John Squared

After finishing my reading for Monday, I was especially surprised with the exerts we read by John Smith. When I hear the name John Smith my mind automatically repeats my childhood memories of the Disney movie Pocahontas. After finishing the stories by John Smith, I realized how far from reality the Disney movie actually was.

I always imagined John Smith, based on the Disney movie, to be a quiet, kind, handsome man. After reading the stories, however, I've discovered he is exactly the opposite of what I had thought. The attitude Smith has in From The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles is very arrogant. In fact, I found myself to be incredibly frustrated the entire time I was reading it. I was really bothered by the way he continually referred to himself in first person. After all, it is a story written BY him and ABOUT himself. If his intention was to make the story seem more legitimate by doing this, I think he failed. Miserably.

I was also bothered by the way he always seemed to be doing the "right" things throughout the story. Instead, it is always some outside force having an influence on what happens. I also did not appreciate the way he seemed to exaggerate the story. Did you really, honestly fend off 200 "savages" using one as a shield, John Smith?

Winthrop, on the other hand, I found quite enjoyable. While many of the ideas he suggested for a "perfect" society are pretty far from possible, I could not help but appreciate his passion. He was far more humble than Smith and I found it very interesting the connections the two had, yet how different they really were.

We discussed in class how Smith's idea for the New World was a sort of "American Dream," where as Winthrop imagined it as a place to build a model society. It is like two ends of the spectrum, one representing capitalism and the other altruism. The two are complete opposites of one another and I think think both are difficult to achieve. However, if I had to chose, I think I would prefer to follow Winthrop's idea.

In a PERFECT world there would be a way to establish a middle ground between the two. But, of course, we don't live in a perfect world and rather we have to make the best with what we can.