Puritans leader: John Winthrop

Although this book had many good points, one thing really stuck with me and that was the speech given by the Puritans leader John Winthrop. The speech he gave really stuck with me, it was inspiring and I could almost feel as if he was speaking it to me. I can only imagine how hard it must have been giving an inspirational speech to a bunch of people that not many other believe in, but he did it and he did it well. His whole speech was called The City Upon a Hill. The concept that Winthrop was trying to reach is that it was common for Americans to think as if they were examples to everyone else. This idea originally came from Jesus sermon by Matthew who said: " You are the light of the world ". 

At first John wanted to get across to the Puritans that they don't have to do whatever the King says they have to do and that they could practice the religions they wanted to practice. All John wanted to do was build their confidence and make them believe that they could be strong and hold their own. This soon lead to him forcing them they could do it and that they need to believe in themselves.

This story really stuck out to me because of the meaning behind it. In the end all John wanted to do was build the self confidence of the Puritans and show them that they could do it and no one was to tell them otherwise. I think it takes a lot of courage for someone to do that for a group of people, especially when that group is looked down on by other numerous individuals. This shows that John Winthrop has a big heart and he helped make the book a little more interesting for me.

Sarah Vowell: Writing

After reading The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell I realized she isn't an author for me. Normally when I choose books to read in my free time I choose them because the topic interests me, the author is a favorite of mine or I have heard it was worth reading from a friend. This book did not make me want to read another book about Puritans. I guess I just didn't like the style Sarah Vowell wrote in. She wasn't anything like Sarah Dessen. Sarah Dessen is a favorite author of mine for many reasons, one because she can put so much into a book with out over powering it. She can make it funny, yet sad at times. She can make it so you want to cry but laugh along and that's what grabs my attention. After reading the first chapter of The Wordy Shipmates I realized that they are completely different writers. I feel as if Sarah Vowell tried to put to much into her writing especially when it came to sarcasm. To me she was trying to make everything a joke and what kind of person wants people to think of their country as a joke? Not me that's for sure. Although Sarah made many good points in her writing I feel as if she used way to much sarcasm and this book just wasn't for me.

Puritans: Who are they?

Although the Puritans have many great values after reading this book I found that their strongest value was their bravery. Throughout the book they showed true bravery by leaving and entering unknown places. Throughout their entire lives they were looked down on and were thought of as people who could make a difference and people that one could believe in. It's sad to think that this is common in history but it's very true. Once people realize that there is something different about you they don't like it and they think they are automatically better than you. Thankfully this problem is becoming less, and less common today. The United States believes that people should be free.
 The Puritans are a also a very interesting group because of the way the mended together. They didn't mend together because of money or they wanted to gang up on a specific group, they mended because they all had a very unique spiritual bond that no one could break.