While John Winthrop presents the majority of his works in a straightforward manner, his account of the delivery of Anne Hutchinson’s child comes off as contemptuous and apathetic. The heightened sense of superiority over Hutchinson’s plight expresses to the audience Winthrop’s views; from his point-of-view he is trying to express that Hutchinson got what she deserved, making the audience uneasy and horrified at what he is discussing. In the first part of Winthrop’s recount, he comes off detached. He does not particularly seem to care that Hutchinson is having a child and makes the statement like a passing comment. He follows up his comment with the contemptuous phrase “was delivered of a monstrous birth,” (Winthrop 183) and the jarring difference …show more content…
In the Puritan era, people would take Winthrop’s view and most likely scorn and shame Hutchinson. To the Puritan’s, Hutchinson’s miscarriage would directly correlate with her standing with God, disrupted and in need of atonement. In society today, however, this depiction would be seen as private and inappropriate to say the least. Time has changed the impact of Winthrop’s language, though the emotional reaction the reader receives is just as strong. The hypercritical nature of using words like “much less to discern from whence every string did fetch” (Winthrop 183) serves to lower his view of Hutchinson. The bad blood between these two heightens the animosity and fuels Winthrop’s contemptuous and apathetic …show more content…
He points out a preacher by name as opposed to just saying a physician, indicating the praise he was placing on the man. Going out of his way to make Hutchinson’s experience as brutal and almost sacrilegious in nature lets the reader take “comfort” in knowing that she deserved what happened to her. In contrast, these harsh tones used by Winthrop serve only to distance us from the speaker. At one point in his entry he wrote that the miscarriage reminded him of “the swims of some fish,” (183). The tone is amused, perhaps thinking that he’s being witty with his comparison, but it further reinforces are hesitation in trusting him. Furthermore, he concludes his journal entry by comparing two specific “lumps” to “liver or congealed blood” (Winthrop 183). Referring to Hutchinson’s miscarriage as similar to not only congealed blood, but liver, something that he likely ate at one point in his life, is disturbing. Allowing for the comparison to be made formats the sentence as harsh and caustic. No sympathy can be found in the comment, rather his recurring apathy and contempt. The tone of Winthrop’s recount of Hutchinson’s miscarriage is contemptuous and apathetic, supported by his harsh comments and clinical presentation of the scene. The overall tone causes the modern-day readers to not only recoil from Winthrop, but form a barrier
Anne Hutchinson's efforts, according to some viewpoints, may have been a failure, but they revealed in unmistakable manner the emotional starvation of Puritan womanhood. Women, saddened by their hardships, depressed by their religion, denied an open love for beauty...flocked with eagerness to hear this feminine radical...a very little listening seems to have convinced them that this woman understood the female heart far better than did John Cotton of any other male pastor of the settlements. (C. Holliday, pps. 45-46.)
...his seemingly routine case of fornication and premarital pregnancy proved to be significant for early American legal history. The unfolding of this story and the legal changes that it brought about makes evident that by the end of the seventeenth century, The Eastern Shore had shaped a distinct legal culture. The characters involved in each case also revealed the extent the powerful players were able to shape the law to their own self-interests. The goal of the powers to be was to protect property interests, protect personal reputation and liberty, and to maintain social order.
In Civil War Hospital Sketches, Louisa May Alcott presented her six-week experience as a volunteered nurse during the American Civil War. She gave herself an alias: Nurse Tribulation Periwinkle. Throughout the story, there were three concise “sketches” that portrayed her experience. The first sketch was about her decision to become a nurse, evading other suggestions by her family such as writing a book, teaching, and getting married. The second sketch was about her nursing job and how she took care and treated wounded American soldiers in the hospital. Her last sketch described when she contracted a serious illness from nursing and was forced and brought back home by her father. In chapter four, A Night, John, who was a young blacksmith, a soldier, and one of Periwinkle’s dying patients, affected her the most during her experience as a nurse. Alcott’s diction and imagery about John served to inform her audience’s understanding of the Civil War.
The History of the Colony of Province of Massachusetts Bay: Volume II was created by a male author named Thomas Hutchinson. The Massachusetts Bay Colony Case against Anne Hutchinson (1637) was edited by Lawrence Shaw Mayo who attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The selection was reprinted by the permission of Thomas Hutchinson, but in the Table of Contents it says that John Winthrop was the author of the selection. Even though he was the governor of the year 1637, and was also included in the trial case. Maybe he could have tweaked some of the things he said to Anne Hutchinson so that he did not come off as rude. Also, since Thomas and Anne Hutchinson have the same last name they could have been related,
While attending the institution Laura composed essays and poetry on subjects such as religion, politics, nature and her own deafness. For her class graduation Laura wrote a farewell poem and gave a speech at commencement which was both published in the American Annals of the Deaf. Her first professional work was done for a church in St. Louis. Her work impressed the editors at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch so much that they hired her. When the Civil War began the newspaper sent her to Washington D.C as its war correspondent. To avoid offending other readers who thought that journalism was “man’s work,” all of her writing was published under the name Howard Glyndon. But it was not very effective. It was largely known that Howard Glyndon was a woman and it was accepted.
Another part of the story that came off surprising was how her husband gave her up so easily. Instead of feeling bad for his wife, Mr. Hutchinson quickly admitt...
In the Chapter “A Night” from Hospital Sketches, Louisa May Alcott describes her typical night as a nurse during the Civil War. Though Alcott did serve as a nurse in the Civil War for a brief period of time “A Night” is a fictional story of what Alcott actually experienced. A major part of this chapter has to do with the fictitious wounded soldier named John. Although many readers may just see John as Alcott’s idea of a perfect man, I argue that John is more than what is described, Instead, John is an allegory for a higher power. John, given the state he is in, is unrealistically perfect and provides a light to many wounded in the darkness of war.
In Hope Leslie, the typical woman of the repressed 17th century Puritan society portrays a very passive demeanor; she tends to behave in a quiet and humble way. Esther Downing and Mrs. Winthrop exemplify this expected behavior. They are quiet, humble, do not express their opinions, and show domesticity – they are the perfect Puritan female. The title character, Hope Leslie, grew up “among the strictest sect of the puritans” and due to her upbringing, her loved ones expect that her behavior reflect that of women like Esther and Mrs. Winthrop (127). However, Hope does not adhere to the expectations. She depicts outspokenness, e...
Perhaps among the most personal of subject matter, the relationship of the family unit has been explored at great lengths in confessional poetry. Reputable confessional poet Robert Lowell explored the idea of fatherhood while struggling with mental illness. Lowell wrote of a pain to which many readers could relate. Going through a separation and divorce, Lowell felt vulnerable and this was especially evident in his writings about his daughter. The vulnerability experienced by Lowell at this time appears to grow with each poem, and he seems to develop a fixation on the relationship he shares with his daughter and, in particular, the rift between them. While initially making comparisons between himself and his daughter in infancy in the first poem of For Lizzie and Harriet, (such as both of them being wearied by the passage of time), he appears to further unravel in The Hard Way, feeling more alone as his daughter reaches an age associated with self-sufficiency and rebellion. By this point in the collection of poems, it appears Lowell has become more concerned with the idea of mortality, both his own and his daughter’s. It seems as if he is at a loss as to how to close the gap between the two of them, and so, offers her the best advice he believes he can. “Don’t hate your parents, or your children will hire unknown men to bury you at your own cost.” (Lowell, 2003) This is almost a plea to his daughter. It highlights how deeply concerned he is about the distance between them. While it does seem that Lowell holds an austere view of adolescence, it also appears that his genuine attempt to impart some wisdom to his daughter is one made as a result of some emotional growth. The reader is presented with a powerful image of a man who i...
Firstly John Winthrop whom was the governor of Massachusetts Bay was accusing Anne hutchinson of “troubling the peace of commonwealth and the churches here”. Anne was holding meetings at her house; teaching women and sometimes even men about religion. To quote directly from the document John Winthrop said: “You have maintained a meeting and an assembly in your house that hath been considered by the general assembly as a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of god nor fitting for your sex.” with this quote alone you can see Winthrop’s distaste for Anne ;a women, teaching people about religion. you can make the connection that because John Winthrop is the governor of Massachusetts he has more than likely instilled in his people the idea of a strict patriarchal society. In the Quote Winthrop says ‘...considered by the general assembly as a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of god nor fitting for your sex”. A General assembly is basically a community, more...
When a child loses a parent at such a young age, the imagination replaces the memories. When he was old enough, he began searching for facts to fill in the holes. “He supplemented the images of his father’s nautical life that he gleamed from the logbooks by reading travel narratives, histories, and adventure stories about the exotic regions in which Nathaniel Hathorne had sailed” (Carton 147). Following college, Hawthorne spent “twelve years of self-imposed isolation” (McCabe 7). Hawthorne spent most of that time researching “local New England History” to be used in his literary creations. What Hawthorne discovered was startling. Hawthorne had assumed his “17th Century paternal ancestors” were “yeoman farmers or seafaring men” (McCabe 7). Instead, he discovered they “had been illustrious founders as well as political and religious Puritan leaders of Salem” (McCabe 7).
Cornelia Hughes Dayton, the author of the article “Taking the Trade: Abortion and Gender Relations in an Eighteenth-Century New England Village,” found in Women and Health in America, describes the common argument as to why abortion may have taken place. In the article Dayton discusses a couple, Sarah Grosvenor and Amasa Sessions, that had a sexual relationship that led to pregnancy, and then abortion in 1742, a time when abortion was not illegal, but was not accepted completely by society. The issue in the Grosvenor-Sessions case was that Grosvenor died after John Hallowell performed an abortion. A case was initiated three years after Sarah’s death to investigate her death as a murder committed by Hallowell, Sessions, Sarah’s sister, and her cousin (the last three being accessories to the murder). Sarah Grosvenor’s sister and cousin’s charges were dropped and no punishment occurred. For S...
In our departure and adieu, both Mrs. Whipple and Elisa cared about how the world perceived them. They were afraid if either of them peered into a crystal creek then they might see an unholy beast abhorred by man. While Elisa’s sympathy and compassion was pure, Mrs. Whipple only cared about her own ego. Mrs. Whipple even smoke ill of the doctor when it meant her ego was threatened. She didn’t want people to think her family was poor or suffering. Her desire was personal concern, while Elisa cared about the emotions of others.
This poem is not only a prayer to God to heal her unhealthy body, but it is thanking God for helping her in the past. In lines twenty-one and twenty-two, Anne writes, “Thou heard’st, Thy rod Thou didst remove And spared my body frail” (Bradstreet 277), These two lines, among other Anne Bradstreet poems, tells me that Anne was not a selfish women, she knew that she must thank God for what he has done for her in order for him to help her again. Anne was a very considerate person she was always looking out for others, mainly her children and husband. Toward the end this poem Anne Bradstreet is giving glory to God. She is thanking him for not only curing her illness at that time, but also thanking him for helping her with everything else that goes on in her life.
Mrs. Putnam: Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth. Believe me, sir, you never saw more hearty babies born. And yet, each would wither in my arms the very night of their birth. I have spoke nothin’, but my heart has clamored intimations. And now, this year, my Ruth, my only – I see her turning strange. A secret child she has become this year, and shrivels like a sucking mouth were pullin’ on her life too. And so I thought to send her to your Tituba. (pg. 15)