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Puritans womans values
Women's rights in the late 1700s
Puritans womans values
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In 17th century Euro-America Puritan society believed that men played a patriarchal role upon women, and that this role was instituted by God and nature. The seniority of men over women lay within both the household and the public sphere. The household, immediate family living in the same dwelling was subject to the male as head figure of the house. The public sphere also known as the social life within the Puritan community consisted of two echelons. These echelons consisted of formal and informal public. The formal public consisted of woman and indentured servants. Women were to stay within the informal public and stay in the shadows of the men. The government held large ties with the church in the 17th century. Though women were subordinates by both the eye of the church and the government, women found ways to express authority both intentionally and unintentionally. Women began to act independently of patriarchal society and their roles in society’s sphere. Economic, social, and religious patterns were determining factors for women’s roles.
History has identified many women from the 17th century of who have had different experiences when voicing their beliefs and making a step out of their echelon within society’s social sphere. Among these women are Anne Hutchinson, and Mary Rowlandson. Both women held significant importance within their time period during the 17th century. Both women were similar in social status, both middle class, well educated women. They were trying to make ends meet within their situations that were framed by the informal public in the New England Colonies. It is evident that evolution of time also frames the experiences between the two women.
Anne Hutchinson, of Massachusetts Bay, was ...
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...e Hutchinson, Rowlandson speaks of her personal relationship with God, except she does about it in a different matter. Perhaps she had learned from the trial and prior knowledge of Anne Hutchinson. Rowlandson turned to the bible for means of comfort. She compared herself to Daniel in the Lion’s den, Job, to the Israelites. She makes her relations with God through parallels of scripture. It is at God’s mercy and will of grace that she experienced all that she has during her captivity. By quoting the Bible verses she emphasizes her faith and knowledge. She makes clear faith’s vital position within her life. Her own story becomes a parabolic tale of faith. It wasn’t her intention to publish her story. Her story was disclosed into the public, the formal public sphere, only by the approval of ministers in 1682 due to high regards to her spiritual experience.
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.)
James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950. Volume III: P-Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print.
Although John Smith, Mary Rowlandson and Jonathan Edwards are very different writers we can find a few similarities in their quotes we are learning. Quoting Seneca and other Latin authors, he presents his narrative with clear political intentions using third person and the first person in other occasions to make himself look as a hero who has managed to escape from captivity and death in three different occasions and has conquered exotic lands. On the contrary, Mary Rowlandson quotes Biblical passages, as she is a Puritan jeremiad with a strong religious background. The same happens with Jonathan whose religious thoughts are his main subject. Both Rowlandson and Edwards believe that everything is God’s will. Mary focuses her narrative on the violence of the attack, how she survives from captivity and she feels the need to write a book to teach a moral lesson to the congregation. However,
...factor for her to move one more time into Dutch territory. After her move in the summer of 1643, Anne and her family were killed by Indians. She was survived by six of her children and over 30 grandchildren. Descendants of these survivors include: Anne's great-great grandson Thomas Hutchinson who became a Governor of Massachusetts, her sixth great grandson Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and her ninth great grandson George H.W. Bush and his son George W. who although he did not win the presidential election in 2000, now holds the highest office in the country. (p.243). LaPlante also includes a tour one could follow to see Anne Hutchinson sites in Boston, Rhode Island and New York. On my next trip back east I will bring this book and see these sights. I wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in women of importance in our American history.
The role of women in learning and education underwent a gradual change in the Afro-Eurasian world and the Americas between the 11th and 15th centuries. As societies in Africa, Middle East, India, China, Europe, and America grew more complex they created new rights and new restrictions for women. In all regions of the world but the Middle East, society allowed women to maintain education in order to support themselves and their occupations. Women slaves in the Middle East were, however, prized on their intelligence. In Africa, women were trained in culinary arts. In India, women learned how to read and write with the exception of the sacred verses of the Vedas.
Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
Cott, Nancy F. The Bonds of Womanhood: "Woman's Sphere" in New England, 1780-1835. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1977.
When reading famous works of literature, many qualities jump off the pages. Often, these will be in the form of differing contents, styles, themes, and purposes. In Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative, there is extremely vivid description throughout. She does not limit the severity of pain and discomfort felt by her and those in her surroundings. When caring for her wounded daughter, Rowlandson described the great discomfort she had in both sitting down and standing up without Christian support around her. Here, the treacherous trials she faced are greatly noticeable. Furthermore, Rowlandson’s relentless faith was incessantly evident, as powerful scriptures greatly alleviated her pain. The Captivity Narrative showed how one could survive upon faith and the belief that everything happens for a reason. Rowlandson’s strong will allowed her to keep somewhat emotionally distant as she was encountering awful situations. When her youngest daughter, who had been slowly dying in her arms for over a week, finally passed away, Rowlandson managed to escape complete sadness and depression. ...
Woman and family roles are considerably different today than they were back in Puritan times. Puritans thought that the public’s foundation rested on the “little commonwealth”, and not merely on the individual. The “little commonwealth” meant that a father’s rule over his family mirrored God’s rule over creation or a king over his subjects. John Winthrop believed that a “true wife” thought of herself “in [weakness] to her husband’s authority.” As ludicrous as this idea may appeal to women and others in today’s society, this idea was truly necessary for colonies to be able to thrive and maintain social order.
Rowlandson was able to rely on her Puritan religion as a way to survive being taken into captivity. Rowlandson was separated from her husband, a minister, and her children and as a result during her captivity she became exceptionally reliant on Bible she had acquired from an Indian keeping her captive. In similar ways both Rowlandson and Wheatley use religion as a source of hope. Rowlandson uses the Bible as a beacon of optimism “Lord, what shall we do?” (page 267) and her faith is soon restored in God as she is reunited with her children and her husband eleven weeks after her being taken captive. Her writing is very simplistic and uncomplicated like most Puritan writers. She does not reference any other book in her captivity narrative except the Bible which displays the extreme beliefs she had about her covenant with
Upon her arrival to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634, Anne Hutchinson was a much respected member of her community. As time went on, her dealings with the religion began to be...
In the Salem, Massachusetts, the year of 1692 women were “puritans”. They dressed very modestly, kept their hair hidden, and were loyal to their husbands. The majority were stay at home wives. The young women would work for the older women and would get paid. Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Mary Warren each did one of those things. These women represent the archetypes of this story.
Because of their Puritanical beliefs, it is no surprise that the major theme that runs throughout Mary Rowlandson and Jonathan Edwards’s writings is religion. This aspect of religion is apparent in not only the constant mentions about God himself, but also in the heavy use of biblical scriptures. In their respective writings, Rowlandson and Edwards utilize scripture, but for different purposes; one uses it to convey that good and bad events happen solely because of God’s will, and the other uses it, in one instance, to illustrate how it brought him closer to God, and, in another instance, to justify his harsh claims about God’s powerful wrath.
Anne Hutchinson, of Massachusetts Bay, was a woman of Euro-American society in the early 17th century. Born in the late 16th century, Hutchinson was baptized into the Puritan church. She was self taught and learned also by reading the books within her father’s library. Her family was middle class and members of the church. Her father was a reverend. She married William Hutchinson a magistrate in the colony. Hutchinson like many other women played a role in child beari...
knew that he was my real uncle [Mr. Reed]" but Mr. Reed had died and