the general history of virginia
1st Nov, 2013
John Smith – The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles
After reading the excerpt from John Smith’ book I wondered what his intention was to write this book in the way he did. Did he really want to tell how his exploration looked like or did he try to push himself into the spotlight and to gain fame by describing his deeds like a heroic saga?
Was John Smith more an attendance-seeker than a serious explorer, who just wants to state the facts?
Right at the beginning of the text, John Smith mentions how weak and ill those men were, who came with him on the ship, but he never says a word about his own state of health, which could not be much better , but Smith does not want to admit his own weaknesses.
Another point can be found on page 60 in line 2, as Smith tries to highlight his role model function when he keeps some food for hard times, whereas his people ate everything “from hand to mouth” (p. 59, l.39). He does this to underline his prudence, but to my mind this could not be true, as not everyone would be so ignorant to eat his whole supply of food at once.
Moreover he also tries to highlight his cleverness when he explains how he managed to trade goods with the savages, even if they did not want to trade before (cf. p.59, ll. 9 ff.). Here John Smith tells the story like he had to assault the savages and like his trade offer in the end was acceptable for the savages, but he wisely swept under the table that otherwise he would have killed the savages, as he just wants to focus on his cleverness as far as negotiation is concerned.
The author John Smith is highlighting his cleverness and knowledge again a little later, as he was imprisoned by the savages, but he manages to talk to them and to teach them something abound the sky, the sun and that the earth is round.
Furthermore John Smith intends to show his power as a leader who he wants to be. On page 58 from line 38 on he mentions that suddenly, after have gained
John Smith – The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles
After reading the excerpt from John Smith’ book I wondered what his intention was to write this book in the way he did. Did he really want to tell how his exploration looked like or did he try to push himself into the spotlight and to gain fame by describing his deeds like a heroic saga?
Was John Smith more an attendance-seeker than a serious explorer, who just wants to state the facts?
Right at the beginning of the text, John Smith mentions how weak and ill those men were, who came with him on the ship, but he never says a word about his own state of health, which could not be much better , but Smith does not want to admit his own weaknesses.
Another point can be found on page 60 in line 2, as Smith tries to highlight his role model function when he keeps some food for hard times, whereas his people ate everything “from hand to mouth” (p. 59, l.39). He does this to underline his prudence, but to my mind this could not be true, as not everyone would be so ignorant to eat his whole supply of food at once.
Moreover he also tries to highlight his cleverness when he explains how he managed to trade goods with the savages, even if they did not want to trade before (cf. p.59, ll. 9 ff.). Here John Smith tells the story like he had to assault the savages and like his trade offer in the end was acceptable for the savages, but he wisely swept under the table that otherwise he would have killed the savages, as he just wants to focus on his cleverness as far as negotiation is concerned.
The author John Smith is highlighting his cleverness and knowledge again a little later, as he was imprisoned by the savages, but he manages to talk to them and to teach them something abound the sky, the sun and that the earth is round.
Furthermore John Smith intends to show his power as a leader who he wants to be. On page 58 from line 38 on he mentions that suddenly, after have gained