Warm-up for 9/2/11.Read the following quote and respond to the question: (write the quote

and author)

**DO NOT TALK DURING THIS ASSIGNMENT**

“[In America] individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors…will one day cause great changes in the world.”

-- Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur1. What do you think de Crevecoeur meant by this quote? What does

it suggest about his beliefs?

2. How can people’s beliefs reflect their actions?

3. Judging from the quote, what do you think we are about to study in Unit 1?

Read pages 4-7 and answer the following questions:

1. Describe the relationship between the Native Americans and the Puritans. How did they interact? What did they learn from each other?

2. Describe details about the Puritan way of life. How were people supposed to act? What were the focuses of many Puritan writings of the time? What are three ways in which Puritan beliefs influenced the colonists’ lives?

3. Turn to p. 17 and complete the bulleted questions and 1-3 on the side about Analyzing Native American Art.

Turn to page 10. We will read and discuss this section as a class.

NATIVE AMERICAN & COLONIAL LITERATUREEncounters & Foundations to 1800

Time Period: 1600-1760

• THE BEGINNING:•The New England colonies are often considered as the birthplace of American Literature.•Colonists from England who landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts wrote of their experience, their goals, and their interactions with the Native Americans.•Native Americans shared their cultural ideals and beliefs, and in combination with the new colonists, many stories began to circulate and to be handed down over time.

Native American Characteristics• LITERATURE CHARACTERISTICS:• Oral storytelling that would be passed down word of mouth.• Storytelling was full of description, nature, and ceremony.• Creation myths and other beliefs of the ways of life were often the subject of Native American literature.• Very few stories were written down or recorded.•Written texts that do refer to Native Americans are from Colonial perspectives.

• Topics would include how the world was made, interactions with animals and nature, and spirituality.

Colonial Literature• Colonists who came from England (famously, Captain

John Smith) are often regarded as the first American authors.

• Some of the literature were pamphlets and writings that would tell about the benefit of the new American colonies to both the colonial settlers and the residents still back in England.

• The original American colonies were founded because of religious disputes in England. Those who disagreed with current religious ruling fled to a new way of life in America.

• Conflicts and strive with the Native Americans were also subjects of Colonial writings.

Colonial Literature, cont’d.• Major topics of Colonial literature:• Religious sermons were frequent Colonial topics.• Puritan ways of life were preached by Colonial writers.• Puritan beliefs called for strict devotion and a rigorous

cleansing of those who did not follow Puritan ways of life.

• These Puritan beliefs came from the idea of original sin (the idea that all people are born sinners, therefore time should be spent preaching and purifying the human race).

• The novel was still many years from being developed. Pamphlets, speeches, letters, and sermons were the structures of Colonial writings.

Why do we study this?• The issues that new colonists found when moving to

America are still the some of the same issues we face today with religion, race, government, and commerce.

• The decisions and actions from Colonial times have directly impacted our current ways of life:• Native American rights and land disputes• The battle for civil rights amongst all people.• Labeling those not in the mainstream as “others” and refusing

to give them equal rights.

• Because of this time period, creative movements in literature dealing with love and nature occurred because of these foundations.

Famous Texts• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan

Edwards• Deals with a sermon directed at those not following Puritan ways

of life who are doomed to suffer eternally for their sins.

• Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford• Discusses the details of early settlement and the interactions

with Native Americans as the founding of America began.

• The Crucible by Arthur Miller• IMPORTANT NOTE: This play was NOT written in Colonial times.• Written in 1953, Arthur Miller set his play in the colonial days in

Salem, Massachusetts.• We study it as a Colonial text because of its setting. Miller wrote

it in 1953 because of similar ways of life occurring in America again.

Tonight’s Homework• Read “The Sky Tree” on p. 20 and “Coyote Finishes

His Work” on p. 22-23.

• For each story, complete the following questions:1. Summarize each story in a short paragraph

focusing on the purpose of each story.2. Answer the Reading and Literary Focus questions

in each story. They appear as green or blue letters (A-E). Answer those focus questions as well.

• We will discuss these two stories and your homework questions as examples of Native American literature next class.

Exit Questions• Complete the 3-2-1 to submit as you leave class:

• Name THREE items or customs exchanged between the Native Americans and the New England colonists.

• Name the TWO main topics of Native American literature.

• Name the ONE form that Native American literature existed.