Pocahontas: Traitor or Savior??

While reading the poems for this past week, I came across a quote from Charles Larson in his book "American Indian Fiction".  It was included as part of Paula Allen's poem "Pocahontas to Her English Husband, John Rolfe".  Here is part of this quote:

"In a way then, Pocahontas was a kind of traitor to her people...remember that Pocahontas was a hostage.  Would she have been converted freely to Christianity if she had not been held in captivity?...Pocahontas was a white dream - a dream of cultural superiority"

I never thought about it like that before.  If I was taken prisoner, I probably would have done the same.  After her release she was safe, taken care of, and made as an example in England of what Indians could become.  She avoided her people and didn't see them much afterwards.  So she could be seen as a traitor, someone who left her people to accept a totally new way of life and culture, turning her back on her own.  Or she could be seen as a savior because she sacrificed her own well-being and wants to protect her people from harm.  That's a tough one, because to me there's a little bit of both.