In any new organization, crucial qualities are trust, teamwork and friendship. Without these values an organization will not be able to function well and would be unable to accomplish any of it’s goals. This holds true, be it this generation, or any other previous generation. Likewise to survive in the new world, in the historical fiction novel, Blood on the River, written by Elisa Carbone. The prerequisites include credence, collaboration, and companionship. A kind orientation results in trust, which in turns aides adaption to one’s surrounding.
The author writes “I should have been kinder to him so that he would trust me” (81). Two characters, Sam and James, do not trust each other, since James did not listen to the life saving advice Sam gave him. Instead, James fled to the ship when the Native Americans were attacking, and because of this, James died. Similarly this proclamation, “In London it might have worked for you, this standing on your own, treating other boys as if they don’t matter. In Virginia it will not work do you understand me?
The wilderness is like the same thing when you are on the ships”(55-56), helps validating the fact that in order to adapt to a new environment, one needs to start trusting the people around. With friends or with family if there is no respect, there is no trust. Without these important qualities relationships will not function well, and would not be able to decide on important matter. It is the same with Samuel and the colonist, they need trust to function properly with each other.
Teamwork is built on a foundation of trust. “You might have been born the biggest fish in the sea, but the skill and perseverance of those lower born can take you down and destroy you” (37). This excerpt shows that the commoners should work together, because if they do not, they will make bad choices, which could hamper their ability to survive in the wilderness. “I see what Captain Smith meant about us needing to stand on many legs to survive. We have to work together.
I would never be able to build a house all by myself” (106), demonstrates that without teamwork, they will never be able to build the houses together, which they need to survive. Learning to work as a team forges friendship. “ Those who are friends will help intercede for us with our enemies. ” (103) If the Arrohateck, the Pamunkey, the Mattaponi, and the Youghtanund, never “intercede’ with the other tribes, then the colonists would be unable to survive the conflict against them.
If they would not make peace with the other tribes, then they would have no one to bargain with for food. In addition, they wouldn’t be able to hunt for food, asthey would be scared that the Native Americans would attack them. “The Powhatan people, whom we have at times considered our enemies, now treat us as their own” (137), also supports the initial statement that teamwork leads to friendship. If the Powhatan’s hadn’t started being the colonists friends, the colonists would have died of hunger and cold. Furthermore they would never been able to rebuild the burnt Palisade.
When moving somewhere new, making friends is important for survival in the new society. If the Native Americans didn’t show the colonists how to survive in the New World, the colonists would have died trying to survive in Virginia. To endure Virginia, the vital aspects needed were faith, cooperation, and companionship. As an individual kindness is a prerequisite to building, trust. Trust in turn, aides friendship, teamwork and adaptation to a challenging new environment. Trust is the glue for building enduring societies.
