From Columbus to Equiano

     We began this unit talking about Columbus and his tactics used to persuade and flatter Ferdinand and Isabella, we heard from John Smith, marketing America and urging people from England to move and make a profitable and successful life for themselves, John Winthrop emphasized the importance of Christian charity and encouraged America to be a model to the world, but then we read some of the people who were having a harder and more realistic time living in this new land that the first few spoke of.  We heard from Mary Rowlandson, about the dark side of America which included violence, death, and captivity, and we heard from another oppressed woman--although suffering a different type of oppression.  Anne Bradstreet used her poetry to call into question the presuppositions many had that women innately lacked ability to write well.  We then heard from another poet--one who called forward the feminine side of God in his work "Huswifery" and used his meditations to get his congregation to reflect on God.  After we talked about another important pastoral figure, Jonathan Edwards, and his harsh exhortation to the church to turn from sin, we then moved on to important political figures, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton and James Madison's writing in "The Federalist."  But to wrap up the unit, we heard from two other slaves, one a narrative of Equiano's life, and the other poetry by Phyllis Wheatley describing how coming to America introduced her to God.
     Throughout this unit, the themes I have found stuck out to me were slavery/captivity, success/wealth, ideas about government/politics, and Christian morals/religion.  As I have tried to understand how these all work together, it has made me think of today's America, and how all of these themes still have lingering affects.  Understanding the past through these literary lenses has helped me to make sense of the future.  However, if we don't learn from the past, everything will remain how it is.  We certainly have a lot to work on in America, but as long as we have these past texts to point out what went wrong in the past, we can use them to point us in the right direction for the future.  I'm gaining an appreciation for early American Literature after asl!