Puritanism

Maya Seckler 10.23.15 Living on the Edge Who sets the social standards in a society: the people or the institution? Do individuals have real influence or do they blindly follow along? Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, explores the individual versus society through the lense of Puritan life in the 1600s. Hawthorne not only criticizes society in general but also specifically targets authority by making the Church seem hypocritical. In the novel, Hester Prynne, a woman living in…

Sound and Imagery in Red Sorghum Sound and imagery are important elements of communication as they present the producers ' perspective in the film and communicate the cultural practices and beliefs of a society. In the film Red Sorghum, aural qualities and imagery are extensively used in the narration of the storyline. Through sound and imagery, different themes like freedom and passion are powerfully introduced in the film. Also, sound and imagery clearly indicate that Zhang Yimou, the author,…

Starting a colony is not an easy accomplishment, but John Winthrop proved that he was capable of gathering people, taking them to a new country and settling in a town. John Winthrop was a good leader. He was raised in a wealthy family and his father was an excellent businessman. Winthrop was following into his father’s footsteps which lead to taking over his father’s business. Attending college at the age of 17 converted Winthrop into a great leader and noble hard worker. Having these…

Throughout history, religion has played an enormous role in the way in which individuals perceive the world around them and how society is affected as a result. That being said, these perceptions are highly influenced by the degree to which individuals devote themselves and conform to their religion. When looking at two literary texts from American history through the key concept of religion, it is clear that the role of religion in society has not remained continuous. The book “Wonders of the…

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the civilization of England mediated around a rebirth of a religious movement that was exclusive to the Puritan age. People lived their lives upon the foundations of moral behavior, where all art was a mere reflection of religion and morality. This notion persisted that art served as a reinforcement of ethics. As religion and morality pursued to restrict art to stand on its own, a group of artists revolted against Victorian beliefs; among them was Oscar…

The Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was and still is one of the most influential writers of all time. Although Hawthorne is often recognized for his successful novel, The Scarlet Letter, he became noticed for his excellence in short stories. One of the most commonly mentioned is “Young Goodman Brown” published in 1835, fifteen years earlier than The Scarlet Letter. Blending isolation and sin, “Young Goodman Brown” displays a theme of sin and felt the isolation from others after…

Women at the end of both the 18th and 19th centuries had very little say in what happened in their lives. This was particularly true in the area of romantic relationships and marriage. Eliza from The Coquette and Edna from The Awakening both face dilemmas in this area as a single and married woman respectively. Although each dies a tragic death, they demonstrate a shift in the moral fiber of society not to occur for many years. These women challenge their era’s standards about relational…

This was much more practicable than a similar strategy would have been in the Chesapeake due to ubiquitous Puritanism and presence of families, with a reliance on strong patriarchs, rather than solely competing individuals. In addition, they thought their religious and social order was a form of freedom, specifically civil and moral liberty, the freedom to live…

Natural will explains to a person how to live under the guidelines given to each person at birth from nature. Every person person, no matter religion, race, ethnicity, is held to the same standards of living and being as stated in the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule states that you should treat others as you would want to be treated. Natural will and natural law are essentially that if you strip it down to the bare bones. In this essay, six characters will be explored through each of their…

Until recently, I worked as a physician at a primary care clinic one day a week in addition to my job as a science reporter for a newspaper. In two decades, I had only one patient taking opioids long term. She was in her 50s when I met her. She’d spent many years working in factories making cups, boxes, and other things, until they’d all closed down. She ended up at a commercial laundry, on her feet eight hours a day. Of her many medical problems, the one that concerned her most was low-back…