Girau, Literature and America in all its glory

Five things learned about America

- The first American settlers, The Puritans, left because of religious persecution from Europe, and believed in Divine Intervention- the idea that God ruled all. The idea of predestination was understood that good people go to heaven to show God’s mercy. This idea led them to determine that people were either saved or condemned.

- The early writers as well as painters of America emphasize as well as understood nature as an essential part of human life. We view nature now more from a scenic view point of tranquility and peace i.e. pictures of trees, grass, flowers. Because we are not anywhere as dependent on nature as we once were, when America was first founded.

- America experienced The Enlightenment Era which was understood as men having the tools to understand the universe that led to changes in science, the social contract, and human’s altogether.

- Great Awakening led to the idea that repentance and a good life can earn salvation for the damned or the idea that you can determine your own destiny..- John Edwards, Calvinists

- Anne Hutchinson, a great American preacher, was convicted as heretic for maintaining that it was a blessing not a curse to be a woman. The interpretation of the Bible as literal was an essential to the Puritan lifestyle. So, women were viewed as temptresses because of Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. She was excommunicated for expressing her thoughts of the recent theological sermons.

American Literature

- American Literature has many different aliases.

- Edgar Allen Poe while being a brilliant writer makes me want to jump off a bridge.

- I now consider myself a Transcendentalist, because I trust my inner self like Alcott, Thoreau, and Emerson

- Puritans were incredibly obtuse. The Salem deaths due to the conviction by the possessed girls, in my opinion, were a load of crap and I would love nothing more than to slap those girls.

- The story of “The Birthmark” exemplifies in my life that perfection is unobtainable and that flaws is what makes a person unique.