Images of Pocohontas

Today in class we discussed different concepts of Pocohontas, including as a historical figure, character, and symbol.   Her status as a symbol fascinated the group, and I agree with the idea asserted by some that Pocohontas is best understood as a symbol.  What precisely she symbolizes is subject to more interpretation, and  the ideas we mentioned ranged from nature to courage to the idea of the exotic princess.   The discussion reminded me of our previous reading "The Pocohontas Perplex"  by Rayna Green.   In her article she discusses the "Powerfully symbolic Indian woman, as Queen and Princess"(17).   As well as her opposite, negatively connotated "Squaw."  In looking through the photographs for Wednesday's class, I have come to the conclusion that Pocohontas is used mainly as a representation of the idea of the Princess, as Green puts it, "a good little Indian...who rescues and saves white men."   The artwork reinforces this idea in several aspects.  To begin, the figure of Pocohontas is depicted as lovely in each work.  Different artists show her varying degrees of plumpness, but each shows her looking womanly and largely Caucasian.  Her skin is brown, but her features do not look Native American.   This is the idea Green refers to as, "European Classical virtue translated into New World terms"(19).  She is attractive: the representation of the male fantasy in an exotic form.  Reinforcing this concept is the fact that none of the works shows Pocohontas looking at the viewer.  She is always looking somewhere else- off into the distance, down at teh ground, or at a man in the painting.   This refers back to her depiction as a subservient person, possibly to the will of the white man.  This is particularly evident in Glass' painting of Pocohontas and John Rolfe.  She looks fondly at him, as if he is the most important thing in the room, whereas he stares just past her head.   All in all, the photographs made clear to me the ideas presented in Green's writing.  Through a span of time, Americans have continued to depict Pocohontas as an ideal of the exotic, womanly princess, suited to fitting into the mold the white man creates for her.