The Role of Religion on the characteristics of a Hero

Throughout American Literature, the change in the role of religion in the American Dream is shown by the change in the characteristics of a “hero”

In the Puritan era, every person was seen as a sinner, and the only people who could be looked up to were the people who taught the will of God; the preachers were the leaders of the Puritan society. In his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God”, Reverend Jonathan Edwards says "The God that holds you over the pit of Hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you" (Edwards 47). In this quote, Edwards is showing the malice that he, the “hero” in his society, has for the people that listen to his sermon. To the Puritans, everything that happened was the will of God. For example, a Puritan poet, Anne Bradstreet, wrote the poem “Upon the Burning of our House” after a fire destroyed everything she owned. In the poem she says “yet by His gift is made thine own; There's wealth enough, I need no more" (Bradstreet 29). This means that she doesn’t need material possessions, and that God will provide her with Wealth. In the Puritan mindset, this would be a form of heroism, because she gave up everything she had and still thanked God.

Closer to the American Revolution, the view of a hero changed dramatically. In this era, the people of the American Colonies wanted freedom from what they believed was a cruel and unjust British rule. They believed that it was God’s will that they were free. Therefore, the definition of a hero in the Rationalist era was someone who fought for his or her freedom. Famous orator and patriot Patrick Henry, in his “Speech to the Virginia Convention” says “Sir, we are not weak, if we make proper use of the means that God has ...

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...e in the literature from that period. In this literature we can see what the writers value as the ideal American dream, and who they see as a hero. In Puritanism, God was to be worshipped above all, and heroes were godly men. In rationalism, a true hero would worship God by helping to free America from oppression under European rule, and in transcendentalism, a hero would get into the natural world to be closer to God. After these time periods however, God was no longer as much of a driving force in people’s lives. After the first World War, people became disillusioned, meaning that they no longer felt that the world was a kind and peaceful place. The American dream changed again. A real American hero in the 1920’s was rich and successful. In the book The Great Gatsby this is exemplified brilliantly by demonstrating the extravagant party scene during that era.