Questions:
1. From your reading of Phyllis Wheatley and Cotton Mather’s work, discuss the different portrayals of moral values among writers in the New England colonies. Use knowledge of the context of the society in the colonies to inform your work. Puritanism, religious government, the Salem Trials and executions, and artistic freedom in rigid social systems are useful things to consider. Be sure to use examples from the literature, and feel free to cross-reference with material from Unit 2.**It may be useful to do some quick web research on the authors before writing. Wheatley’s brief bio is part of the provided link here, but Mather’s role in (and later apology for) the Salem Trials is something worth knowing.****Be sure to keep writing for this question, as with all tests and papers at the college level, in the academic style: free from first (I) and second (you) person point of view, and formal in style and grammar.**
2. The predominance of the Puritan Religion as a theme in colonial literature is evident. What are the philosophies of the religion that come through in the writings of this unit? Do you see them as more evident than in the writings of Unit 2, and why/not? Think more about the society in the colonies, and of literature as a representation of that. How does literature (not just fiction) play a role in establishing and/or strengthening the philosophies of the people?
