The country we live in, its ideals, its culture, and basically the whole of society is founded on the viewpoints of our countrys original settlers, the Puritans. Their views on intolerance of things that are different from them are still very much foll

        First off, many sources of literature showcase the history of the Puritans. “Of Plymoth Plantation” is an account of the first times in Plymoth. “The Examination of Sarah Good” is an account of an actual witch trial. Both are very important steps in Puritan history. The harsh journey onboard the May Flower is shown in “Of Plymoth Plantation” with this quote, “…the main beams in the midships was cracked, which put them in some fear that the ship could not complete the voyage.” Also the harsh winter claimed many lives, show by this quote, “…there was but six or seven sound persons…” However, even through all their suffering and hardships, they somehow survived. “The Account of Sarah Good” accounts for the times of fear that awaited them after they could survive the area. This fear claimed many lives of those deemed ‘witches’, however, in the end the Puritans were only being bullies, killing others to make themselves feel better.

        Living a pure life was central to the Puritan culture. In the selection “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” it is shown just how important it was. In this selection its basically says that anyone but the purest of Puritans will go to hell, because God wills it. In “Young Goodman Brown” a good man is faced with temptation. He resists but later finds everyone else who he knows has given into it. This shows how unattainable the Puritan idea of pure is.

        Puritan fear and superstition is what caused the many deaths in Salem during the witch trials. This is something that must never be forgotten. The Puritans reached out, and like a group of bullies, killed other different from they, to make themselves feel better about living. An excellent account of how the mentality of a witch trial worked is “The Examination of Sarah Good”. In it the author blames the many unexplained anomalies on the woman who was being tried, even though today the cause must have obviously have been some sort of physical disorder. The lack of knowledge that the Puritans possessed led to many deaths.

        The idea of ‘God’s will’ and its impact on their culture is something very difficult to imagine today. Whenever something tragic happened in Puritan time, they wouldn’t blame anything at all, simply say it was ‘God’s Will’. They then proceeded to totally accept what happened, and even sometimes thank God. And while many will never understand this, there are many selections of literature that may help in understanding. One such example is “Upon the Burning of Our House”, in which a women writes of losing her home to flames and not being able to blame anyone, nor disagree that it was ‘God’s will’. “Sinners if the Hand of an Angry God”, and “Of Plymoth Plantation” are also works that deal with this subject in a Puritan state of mind.

        The Puritans were a very strange group of people that must be understood to be able to understand ourselves. They were the founders of this country and its ideals are still vaguely based upon their ideals. Everyone should then look into themselves and find what is and what isn’t something new.