Imagine that you are faced with a vast wilderness.

You, your family, and a few

of your friends must live in the midst of this wilderness. You must fnd a way
to get food from the land, set up shelter, and organize yourselves into a
semblance of society.
Five hundred years ago, America was an open, wild land. Both uropean
settlers and !ative Americans were faced with many of the same issues"
food, shelter, and politics. As might be e#pected, these issues in$uenced the
literature of both groups. %eople struggled with the hardships of life in &'th
century America, and in order to ma(e sense of their world, they developed
stories and applied religious beliefs to e#plain hardships and blessings ali(e.
)here are three ma*or categories of literature from &'th and &+th century
America" !ative American oral stories, %uritan writings, and early American
political writings. ,et-s loo( at each one a little closer.
!ative American .ral )radition
An oral tradition is a series of stories passed down from generation to
generation through storytelling, as opposed to writing them down. .ral
storytelling was a (ey component of !ative American cultures.
)here were many di/erent !ative American tribes, and as a result, there were
myriad of di/erent tales passed down through oral tradition. But there were a
few elements that many of the !ative American stories have in common.
A hero-s *ourney. 0any of the stories deal with a hero who goes through a
series of hardships and has to rise above them, using his s(ills and smarts.
1ometimes, the hero has to ma(e a sacrifce for the good of the larger
community.
A tric(ster 2od interferes. )he tric(ster is a staple in many !ative American
stories. 3e li(es to mess with humans and cause havoc. 1ometimes his tric(s
are harmless enough, but sometimes they represent real peril or roadbloc(s
that the hero must face.
!ature changes. )he actions of the hero and4or the gods in !ative American
stories often end up a/ecting or changing nature. In this way, nature
becomes a symbol of what the hero is going through. 1ometimes natural
problems, such as a lac( of rain or too much snow, are the beginning of the
hero-s *ourney, and sometimes they are something that pops up during the
*ourney.
5orlds are created. 6reation is a (ey element in many of the !ative American
stories. 1ometimes, this creation has to do with the literal creation of the
world. .ther times, creation is seen in the changing of the seasons or the
birth of a new generation. ven the living rhythm of language was seen as a
(ind of creation7 after all, it is in storytelling and language that people create
worlds and ma(e sense of them.
%uritan 5riting
)here were many types of uropean settlements in America in the &899s, and
all of them had their own oral and written literature. 3owever, a group of
settlers (nown as the %uritans dominated the colonial literary scene in
America.
)he %uritans were a group of nglish %rotestants who were discriminated
against in ngland. As a result, many of them moved to America to see(
freedom and found their own colony based on the religious and political
beliefs of their members.
5hy did %uritan writing have a stronger in$uence on colonial literature than
other groups: 5ell, for one thing, the %uritans were mostly middle;class and
well;educated. 6ompare that to some of the other colonies, which were
founded by tradesmen who did not put as much emphasis on reading and
writing.