Annette Kolodny in her essay, “Unearthing Herstory”, explains the concept of engendering landscape and its effects on American society. Kolodny believes the “vocabulary for the experience of the land-as-woman” (611) was a result of the settlers’ fantasies of America nature. She argues that because of the beauty and fertileness of the land led to “an abstraction of the essential femininity of the terrain” (607). Moreover, the inaccuracy of explorers also contributed to this fantasies, for their documents painted a picture of America as a paradise, thus presenting them the false picture (607-608). Therefore, the settlers labeled the New World as a Mother, who brings life source and happiness, or a woman. However, according to Kolodny, this label
Book Response Essay # 2 of America: Jamestown and Plymouth “Early America was littered with European failures- the Spanish in the Florida,the French at Fort Caroline, and the English at Baffin Island, Roanoke, and Sagadahoc”(Horn, 290). Yet, despite all the pervious disasters, two colonies would begin to find apermanent place on the soil of this New World. James Horn painstakingly chronicled thetribulations
Changes in Land Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England deeply examine several changes that occurred in the new land after invasion made by colonists. Thus, changes affected not only the people but also the environment. The shift of dominance from Indian dominance to European dominance stated in the book. Moreover, the effect of this dominance on the environment and culture of the original inhabitants and most of them coming from Indian origin is stated by Cronon. There were fundamental notable reorganizations in how things were generally done after an invasion by settlers.
Any land worth everything that any man has to give. Anguish, ecstasy, faith, jealousy, love, hatred, life or death. Don't you see that's the whole excuse for our existence? It's what makes the whole thing possible and tolerable. Debra Marguart expresses her overwhelming love for the upper Midwest territory, even as it was called an uninhabitable and bare location for many who first approached it.
In the seventeenth century, the Pilgrims left England to head for the “new world” we know today as the Americas with the hopes of finding a place independent of King James and England. In traveling across the vast Atlantic Ocean to live independently the Pilgrims were given the task of creating a successful society. They sought a place to express their religion freely and independent from the restrictions in England. They aspired to make this society succeed in several crucial areas. They pursued strong protection and in very unfamiliar territory in order to keep their people safe and happy.
In the colonial era, through the Revolutionary War, the foundation of America was oratorically clarified as an act of prudence—that is, God led people, specifically the white Europeans, to America to find a new and superior or incomparable societal order that would be the light unto all realms.2 In fact, many settlers also believed in creating a new nation filled with history and stories. Along the same lines, Americans imagined a community created through selectively and elaborated events, myths of origin, courageous stories, and asserted values.3
In his 1995 essay “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon declares that “the time has come to rethink wilderness” (69). From the practice of agriculture to masculine frontier fantasies, Cronon argues that Americans have historically defined wilderness as an “island,” separate from their polluted urban industrial homes (69). He traces the idea of wilderness throughout American history, asserting that the idea of untouched, pristine wilderness is a harmful fantasy. By idealizing wilderness from a distance, he argues that people justify the destruction of less sublime landscapes and aggravate environmental conflict.
Gender as a tool of analysis has been effective when analyzing Native societies. Gender roles in Native society inevitably shaped the tribe or band in which Natives lived in. Matrilineal or patrilineal Native societies controlled the daily operations, social hierarchy, religious influence, and the effects colonization had on that particular society based on the foundation. Using gender as a tool of analysis in Native societies, scholars are able to learn more about Natives because of the affects gender had in the characteristics and foundation of each society. In “Ranging Foresters and Women-Like Men”, A Nation of Women, and “To Live Among Us”, different scholars are able to use gender as a tool of analysis to understand the ways in which
Theodor DeBry depicted a Native couple enjoying a meal together, but a “civilized” Englishman would notice that they are eating off the ground and not at a table, a practice frowned upon even to this day (Figure 3-12). A more critical difference would be found in the practice of religion. The Natives viewed nature and the spiritual realm as one and the same, and they did not confine their worship to buildings that separated them from the greater outdoors (Algonquian Indian Village). The Europeans, on the other hand, believed in a total separation of the spiritual and natural world, and they believed that the natural world was corrupted by sin. The means by which the Natives worshipped would also appear boisterous, strange, and almost orgiastic to those used to services full of quiet reverence (Figure 3-3).
Historians who practice historiography agree that the writings from the beginning of what is now known as the United States of America can be translated various ways. In James H. Merrell’s “The Indians’ New World,” the initial encounters and relationships between various Native American tribes and Europeans and their African American slaves are explained; based on Merrell’s argument that after the arrival of Europeans to North America in 1492, not only would the Europeans’ lives drastically change, but a new world would be created for the Native Americans’ as their communities and lifestyles slowly intertwined for better or worse. Examples of these changes include: “deadly bacteria, material riches, and [invading] alien people.” (Merrell 53)
During the colonial period many settlers came to the New World to escape persecution for their Puritan beliefs. Writers such as William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, and Mary Rowlandson all shared their experiences and religious devotion throughout their literature that ultimately inspired and influenced settlers to follow. This essay will discuss the similarities in Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson’s work as they both describe their experiences as signs from God. Anne Bradstreet came to the New World as a devoted Puritan as she repeatedly talked about it in her poetry. In her poems she discusses many tragedies that happened in her life such as; the burning of her house and the death of her two grandchildren all of which she thinks were signs from God.
Feige's goal is not only to explain how exactly American History is rooted in nature, but also to stress the presence of nature in historical events that is often overlooked or entirely ignored by other historians. Throughout the book, the reader is made clear this is Feige’s primary goal of the text, demonstrating the importance of environmental history of the United States and prove that nature’s role in America’s past is more vast and influential than what is thought. Fiege continuously explains how historical events are sometimes entirely shaped by nature and proves so by exploring the geography, topography, weather, disease spread, and other features occurring in nature and how they
Name Professor Course Date Book Review: Everyday Life in Early America The book ‘Everyday Life in Early America’ by David Hawke provides a comprehensive account of the history of early settlers in America. It maintains that the geographic concept including the physical environment is a chief factor that influences the behavior of individuals. The author assumes that early settlers came to America in the hope of taking forward their customs and traditions while starting afresh in a foreign land.
The arrival of the first Europeans in the Americas is dramatically captured through the many writers who attempted to communicate what they saw, experienced and felt. What is more, the very purposes of their treacherous travel and colonization are clearly seen in their writings; whether it is poetry, history or sermons. Of the many literary pieces available today, William Bradford and John Winthrop’s writings, even though vary because the first is a historical account and the second is a sermon, stand out as presenting a clear trust in God, the rules that would govern them and the reason they have arrived in the Americas. First of all, William Bradford provides an in-depth look into the first moment when the Puritans arrived in the Americas. In fact, he chronicles the hardships they face on their way to Plymouth, yet he includes God’s provision every step of the way.
The Strength of One’s Love for Their Family Legend, by Marie Lu is about two teenagers, June and Day. Both of their motives to fight harder, love longer, and remember more deeply, are driven from the paramount love they have for their families. June is determined to seek justice for her murdered brother, Metias, and Day is focused on giving his family a better life than his own. The major themes and personalities of the book are best portrayed in chapter 4 In this chapter, June’s relentless desire to get revenge for her brother’s murder is introduced through Metias’ death.
Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672) has been a long-lasting leading figure in the American literature who embodied a myriad of identities; she was a Puritan, poet, feminist, woman, wife, and mother. Bradstreet’s poetry was a presence of an erudite voice that animadverted the patriarchal constraints on women in the seventeenth century. In a society where women were deprived of their voices, Bradstreet tried to search for their identities. When the new settlers came to America, they struggled considerably in defining their identities. However, the women’s struggles were twice than of these new settlers; because they wanted to ascertain their identities in a new environment, and in a masculine society.