The Mythology of Early America

The Garden and the Wilderness

What is Myth?

• Complex of narratives that dramatize the world vision and historical sense of a people or culture.

• It is a real world distilled into a collection of subjective metaphors.

• These metaphors reveal, criticize and perpetuate social, religious, and political norms.

The West in European Myth- The kingdom of death

and dreams- The underworld- The subconscious

- This journey into darkness is ubiquitous across cultures- Odysseus - Moses- Luke Skywalker- Harry Potter

- From Joseph Campbell – The Hero With a Thousand Faces

The West in European History

For the love of God, of course…

The temptation of the wilderness…

“…the wilderness could isolate them from their civilization, captivate and imprison them, and compel them to learn and live by its laws.”

-From Richard Slotkin – Regeneration Through Violence

Indo-European Conflict

DH Lawrence – “Hawthorne and The Scarlett Letter”

• The Puritans know a little about what happens to those who fall victim to temptation.

• They’ve internalized a different narrative for themselves.

Clash of Gods

Indians• Pansexual Deity

– Maternal– Passionate– Sympathetic– Nurturing– ‘Part and particle’ of the

world itself

Puritans• Patriarchal Diety

– Stern– Logical– Just– Transcendent– Authority over the world

Clash of Cultures

Indian Society• Communal• Non-authoritarian• Elder consultants

Puritan Society• Hierarchal/Patriarchal• Authoritarian• Magisterial elders

The New Puritan Mythology

• We are God’s chosen people held captive by a fallen world.

• The New World is a Wilderness we can cultivate into a “City on a Hill”.

• The Indians and the Wilderness they inhabit are an existential threat and a moral temptation.