Talking about the United States literature and its
beginning, it is impressing for me to realize of so many things that I did not
know, some of them I assumed they may be true and some others in which I still
have some doubts. American literature began as almost all the literature work
in every continent or country, in an oral way since there were no possibilities
to print any of the legends, tales, and lyrics that Indian cultures had, so,
Indian stories were retold in an oral manner. These stories were about nature,
spiritual beliefs, and totems related with different tribes or plants. Thus,
there is a lot to tell about this week’s readings; however, I would like to
focus on three things that got my attention the most. Firstly, I did not know,
and I could have never thought that john smith, the character of the Pocahontas’s
movie was real. Then, the fact that the New England’s puritans were the
founders of the first college: Harvard in 1636, and finally, something that I
would like to know which is if US culture and identity has been affected by all
these adventurers, pirates and some other immigrants that settled in this
country by the time of the colonial period.
I never thought that the Pocahontas movie was a real
story. All my life I thought that the movie Pocahontas was just another story
created by Walt Disney or someone else. Now that I have read about John Smith
who was a real English explorer and soldier, I can realize that the so famous
story about Pocahontas is true. John Smith was born in 1580, and his book “A
true Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in
Virginia since the First planting of that Colony (1608)" was the first book
written in English in the new world, and according to the reading about The
Colonies in the page ten, John describes in his book how he was captured by
powhatan’s men and rescued by Pocahontas. In conclusion, the Walt Disney movie Pocahontas
must have changed some things from the real story, but this does not change the
fact that the main characters really existed.
Something interesting, and that now I know due to
the readings is the fact that the England’s puritans were the founders of the
first college “Harvard”. It is likely
that no other colonist in the history of the world were as intellectual as the
puritans, “VanSpanckeren, Kathryn.
2001. Outline of American Literature. US Department of State chapter 1, page 5”.
Puritans were educated people who wanted education for everyone so that
everybody could understand and accomplish God’s will, so they were the first
colonist insisting in schooling, and they founded not only the first college Harvard,
but also the first printing press in the colonies (Cambridge, 1638).
It is known that the united
states is a country with a variety of cultures, and that people from all parts
of the world have settled in the US since the colonial period, so I would like
to know how much the US culture and identity has been
affected by all these adventurers, puritans, pirates and some other immigrants.
American people have become very multicultural since long time ago, and even
when this can mean no boundaries in mind, and a door for technology and
globalization, how much culture and traditions is the US losing?, or has already
lost? Taking into account, all the diversity they have. We will not know for
sure, but what we know is that they got good stories and a great deal of
literature that dates since the Indian times.
Hello Gisselt!!! I think that all what you said is true. For example, you said that American literature began as almost all the literature work in wherever place of the world, I agree with that because as VanSpanckeren points out that it begins with the orally transmitted myths, legends, tales, and lyrics of Indian cultures, a there was no written literature (3), so that makes me remain what we studied in the British literature subject because, indeed, the British literature began in an oral way too, and through the time and technology it became in a written way. In the same way, the American literature appeared.
ResponderEliminarAlso, as you, I could realize that, in fact, the character of Pocahontas, John Smith is not just a simple character that just appears in the story, but a real man who did a big contribution to the American literature due to the fact that he was a professional soldier, an adventurer and explorer, and also a publicist. So, Smith contributed with the American literature not only because of his discovers when exploring but also because of his written works due to he wrote books in which he described his trips to new different places. Indeed, in one of those adventures, he wrote the story about Pocahontas, so it must be true that he lived that, and it is not just a simple Walt Disney’s movie, but a real story that happened in some time, maybe the movie is not the exactly same real story, but it is true that it is based on a real fact.
In addition, it was interesting to me to find out that the first college of Harvard was founded by the English puritans because as VanSpanckeren says in the reading that puritans wanted that God’s will were understood and executed (5), so they established different thing in order that people could be prepared for achieving their purposes. As a result, they founded the first college Harvard and the first printing press, as you mentioned. :)