Shattered fragments of american literature

             Since the dawning of the new world several eras have swept over this fertile soil and planted their seed in society. The first that reigned over the new world is the Puritan era. The English Protestants or "puritans" came to the new world to flee from religious persecution, which was occurring in England in the late 1500s and into the 1600s. Such persecutions consisted of painful and humiliating amputations of ears and the slitting of nostrils. The puritans lived by one main belief, which was to purify the corrupted English church, they found that America was the perfect opportunity to practice their beliefs. Goals of the puritans are solely focused on wanting to live free of sin and keep god from getting angry. A puritan named Jonathan Edwards describes how god feels about sinners in his writing entitled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked..." (Edwards 81). Edwards explains how god is enraged with sinners and the treatment one will face if one commits a sin. For example he compares a sinner to an insect, the lowest form of life, a being that gets no respect. Thus presenting gods belittling feelings for the criminals of the church. Another belief in the puritan culture is that god knows all, and punishes people for their wrong doings. For instance if the rain flooded the town it was god punishing the people, not that it was merely monsoon season. In the late 1600s the age of reason was in effect and a new way of thinking awoke in the minds of the people, it was labeled rationalism. Rationalism sprang about after puritanism because people wished to find a more logical explanation to the questions of everyday life. For instance more and more individuals were experimenting and examining life to figure out what caused such natural happenings. One such man was the lat...

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Shattered fragments of american literature. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 04:12, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/98545.html