Jeff Derrickson

March 19, 2010

The Soul of the Times

            I must admit that I felt a degree of trepidation before diving into the early American literary works for two reasons: history has been a troublesome subject for me in the past, and the literature is very different from conventional literature of the present or more recent history.  As I began to weave through the material, however, the sources of my trepidation became sources of pleasure and understanding.  In the past, I learned how to overcome my problems with history classes by immersing myself to the best of my ability in whichever time period I studied.  Having only the textbook, I found this task difficult, but effective.  Textbooks simply do not capture the soul, or zeitgeist, of the times as successfully as personal accounts, and I cannot think of a medium any more personal than handwritten letters or spoken tradition.  These personal accounts are what effectively connect us to the past through feelings that are timeless and universal which travel through the words on the page through time and into the heart of the modern reader.  And though the day-to-day events of early America are not as meticulously documented through social networks like Twitter, these samples allow a glimpse into the old new world that an open reader can use to achieve trans-historical unity.

            The culture of the Native Americans, though they still live, can be read with the wonder of a fantasy fiction story.  It is very difficult to grasp the societies described by Mary Rowlandson, William Bradford, and their own creation stories, because the concepts described can be very alien to a culture overridden with television, the internet, and even libraries.  The creation stories, upon closer inspection, can be reminiscent of Greek and Roman origin tales, and can almost act as a bridge between that mythology and the modern beliefs of creation.  The Iroquois myths bring to mind the abnormal birth of Athena from Zeus’s head as the unruly brother is born from his mother’s armpit.  The union of sky gods producing offspring is also represented, as Skywoman gives birth to Mother Earth, who is impregnated by the Spirit of the West Wind.  Mother Earth is Gaea in the Greek pantheon, and her mate is Ouranos, the starry sky-god.  A common thread from the ancient to the present, however, is that of a sacred tree.  The Greeks had Hera’s tree, which grew golden apples that essentially caused the Trojan War, the Native Americans have the Celestial Tree, often uprooted to aid in the earth’s formation, and Genesis centers on the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.  The creation stories of myriad cultures, though wildly diverse, share common traits.  Reading them can gleam into cultures long faded, and the receptive reader may find that there aren’t many significant differences between those cultures and our own.

            It is easy to have sympathy for the fallen culture of the Native Americans, but one tale offered a captivating look at the darker sides of their culture as well that of the early Americans.  Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative serves as a telling window into the true nature of life in seventeenth century America.  Rowlandson brings to light the attitudes toward life and death of the age as relatable to the sentiments of wartime.  There is a stark division between the Indians and their invading neighbors, as the deaths of children on either side cause the opposing faction little grief.  Due to high mortality rates, there was not an extended period of mourning as well.  Mary’s grief after losing her daughter is palpable, but she realizes that she must press on if she is to survive.  Readers are given a firsthand account of how violent and trying life was, with up-close fighting fraught with symbolic victories such as scalping and clothing removal and the rigors of travel, as Rowlandson strives not to “wet her feet.” 

An unprecedented look into the positive aspects of Native American culture was seen as well, as Rowlandson, though taken against her will, was assured that she would not be killed. She was employed as a weaver, participated in trade, and even bore witness to their ceremonies.  So integrated was she in their culture by the end of her ordeal that she wept at the thought of re-acclimating to her own.  Though Rowlandson is clearly and understandably biased when producing her narrative, the information she presented is invaluable and rare for the sake of anthropology, a feminine voice, and the emergence of documented storytelling that would eventually lead to the gothic.  Just as with the creation stories, the familiar sentimentalities of Rowlandson’s work echo situations that mirror her own, such as the wartime captivity of hostages or POWs, or a traveler’s immersion into an unfamiliar land.  Perhaps the most pervasively relatable aspect is Rowlandson’s dramatic telling of her role as a mother.  Though there may have been little sympathy exchanged between Rowlandson and her captors regarding lost children, the pain of losing a child projects her alongside any reader who has lost someone close.

It is through open-mindedness that a reader can find a connection with the creation stories and Rowlandson, and that mindset is tested when dealing with Puritan literature.  For what place does open-mindedness have in the rigid Puritan lifestyle in which God and the Bible hold absolute authority?  To a modern person that did not grow up with the influence of religion, the concepts can seem distant and alien, but perhaps it is within that rigidity that relation can be found.  Native American stories were told in an effort to explain their surroundings and to teach moral lessons to listeners.  Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God could conceivably follow in that vein.  If the Word of God is the absolute truth, then stories told from that source could only be told with a slant towards that truth.  Like the Good Mind/Bad Mind creation story that denotes good and evil, Edwards’s sermon leaves you with no question that if you do not seek redemption, you will indeed burn in the everlasting fiery pit of Hell.  Though the Bible is cited tirelessly throughout the sermon, there are misinterpretations, as man is wont to do, and this presentation of the Word of God can lead to much negativity, such as the belief that all tragedy that befalls mankind is a punishment from God.  The Crucible serves as a cautionary tale to that negativity by displaying how an ironclad belief system can lead to ruin and despair, and how the road to Hell can be paved with the best intentions.  The idea of a witch hunt can also be applied to any group or individual who are unfairly persecuted, such as the blacklisted Hollywood personalities of the 1950s. 

Regardless of the reader’s religious stance, the literary style of the sermon must be praised.  The work begins with a quote, just as many books and even movies have the tendency to do, and it has a rising build of increasingly desolate imagery of damnation to a descriptive climax of possible salvation.  The language utilized is as articulate and well-formed as any classic, and its effect on an entire culture cannot be denied.  In essence, the sermon that was spoken, just as the Native Americans told their tales, could be a possible representation of Beowulf for modern culture.  It is through these stories that a modern reader can find the much needed and desired personal connection to the “characters” in question.  Literature is the window to the past, and these spoken creation stories, captivity narratives, and sermons fall into the category rightfully.

The rigidity of Puritan literature is interesting when compared to that of the eighteenth century.  I would like to research what exactly precipitated the change from the mindset of the Puritan, through Jonathan Edwards’s sermon, to the works of Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin.  Throughout a time period in which the Bible and God’s Word are the infallible be all end all, when exactly did Deism come to America, and when did it become acceptable to write about it?  It is possible that Franklin and Paine would have been hanged for their trouble in the seventeenth century.

I wish to explore the connections of Deism to the culture of the Native Americans.  Deists emphasized nature over revelation and miracles, just as Native Americans deify nature.  Franklin’s Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America seems like an attempt to foster understanding between Americans and Native Americans, and a chiding of settlers for their treatment of the so-called savages.  One could see the common thread of admonishment between Remarks and Edwards’s Sinners.  The attitudes of the eighteenth century led to a revolution and great prosperity in our country, yet Deism is not a widely practiced religion today.  My research post will attempt to find the common thread of Deism amongst the Puritans, through the Age of Reason, then on to Romanticism and the modern age.