The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (course packet)
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Publication: 1624
Genre: nonfiction narrative
Study Questions
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Other Jamestown settlers wrote accounts of their experience in Virginia. Why do you suppose
Smith's narratives have become the most famous and are the only ones still widely read as
"literature"?
Characterize Smith's style of narration. Would you call him objective, subjective, passionate,
deadpan, ironic, humorous, serious? Cite examples to support your assessment.
A popular form of narrative in 19th-century America was the "tall tale," an action-packed story set
in the wild and filled with exaggeration, humor, and the boasts of a colorful protagonist. In what
ways does Smith's account resemble a tall tale?
At least one literary scholar has pointed out that self-creation is a common theme in American
literature. Indeed, the individual's ability to mold his or her self fascinated Benjamin Franklin,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, and many other American writers. In what ways is
Captain John Smith a self-creator?
Practicality and labor have been important parts of the American ethos from the settlement of
Jamestown to the modern day. Does Smith's narrative celebrate these principles? Defend your
answer.
One of the most famous stories in American history is that of Pocahontas's rescue of Smith. As
Smith tells it, several of his Indian captors "layd hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon
laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beate out his brains, Pocahontas the Kings
dearest daughter, when no intreaty could prevaile, got his head in her armes, and laid her owne
upon his to save him from death...". Some later readers have questioned the truthfulness of this
account, however. It has been noted, for example, that Smith did not even mention the incident in
his first narrative, and the writer James Branch Cabell has suggested that Smith borrowed the story
from a book the English writer Richard Hakluyt published in 1609 or from any one of many
similar stories that are found around the world (52). Citing details from Smith's writing or his life,
argue that the story is totally true, partially true, or totally false.