Squanto Essay

            Native American tribes lived throughout America and were once nomadic peoples who lived off the land with few worries from the outside world. With the arrival of the Europeans in the New World, the Native Americans had to worry about disease, capture, and the destruction of their land. Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe, was a victim of these tragedies and has been described differently by many sources. One of these sources is a Disney movie based on the life of Squanto. The movie, Squanto: a Warriors Tale, depicts the life and world of Squanto in a false and unrealistic manner.

            Squanto: a Warriors Tale does not portray Squanto’s life realistically for many reasons, one of which would be Squanto was never married. Squanto: a Warriors Tale was mainly based upon Squanto, who was captured by Sir Gorge and shipped to England, trying to return to his wife Nakoema. On the nonfictional side of the spectrum, Squanto’s primary reason for wanting to go back to America was to reunite with his family and friends. Although Squanto’s parents and birth place are unknown, Squanto “was a member of the Patuxet tribe which inhabited the area around Plymouth, Massachusetts” (Garraty 1).

            Another reason why Squanto: a Warriors Tale depicts Squanto’s life as false and unrealistic is, “It is assumed that Gorge and his associates taught Squanto (and perhaps the other Indians) English so he could question them and learn of their native lands” (Pilgrims 1). In the video, Squanto is taught by simple monks who harbor him as a refugee, who are inquisitive about his behavior, and who want to learn more about his culture. Although European monks may have had a small influence in Squanto’s life, it was not a principal part as represented in the movie Squanto: a Warriors Tale.

            In the movie, Squanto is shown making first contact with the pilgrims by stopping a probable skirmish between the Indians and pilgrims. Squanto’s friend, who first met the Pilgrims, “told them also of another Indian whose name was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in England and could speak better English than himself” (Applebee 86). Squanto didn’t first meet the pilgrims by stopping a fight with a dramatic speech, instead Squanto and the pilgrims met when Squanto’s friend introduced him to the pilgrims as an interpreter and treaty maker.

            Some people believe that the movie Squanto: a Warriors Tale represents Squanto’s life as fair and realistic. These people are wrong because Squanto never had a wife, was never harbored by monks in England, and never dramatically stopped a pilgrim Indian war. Besides these historical facts, there are also scenes in the movie that could never happen in real life. One example is when Squanto was forced to fight a cage match against a wild black bear. In this scene Squanto wrestles with the black bear and then sings it into submission making the bear unable to attack Squanto. Squanto also trains a wild hawk to land on his arm and to fly across his path when it senses danger by whistling to it. Although the unreality of the black bear and hawk scenes can be overlooked, the movie contradicts Squanto’s life so drastically that one could not believe Squanto: a Warriors Tale actually shows Squanto’s life in a fair and realistic manner.

            There are many reasons why Squanto: a Warriors Tale depicts the life of Squanto as false and unrealistic. In the movie Squanto was portrayed as a timid husband interested in going back to his wife instead of the true Squanto who was cunning, greedy, and fierce warrior. With the weak historical facts and background presented in the movie, one could only agree that, along with impossible hawk training and singing the black bear to sleep, that Squanto: a Warriors Tale showed Squanto’s life in a completely false and unrealistic manner.