Show:
American Literary Motifs
People
Puritan Beliefs
The Literature
Random Stuff
100
Writers treat this motif in different ways, often depending on cultural views. Puritans, for instance, feared it because it reflected the untamed sinfulness that they desperately tried to control.
What is NATURE?
100
She and her children were taken from their home by natives.
Who is Mary Rowlandson?
100
Puritans believed in this doctrine--that your fate is determined before you were even born.
What is Predestination?
100
In this work, the writer states that "the end is to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord."
What is "City upon a Hill"?
100
Mary Rowlandson receives this from the natives, which helps her stay faithful along her journey.
What is a Bible?
200
This motif, in its original form, involves the idea that hard work will lead to success. The idea derives from the Puritan focus on hard work leading to a more spiritual, prosperous, and fulfilled life. Later, the motif grew to include other means to an end.
What is AMERICAN DREAM?
200
He said, "He who shall not work, shall not eat."
Who is John Smith?
200
Puritans believed in this institution, mostly so that people would be able to read and interpret the Bible.
What is education?
200
In this work, the writer reveals that he/she slowly began to accept portions of his/her captors' culture.
What is "A Narrative of Her Captivity"?
200
John Winthrop says that the Puritan society will become this, a model for good or for bad, since the eyes of the whole world will be watching.
What is a city upon a hill?
300
This motif involves competition--the idea that people tend to form groups (or factions) and want control. The groups could be motivated by almost anything--race, religion, politics, etc.--and when one group secures control, it may attempt to suppress others in order to retain control.
What is POWER STRUGGLE?
300
He gave his famous sermon aboard the Arabella on the way to America, and encouraged the Puritans to work together and love on another.
Who is John Winthrop?
300
Beginning with the Mayflower Compact, which stated that all people were subject to the same laws, Separatists and later Puritans helped to bring about this in America.
What is a government based on equality?
300
In this work, the writer warns the audience that they are in grave danger of hell, and the only force keeping them out for the present is God.
What is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"?
300
Jonathan Edwards compares a person's increasing sins to this, rising higher and higher.
What is water (held back by God's hand for the present)?
400
This motif involves personal freedom. How much freedom is a person willing to sacrifice in order to live in society with society's rules?
What is INDIVIDUALITY VERSUS CONFORMITY?
400
He delivered his six-hour "fire and brimstone" sermon in an effort to reawaken spirituality in the Puritans.
Who is Jonathan Edwards?
400
Puritans believed in this concept regarding humanity's depravity, descending from the fall in the Garden of Eden.
What is Original Sin?
400
In this work, the writer recounts his/her ability to impress the Native Americans with European technology.
What is "The General History of Virginia"?
400
This is a piece of writing about a person's time in captivity, written in first person point of view.
What is a captivity narrative?
500
This motif is the idea of starting over--being given a second chance. The Puritans saw the New World as a "blank slate" and a "New Eden" where they would have the chance to create the perfect society and avoid the mistakes made in England.
What is NEW START?
500
This chief was the leader of various tribes in Virginia and was the father of Pocahontas.
Who is Powhatan?
500
Puritans believed this type of life was best.
What is a simple life?
500
In this work, the writer encourages the audience to take advantage of the opportunity that God is giving them by turning from their sins and coming to Christ.
What is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"?
500
The Virginia colonies' goals differed from the New England colonies' goals in this major way.
What is gold vs. religion?