Early American Children 's Literature

The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. Huckleberry Finn. Harry Potter. The Diary of Anne Frank. Animal Farm. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Da Vinci Code. The Grapes of Wrath. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents (Banned Books). These great novels both teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. Unfortunately, each of these novels has been banned at one point in time. In a country where freedom is so adamantly advocated, it is a wonder that an issue like censorship would even come up, that such a controversy would sink its claws into the minds of states’ boards of education across the nation.

One area that has been shaped by Puritan influence is public education. Puritans created the first free formal school in 1635 called Roxbury Latin School. The objective was for everyone to be capable to learn to read and have a better educated Puritan society. Consequently, the institution was so remarkably influential that just four years later, the first college, Harvard, was formed. Even younger kids, mostly ages 6-8, were able to attend a Dame school where they studied how to read. This system has many similarities to our public education system today. Children today go to elementary school where basic reading, writing, and math is taught, which can be

The fifth chapter of The Educated Imagination, “The Verticals of Adam” by Northrop Frye, explains his feelings about the necessity for children to be exposed to some fundamental texts in the literary spectrum in a certain order to best enable them to understand twentieth century society. The understanding of the Christian Bible, and Greek/Roman mythology are said by Frye to be key factors in how a child will interpret future literature. It is noted by Frye that the bible should be taught first, followed by the mythologies of the Greeks/Romans. I agree with his ideas about the order of exposure, as being the foundation of western society as it is best suited to being the foundation for learning of a child from said

American Literature, especially of the early settler and colonial period is marked by a deep sense of religion and a stress upon writing about matters related to religion. The development of early American literature thus can be seen to be a reflection of the religious ideals followed by the early settlers and colonists and it became a means of promoting a moral and ethical way of life.

While the current child considers their life to be stressful and busy, the children of the Puritan religion had much more to be worried about, on top of all of their daily activities. The adults in the community looked down upon the children that represented the devil and his works. Children were born with the burden of Adam’s sin, and they must be broken from sinning. By the time that the children were five, they were put to work, to contribute to the family. Most children were small, and able to help with the weeding of plants and house work. After an early morning work session, most children would attend school. Schooling was very important to the Puritans because they believed that the devil would influence anyone you was easy

wanted a ministry that presented an educated and logical account of scripture, and they wanted an audience that could comprehend the message” (Helium). It was this desire that led them to establish, first, the Free Grammar School in Boston, and then the North American public school systems. In addition to this, the Puritans are responsible for founding

Puritans believed God had made a “long promised summons” to them. Creating a society in every way connected to just God was challenging enough for the Puritans but also the need to spread His words to other people. The Puritans’ priorities were centralized on their religion and the teaching of it. This shows their focus in education to them was to teach children religious and moral beliefs. No doubt that the educational life of a Puritan began at home. In keeping with covenant household, the salvation of children and their spiritual being was in the heart of every parent. Parents prayed that their children would become a source of glory. The Puritans started the Old Dilutor Act: to teach children to read and write so they can understand the

Through Puritan writers, literature is influenced by religious ideologies and philosophies. Puritans writers, beginning in about 1560, put most of their focus into making their work God centered. They believed in the “Elect” and that Jesus died only for these few people. Writers usually wrote in 1st

It is in one’s moral beliefs that children are the way to a better future. It is instilled in the modern era to the minds of the human race that treating a child a certain way, will lead them to become a certain person. For instance, they will one day become society’s doctors, educators, and politicians, respectable men and women. Yet, in Puritan New England the conditions to raising children to being such was much more intense from modern day’s way of teaching and living. The life for children in Puritan New England was tough and tenacious, because of its strict beliefs in religion, the lack of individualism and expression permitted to the children, and the dire consequences leading to being abused, or at times, being punishable by death.

The Puritans view of education the same way they viewed religion. It was a major part of their daily routine. The puritans had different ways of teaching their children, they used the New England Primer, which was one of the first books to be published in the 18th century. They used this to teach the children how to read and write properly. This book also taught the children the difference of right and wrong, along with the respect of parental figures, sin and salvation.

Puritans felt it to be an utmost importance to educate their youth especially in the religious life. Schools were always placed in a centralized location in their villages [Document B]. Also Harvard a renowned university in Massachusetts was originally established to train the youth of the colony to become great ministers to their congregations. They believed that since God had brought them to America it would be an insult to Him if they had not educated their children about Him [Document E]. With this they spent the extra energy teaching their children to read and write so they could especially educate them for the works of the

The plainness of Puritan life and of Bradford’s style exemplifies the effects that his religion has on his writing. The Puritans removed anything that might distract them from their life’s devotion to God. For instance, they imposed strict dress codes upon their people, allowing only soft, muted colors, and they did not allow their children to play with toys. Instead, the children attended school – their education was focused primarily on theology – and worked from a young age. These practices compare to Bradford’s unornamented writing: “But to omit other things (that I may be brief) after long beating at sea they fell with that land which is called Cape Cod; the which being made

In chapter six of “Critical Handbook of Children’s Literature” which was written by Rebecca Lukens. Jacqueline Smith, and Cynthia Coffel, plot are known as “Sequence of events showing characters in conflict”. Also, this order is one of the best ways for writers to help readers to understand the story of the each character, which was selected by the writer (p. 141). Narrative order is one of the form that is included in the plot, it is the form that tells the story through following an events by step by step. In addition, there are different type of narrative order, one of them is Chronological Order, then Variations in Narrative Form, and finally the Variations is Representations of Time (Lukens et al, 2012, p. 142). This three types of order have their own form that can help children to read and understand the children’s literature.

In the 1600’s, Puritans living in both England and New England held their views on God rather tightly and lived their lives as good Christians. Puritans were selfless individuals who had escaped and came to America in search of religious freedom and peace. In literature during that time period, it is made very clear that everything the Puritans had accomplished or acquired was a result of God, and that they were forever in his debt. One of the great poets from this time era was Anne Bradstreet who wrote about her children, husband, and parents. Anne Bradstreet blended her domestic life with theological imagery in every poem she did, explaining that her grandchildren were merely lent to her but

Early American literature may be said to begin with the Colonial period. John Smith and John Winthrop are two examples of the types of writing at this period: the former kept a romantic journal of his adventures in the New World; the latter kept a journal (or history) of life in New England, where religious matters were of utmost importance. The Puritans had come seeking a life free from religious persecution (which, they ironically brought with them however, as their descendent Nathaniel Hawthorne would show in The Scarlet Letter).