Being a quiet and a good listener, reading has always been on the top of the list of my hobbies. Additionally, I am a person who loves to know and appreciate historical art works, lifestyles, and literature works. Thus, getting a chance to read American literature was a wish being fulfilled for me. Amongst all the passages and literary pieces I have read so far in this book, I had trouble in grasping the facts stated in “A Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia” by Thomas Hariot. I am also not satisfied with the organization of the text in the book. On the other hand, the piece having an impeccable impression on my mind was the “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards. His words made me feel like I was witnessing the world of the angry God, which he was referring to in the whole passage. Although there are some features in the writings I don’t like, reading about the history and historical literature still feels appealing and entertaining to me.
Thomas Hariot published the report about the newly discovered land of Virginia in the late sixteenth century, explaining the behaviors of the native people and the vast scope of
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I was fully absorbed in it, because it was something that anyone could apply to thier own situation. These kinds of writings always grab my attention, because I always try to learn something from books that can be applied to my life and play a part in making it better for myself and for others. In spite of my personal bias towards judging the text, I think that this piece was the easiest to follow and to understand. The objective of writing was clearly portrayed by Edwards in his examples and illustrations. Also, the language used was quite similar to present day English, hence it was much easier to understand and absorb the concepts. Reading his excellent work, I am looking forward to reading another masterpiece by
Snyder and Kingsoler: Analysis of The Poisonwood Bible Critic Carey Snyder delivers an analysis of Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, picking apart the various narrative elements utilized to establish the novel’s anti-imperialist themes. Spanning a wide range of literary elements within the work, Snyder first begins with her views of Nathan, an ethnocentric patriarch and embodiment of American arrogance, defined as much by his zealotry as by his failure to achieve his goals. Building off this, she uses Nathan’s role in the novel to expound upon his lack of a perspective in the novel’s narrative, examining the thematic consequences of viewpoints from all the female Prices, particularly in regard to the chronological divide between Orleanna’s
The collapse of the consensus era of American scholarship in the 1960s and the rise of cultural historians in the subsequent decades began a revitalized interest in early America’s legal system. The 1970s also marked the end of the intellectual historian’s dominance. The works of “giants” such as Bernard Bailyn and Edmund Morgan were gateways into the present era of the historical field. These authors, and many like them, took advantage of scores of new data and sources being uncovered from seventeenth century Virginia, to question many aspects of traditional scholarship. Bailyn, in “Politics and Social Structure in Virginia,” breaks with the norm of existing scholarship by examining Virginia’s seventeenth century political system from a non-institutional
As students, one usually sees a positive view on what life was like back then. Usually, one fails to realize that perhaps these pilgrims, or puritans who sailed across the Atlantic, were more complex than the simpleton title the standard textbooks give them. Thus, one is able to realize that there are perspectives from both sides of the spectrum. As Vowell composes her book, she gives a witty outlook on the governing of John Winthrop in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and how his puritan ideals affected the society around them. One thing that The Wordy Shipmates does suggest to the reader is how one must not take things for face value.
Through his incredible array of sourcing that includes both primary and secondary sourcing, there is much to take away from this book that previous works do not include. While there are brief areas of criticism that can be stated about this book, Walter Johnson provides the literature of the Old South with a comprehensive, yet a refreshing take on the importance and devastation of
The act of Norfolk Mayor of being irrational roused Governor Floyd’s upheaval. Amid the insurgence of Nat Turners, the frenzy of the Norfolk Mayor was put by bits of gossip and suppositions that the present uprising was an extensive, effective occasion. Slaves in Virginia, far outnumbered the white populace and an across the board rebellion could demonstrate terrible to the whites. The Governors resentment was halfway vanity and in addition pride.
It is within this ideological framework that the precise nature of the lawyer’s ostensibly humanist outlook and charitable gestures attain greater clarity: the act of bestowing upon Turkey “a highly respectable looking coat of [his] own” is exposed as an essentially economic exchange, a “favor” designed to be repaid with the prompt abatement of “[Turkey’s afternoon] rashness and obstreperousness” (Melville 1106). Failing to grasp that social relations are unreducible to purely economic relations, that clearly defined principles of transaction, operating only on one level of reality, are often inadequate to accounting for individual psychological complexities, the lawyer is the embodiment of the bureaucratic mind at its most impersonal: highly
When I hear the term “New England,” I automatically picture a beautiful land that was filled with natives and Europeans who worked together. I picture Europeans who supported each other. I also picture colonists who were free from all persecutions for their religion. I saw them as people who understood and accepted outsiders unlike the Chesapeake colonies. Prior to reading the textbook, I knew that the colony in Massachusetts was home to the first Puritans.
Literary analysis of “The sinners in the hands of an angry god” The great awakening was a religious revival that occurred in the 1730s and 1740s. It started in England and then gradually made its way over to the American colonies. During this time, many different preachers and religious speakers went around and gave speeches to the people. Jonathan Edwards was one of Americas most important and original philosophical theologians who also went around and gave speeches about God and hell.
Though both stories illustrate the fundamental principles of Christianity, there are several variations in which the concepts are exhibited. Jonathan Edwards, the author of the short story, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, employs a direct manner of confronting his audience. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of the short story, “Young Goodman Brown”, on the other hand,implements an enigmatic and dark manner of exerting a moral influence on his readers. Edwards straightforwardly points out to his congregation in a “fire and brimstone” fashion the punishment in Hell that awaits the unconverted. He repeatedly insists the precarious nature of falling into Hell, which he compares to the risk of one falling as a result of standing or walking in slippery places as he expresses in Psalm 73:18, “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction.”
Behind every act of kindness lurks a selfish motivation. The Puritans were a religious sect in 17th century New England who believed in predestination or the belief that God had prior knowledge about each person’s fate in the afterlife. A core ideal of the Puritan religion was the principle of humanity being essentially evil and only doing good for others out of fear for God’s wrath or for selfish benefit. On the other end of the spectrum, is the humanists of the 18th century, many of which were America’s founding fathers. The humanists believed in the good of humanity and the concept of a loving, non-interfering God, a concept called Deism.
The British colonies in the Chesapeake region and those of the New England region were both similar yet different in certain ways. One because both the colonist that settled there were looking for new opportunities. However, it was mostly second son aristocrats, which means the first born usually inherits the better half of the father’s riches. Their lives in England had either been mistreated or they were unable to flourish economically. Regardless of whether they were searching the land for expansive homesteads, religious freedom, or exchanging and merchant opportunities, the colonist in both regions were searching for another land in the New World.
Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” seem at first glance quite similar to one another regarding context, however, after taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that there are some substantial differences. These differences cannot be understood without the knowledge of cultural context concerning the Puritan belief system and their lifestyle. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent.
&&“Love and Hate in Jamestown” is a book that tells the story of the U.S.’s first colony in the eyes of the American legend John Smith and through the accounts of the other settlers. The book starts with a small history lesson and eventually ties it in with John Smith, a soldier who eventually becomes a leader among the men in Jamestown. As we read, there is more detail to whom Smith is; where he came from, a small farm in London; what he went through, he became a soldier fighting in foreign lands with the Turks and getting caught; his family, the battles with his father that kept Smith home as an archer. Moreover, Smiths’ story rolls over to how he was able to go to Virginia; the colony in Virginia started out as a business investment until it was royal property in the 1620’s. Now, while going to
The arrival of the first Europeans in the Americas is dramatically captured through the many writers who attempted to communicate what they saw, experienced and felt. What is more, the very purposes of their treacherous travel and colonization are clearly seen in their writings; whether it is poetry, history or sermons. Of the many literary pieces available today, William Bradford and John Winthrop’s writings, even though vary because the first is a historical account and the second is a sermon, stand out as presenting a clear trust in God, the rules that would govern them and the reason they have arrived in the Americas. First of all, William Bradford provides an in-depth look into the first moment when the Puritans arrived in the Americas. In fact, he chronicles the hardships they face on their way to Plymouth, yet he includes God’s provision every step of the way.
In “Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God”, Johnathan Edwards uses fear to create images that help his audience experience the consequences of sinful behavior. He uses imagery and figurative language to persuade his readers. He wants us to get a mental picture of Hell in your head and he wants us to fear the wrath of God. One such image was when Edward wrote, “When men are on god’s hands and they could fall to Hell, natural men are held in the hands of God, over the pit of Hell.” God could let us fall into the eternity of burning flames anytime He wants to.