Exploring the Challenges of Interpreting Literature - Essay Sample

Introduction

Literature is a comprehensive discipline since it involves different views and opinions of history and artistic work. The way literature is being interpreted depends on the level of understanding of the individuals or groups. Another aspect which dictates the way literature is being interpreted is period (occurrence time) of that past event or the artistic work. In most instances, literature is being classified as one of the most challenging disciplines to comprehend due to its contradictions views. However, any interpretation of literature is correct depending on the explanation given. The above picture about writing is going to be proved through a discussion of the dissimilarity between the personal and moralistic voice in Puritan and early colonial literature.

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The puritans were the name which was developed in the 16th century to more thrilling Protestants within the England Church. That protestant had this idea that English reformation had not gone far enough when it comes to reforms of structures and doctrines in the church. They always have this urge of deficient to cleanse national church through the elimination of every strip of Catholic impact. However, in the 19th century, a vast number of Puritans settled to the New Biosphere (Little 261 - 263). In this new world, they wanted to find a divine nationality in New England. This aspect made Puritans remained dominant in their beliefs in the 19th century.

There were several Basic puritan beliefs which were described as follows; total depravity which emphasized that through the fall of Adam and Eve, every individual was born sinful. It was called the idea of the unique sin. There was also unqualified vote which explained that God only protects those who has desires of being saved. It told further that only the selected few who were chosen for salvation, a concept called predestination. Another belief was that of Limited Atonement which has the meaning of that Jesus perished for the selected only and not for everybody. The other belief that of irresistible grace which is given freely (Graham 17 - 58). It cannot be earned nor be denied. In this context, beauty was described as the redeemable and transforming authority of God. The last Puritan believe was about the preservation of "saints. " The belief emphasized on those who are designated by God having the full supremacy of interpreting the power of God. It is through this full interpretation that people were able to live uprightly. It was believed that in Puritan, no one who has the will of interpreting power could go against the will of God.

From these beliefs, it can be seen that puritan writers dedicated themselves to using literature to perform the following functions. They are transforming mysterious of God since He is so separate from the world of the living. To make God more pertinent in the world and finally to adore God. In addition to that, they have a style of puritan writing which include Protestant that contained reverence for the Bible (Larson 99 - 113). They also have purposiveness which reflected on reading the public and making them literate and well-grounded in religion.

Even after all those declarations of beliefs and the methods used to make them useful on people, there were other forces which undermined Puritanism. Some of these undermining forces were a contradiction to the mention beliefs of puritans. The first undermining force was concerned with a personal desire to do what is right. It was a force which worked ultimately against an understanding of predestination. There was also the growth of rationality which focussed on the use of the mind to know God. At this juncture, people were no longer relying on the Bible to get knowledge of God. Another undermining factor was Cosmopolitanism of the new immigrants, whereby people of different faiths and beliefs mingled and became diverse (Clark 611 - 613). There were two other undermining factors which, in a way, contradicted with proper regards was the presence of the frontier and change of political conditions. The presence of the edge was concerned with the concept of self - reliance and individualism. The idea was against belief in Grace of God which was to guide humankind. People started to believe in their self with less recognition of God. Even it led to increase of individualism an aspect which completely contradicted the power of God. Furthermore, there was a alteration in political situations from the Massachusetts colony and became a Peak colony. The transformation led to the rising of the territory with higher levels of pride, and theocracy lacked flexibility among believers.

All these undermining forces contributed a lot to Puritan decay. The decay was characterized by the following factors; pride manifestation, which mostly was observed among the new wealthy individuals and groups. There was also a violation of Sabbath, swearing, and even sleeping during sermons a scenario that undermined religion and its teachings. Another result from the undermining forces was decay in family government. People no longer valued unity where every person was performing the task based on benefits to be got. There was also a rise in the sin of alcohol and sex, which was against the teachings of Puritan beliefs (Barry 332 -335). Lastly, there was decay in business morality, whereby a lot of lying and underpaying of laborers was practiced.

Work Cited

Barry, Heather E. "Naked Quakers Who Were Not So Naked: Seventeenth-Century Quaker Women in the Massachusetts Bay Colony." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 43.2 (2015):332-335

Clark, Michael P. "John Eliot and the Praying Indians of Massachusetts Bay: Communities and Connections in Puritan New England by Kathryn N. Gray." The Catholic Historical Review 103.3 (2017): 611-613.

Graham, Kenneth JE. "Introduction: Comparing Disciplines." Disciplinary Measures from the Metrical Psalms to Milton. Routledge, 2016. 17-58.

Larson, Sidner. "Native American aesthetics: An attitude of relationship." Contemporary American Women Writers. Routledge, 2017. 99-113.

Little, Ann M. "Law and Sexual Misconduct in New England, 1650-1750: Steering Toward England by Abby Chandler." Early Modern Women 11.2 (2017): 261-263.

Plate, S. Brent. Religion and Film: Cinema and the Re-creation of the World. Columbia University Press, 2017.