Reader Response

In our last discussion, we had talked about Christopher Columbus' letter and Rose Murray's "Puritain Woman". I found it to be very interesting reading or discussing Columbus' letter just because it was my first time even reading his letter or even hearing of it. It was very interesting what he had stated in his letter and what the meaning or purpose was behind it. In elementary and in high school, we were always made to believe that Christopher Columbus was a very important figure in discovery. However, it kind of doesn't seem so. Yes, he did set sail and discover, but he discovered what was already discovered. It was interesting to realize that most discovers wrote letters to prove that they "discovered"land and bring it back to the head of their country. Realizing this along with learning that he even brought indians back home with him to Spain in order to verify his discovery was very shocking or eye opening. Our discussion in class really opened my eyes in really learning our "discovers" and their reasons behind sailing to our country.

Also, our discussion of Pocahontas really was interesting to me. As a child, my favorite movie was Pocahontas. Literally, everything I had was from the movie. I thought she was so pretty and I could watch the movie over and over again! As years went on and we starting discussing her life in high school, I realized that Pocahontas was different from that of Disney. Disney portrayed her as this young, spirited, open minded individual. But when reading more about her, it would seem that she was opposite. I found it interesting how we grew up knowing this individual in the movie but then later discovering who she really was, who she represented, and how her appearance was far from different.