Abstract

This is a study of Pocahontas narratives which include the historical analyses, popular novels and film. English writers have given several different accounts of the same native American, Pocahontas for 400 years. The various stories of Pocahontas have reflected the Americans’ perception of race and gender. Pocahontas did not leave the record. It was the Englishmen who wrote about the Pocahontas when she was alive. From the beginning, the documents about Pocahontas exhibit the White men’s perspectives rather than her thoughts and intentions. Being taken prisoner by Englishmen, Pocahontas herself was used to the advantage of Englishmen. After her death, she became famous for her rescue of Captain John Smith, the reality of which has been in doubt among the scholars. In the West frontier, Pocahontas narratives gave the courage and confidence to the people who were in fear of the natives. In the middle of the 19th century the South used the Pocahontas narrative and Jamestown history to claim the origin and legitimacy of American history against the Massachusetts Pilgrims. From the latter half of the 20th century, multiculturalism and feminism influence the narratives. Disney’s animation film Pocahontas reflects more or less the public discourses on race, gender and environment. But the film neglects the historical fact that Pocahontas was captured by Englishmen to be a prisoner for a long time. To overcome the White men’s ethnocentrism, it is necessary for American society to acknowledge the European Americans’ violent and barbarous history. Not a myth but the history of Pocahontas could be the way to face it.