Literature of Conquest and
Colonization
The Norton Anthology of
American Literature
Introduction
• Diego Colón
• Politics of “Discovery”
• Earliest Settlers:
▫ 10,000BCE (and likely earlier…)
 Native creation narratives claim that the people always populated the
earth. Popular theory of the “land bridge” during the Ice Ages.
▫ St. Brendan of Ireland in the 10th century (900s)
 Sailed and detailed his voyages throughout the Atlantic Ocean and
Mediterranean Sea
 Scholars speculate that his popular text documenting lands in the
western Atlantic was known to Columbus.
▫ Leif Eriksson of Vikings in 11th century (1000s)
 Norse established trading outposts in Canada and attempted
colonization but gave up the idea after skirmishes with locals
 Recorded their accounts, detailed the “savagery” of the Natives
(“skraelings”)
▫ Christopher Columbus in 15th century (1492)
 Cristoforo Colombo; Cristóbal Colón
Introduction
• Important Term/Concept: Colonization
▫ the establishment, exploitation, acquisition, and expansion of
colonies in one territory by a group of people from another territory.
 Violence and Conflict
▫ To ensure control, the colonizing group tries to shape the cultural
environment: education, religion, language, literature, songs, and
other forms of expression
 Cultural Conquest
▫ To ensure control, the colonizing group dictates the economic terms
to their benefit, at the expense of the colonized group
 Cross Cultural Exchange
 Cultural Appropriation
Introduction
• Important Term/Concept: The Other (The big “o”)
▫ something that is viewed as and labelled culturally alien (and
therefore inferior)
 Slavery, Exclusion, Conversion
• Understanding the natives
▫ Placed in a Christian and European context
 Europe in the midst of religious controversy and conflict at the
time; paranoia and misunderstanding already rampant
 Europe defined by war, conflict, and the race for
national/religious superiority—natives become caught
▫ Assumption of Singularity in Native culture
 Plurality in Europe, assumed singularity in New World
 Divisions between peoples were sometimes fierce, capitalized
by Europeans
▫ The importance of perspective and terminology
 Literature (and history) are subjective narratives.
 Names: Skraeling; Cannibal
Introduction
• Important Term/Concept: Narrative
▫ Narrative is
 Literature is the only one type of narrative.
Literature refers to the medium of letters, the
written form of narrative.
• Literature of the Period
▫ Written and permanently recorded by Europeans,
because of medium at work
 Europeans assumed no art or literature in Native
cultures because they did not work in the same
“traditional” media.
▫ Oral tradition of Natives is more insular and
evolving—many not “recorded” until 19th century
Introduction
• 1500-1700
▫ The Spanish
 In the South and the Southwest
▫ The British (English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh)
 In the Northeast and Atlantic Seaboard
▫ The Dutch
 In the Northeast
▫ The French
 In the Great Lakes region and in the “western” territories
▫ The Portuguese
 In Central/South America, diverting Spanish interests to
southern colonies
• Important Terms/ Concepts: Plurality, Conflict,
Competition from the outset
▫ European imports these in addition to what already present
Introduction
• American Literature as Literature of Experience
▫ American literature rooted in action experiencing world and
then reflecting/commenting upon it
 European literature as more theoretical, scholastic, fantastic
 St. Thomas More’s “Utopia”
 Arthurian Legends
• Important Term/Concept: The Pastoral Ideal
▫ European Pastoral Ideal
 Rooted in class origins; passive
▫ American Pastoral Ideal
 Rooted in new ideas of colonization; active
▫ Related to idyllic landscape and the saving power of nature
▫ Common themes:





Withdraw from society
Nature as a haven
Nature as provider
Independence and Individuality
Survival and Rebirth
“The Iroquois Creation Story” (20-23)
• Background:
▫ Who are the Iroquois?
▫ How is the story both history and myth?
• Creation Story:
▫ Who is the woman? Who are the monsters?
▫ What is the function of the turtle?
▫ Why are the children twins? What is the allegory of Enigorio and
Enigonhahetgea?
 What does Enigorio create?
 What does Enigonhahetgea create?
▫ Who are the Ea-gwe-howe?
▫ How does Enigorio prevail over Enigonhahetgea?
• What larger understanding of Iroquois (and Native) culture
can be garnered from this text?
▫ How does this relate to larger American values? How does it
relate to universal, human values?
 Synchronicity, Universality, Archetype
Seneca Account: “The Story Telling
Stone” (pdf)
• Plot:
▫ What is the general synopsis?
▫ What happens each time the boy goes to the woods?
How does his behavior change?
• Character:
▫ Who is Poyeshaon? What is the role of the other
characters in the story?
• Themes:
▫ What are the ethical ends of the narrative? What can
we infer about Seneca culture, and what it values?
• Significance:
▫ How does this relate to larger American values? How
does it relate to universal, human values?
“Christopher Columbus”: Letters (2428)
• First Conquerors of Hispaniola (Española):
▫ 1492-1494; 1498-1500
▫ Mediation: de las Casas and Columbus’ “journal”
• Letter to Luis de Santangel (1st Voyage)
▫
▫
▫
▫
Give credit where credit is due: a)____ b)____
Description of journey
They found “nothing of importance”
Description of the Islands
• Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella (4th Voyage)
▫ The New World, 10 Years Later:
▫ Problems with new Spanish colonists:
 What this says about Spain:
 What this says about Columbus:
▫ Columbus’ Treatment by the Colonists: IRONY
▫ Columbus’ Request of the Crown:
Spanish Conquest of America: God,
Glory, and Gold
• Exploitation of People
• Conquest, Not Exploration: Reasons for distinctions
• Objectives/Results: acquisition of commodity (and destruction) >
cultural growth and expansion of knowledge
• Reasons for Conquest:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Politics (La Malinche)
Religion (Quetzakoatl)
Away Team Advantage
(Horses)
Disease
Not as Legitimate Reasons:
1. Intelligence
2. Cultural Superiority
3. Technology
4. Spanish Numbers
• Importing African Slaves: 1501, 1510, 1518, 1522
• Fall of Tenochtitlán: 1521
• Native Accounts: What do we mean by “American” literature? Who
is an “American” writer? What makes a text “American”?
Spanish Conquest of America
• Hernan Cortes
▫ Background
 Encomienda in Cuba
 Problems with Governor of Cuba, Diego Velazquez
 After Aztec conquest…
▫ Second Letter to the Spanish Crown
 Why was he writing to the Spanish Crown?
 How does he describe Tenochtitlan/Temixitan?
 Importance of bridges?
 Trading and markets?
 Religious tensions
 What did Cortes do with the idols of the Aztecs?
 Reasons?
 Differences in writing compared to Columbus
Spanish Conquest of America
• Broken Spears: the Aztec Account of the Conquest
of Mexico
▫ Motecuhzoma’s Reaction to Scouts
 “astonished and terrified”
▫ “Technology”: The Cannon and Its Effect
 “If the cannon is aimed against a mountain, the mountain
splits”
▫ The Horse/Dog
 “These deer…are as tall as the roof of a house”
 “They are tireless and powerful”
▫ Style and Food
▫ “Conquered by despair”
Reading Check #1
• What is one potential “problem” with the Letter
to Captain Smith? (hint: introduction)
• What does Powhatan ask of Captain Smith at the
end of the letter?
• Smith experienced some fame later in his life
post-Virginia. What did he do?
• Describe how Captain Smith was attacked and
captured by the Indians?
English Conquest of America
• Exploitation of Land:
• Wealth, Separation as chief motivator
• Objectives/Results: acquisition of land > cultural growth
and expansion of religion
• Reasons for Conquest: Not as Legitimate Reasons:
1.
2.
3.
Religion
Structure
Disease
1. Intermarriage
2. Cultural Superiority
3. Technology
4. Numbers
• Importing African Slaves: 18th century
• Native Accounts: What do we mean by “American” literature?
Who is an “American” writer? What makes a text “American”?
European Colonization of the Americas
Spanish Colonization
English Colonization
• Conquest, then Conversion
▫ Cultural Roots: Catholicism
• Social Structure:
▫ Spanish
• Colonization, not Conversion
▫ Cultural Roots: Calvinism,
Puritanism (Church of
England)
▫ Predestination
▫ The Elect
• Social Structure:
▫ English




Peninsulares
Creoles
Mestizos
Mulattoes
▫ Indians
▫ Africans
• Points of Emphasis:
▫ Gold and Land
▫ Ownership and Labor
• Effect over Time:
 Pastors
 Commoners
 Indentured Servants/Slaves
▫ Pilgrim = Puritan
▫ The Other(s)
• Points of Commercial Emphasis:
▫ Trade and Land
▫ Labor
• Effect over Time:
Powhatan: “Letter to Captain John
Smith” (p.53-54)
• English Colonization: pace and approach
▫ Meeting
• Powhatan, or Wahunsonacock of the Algonquin
Confederacy, named subject-king by James I
▫ John Smith: frequently traveled up the
Chickahominy River for trade; captured and taken
prisoner
▫ Powhatan’s Major Points
▫ Powhatan’s Threat
▫ Problems with the Powhatan Narrative:
Captain John Smith: “The General History of
Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles” (5768)
• Jamestown: 1607-9
▫ Why were the colonists without enough food? (60)
▫ What did Captain Smith do? (61)
▫ Unrest in Jamestown—abandonment? (62)
• “The General History”:
▫ Attack and Capture (63)
 How did it happen?
▫ Relations with Captors
 What does he share with captain Opechancanough? (63)
 Near Execution (64)
 Corn Ceremony (65)
▫ Meeting Powhatan (66)
 Pocahantas’ Sacrifice (66)
 Powhatan’s Bounty (67)
 Smith’s Relief (68)
• Authorial Intent v. Cultural Impact
Captain John Smith: “A Description of
New England” (69-72)
• What is the purpose of this text?
• What is the primary motive(s) for settlement?
▫ Significance?
• How does one achieve prosperity in the New
World?
▫ Significance?
• Authorial Intent v. Cultural Impact
▫ What message is Smith trying to convey? Why?
 Is he successful?
 What is the legacy of his words?
Thomas Harriot’s “Invisible Bullets”
• “Time out of mind” (35)
• “They were persuaded that it was the work of our
God through our means, and that we by him might
kill and slay whom we would without weapons and
not come near them” (36)
▫ Significance:
• Gods or men?
▫ Why the confusion?
▫ Larger Implication:
• “Invisible Bullets”
▫ Importance of Language
Literature of Colonial America,
1620-1776
Introduction
• “New” England
• Religious Background: Luther, Calvin, the Reformation
▫ Authority and Conformity
▫ Function and Role of Power
▫ Reason for Massachusetts Bay Colony:
 Religious “Freedom”
▫ Trouble in England  unstable
• Voyage and Landfall
▫ Positive Effects of Religion
▫ Poor Planning, Poor Skills  Poor Living Conditions
• Puritan Beliefs and Literature
▫
▫
▫
▫
Predestination and the Elect
Reason for Extensive Writing
Social Organization: “Democratic” Theocracy
Legacy of the Puritans:
• Native Americans
▫ Ideological Differences with the Puritans
▫ Classification by the Purtians
• A “Vale of Plenty”: The South
▫ Narratives portray climate/land as idyllic, not cruel
▫ Easier to farm/import labor  more accommodating to a leisurely lifestyle
 Write more traditional “literature” because of
Bradford/Winthrop Quiz
1. According to Bradford, who are the “strangers”?
2. How did Squanto know how to communicate with
the English settlers?
3. Winthrop tells his constituents they will need to be
“a city upon a hill.” What are the consequences for
failure?
4. William Bradford was the governor of what colony?
Bonus:
• The Pilgrims sailed from which English city? (hint:
they have a soccer team named after the city)
• What was John Winthrop’s profession before being
elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
1629?
William Bradford: Of Plymouth Plantation)
• Bradford Biography: (72-73)
▫ Pilgrims?
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
 separatist Bible (OT) as truth
 Hierarchy, Holy Days, Predestination, Sacraments, Marriage
farmer first, intellectual second
Separatism & Calvin model churches
Netherlands  New World
Why Plymouth?
Governor of the Plymouth Settlement for 30+ years
• The Mayflower Compact: 1620
▫ First Lines  Loyalty to __________ and _________
 Implication/meaning/problem(s)?
▫ Civil Body Politic
 Key Words:
 Purpose:
 Promise:
▫ Early reaction (and response):
Bradford Of Plymouth Plantation
continued
• Starving Time: (82-83)
▫ In debt to William Brewster and Cpt. Myles Standish
 Why?
▫ Sickness, Sailors, & Settlers
 Significance?
• Indian Relations (83-86)
▫ Samoset and Squanto: how they came to speak English
 Samoset
 Squanto
▫ Terms of Treaty
▫ Importance of Squanto for Plymouth
▫ Relations with Pocanockets
 Why did they create conflict with the English?
▫ Natives Treatment of French Shipwreck Victims
John Winthrop: “A Model of Christian
Charity”
• Winthrop Biography:
▫ trained as lawyer/in process of government
▫ King Charles I and after effects
▫ Established Massachusetts Bay Colony and elected governor of it in 1629, arrived
in 1630
• Puritans
▫ Reform Anglican Church
▫ Predestination
▫ Christ & Scripture
• “A Model of Christian Charity” Sermon:
▫ Micah 6:8
 Primary Values:
 What we must sacrifice:
 How we should function as a society:
▫ “City upon a Hill”:
 Must maintain focus
 Role of Obedience:
▫ Flaws:
• Role as Governor:
Anne Bradstreet
• Father & Education
▫ Earl of Lincoln
• Part of MA Bay Colony
▫ Married someone of power (secretary  governor)
▫ “heart rose” in protest against “new world and new
manners”
• Took consolation not from theology, but from “wondrous
works” of nature
• Published without her knowledge
• Feminism & Controversy
▫ John Winthrop to Ann Hopkins: leave writing and reading
to men “whose minds are stronger”
▫ Puritan beliefs
• Legacy as first published “American” poet
Anne Bradstreet
• Themes: Individual Desire v. God’s Will;
Submission; Domestic Life; Gender; Religious
Conflict; Redemption
• “Prologue”
▫ Shift and Meaning
• “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of
Our House…”
▫ Implications?
▫ Puritan Viewpoint
Pontiac
• Goal: to persuade Huron and Pottawatomi
leaders to join his Ottawa people in armed
resistance to the British
• Who is Neolin?
• The three openings?
• “Beautiful woman arrayed in white”
• Great Spirit & English
• Connection to Bible
Red Jacket
• Origin of name
• Goal: To demonstrate that his people’s
insistence that their religion is as good for them
as Christianity is for the Americans
• Who do the Indians thank? Why?
• Red Jacket’s criticism of God and the Bible? Of
organized religion?
• Why do English and Indians have different
religions?