Assignment task: Critical Thinking Exercise on the Puritans
Answer the following questions in an essay of at least two pages, supporting the answers with evidence.
You may organize the material as you think best but be sure to include each of the questions in some way.
Q1. How did the Puritan view of man determine the ways in which Puritans raised their children?
Give examples. How did it affect the children?
Q2. Discuss Puritan beliefs and attitudes toward death. How did these beliefs impact the way in which their society developed?
Q3. Why did the Salem Witchcraft hysteria and subsequent trials occur in 1692? What in their culture and belief system supported these developments? Discuss the various factors leading to the hysteria. Examine the impact on Puritan society.
Q4. In what ways might American attitudes toward death, evil, community, and child-rearing today be similar to those of the Puritans? In what ways would they be different?