Exercises about Puritans

Exercise 1.

a. When the Pilgrim Fathers landed in America, they didn't find any equipment to help their 	survival.
b. The Natives they met were barbarian and savage, unlike the inhabitants of Malta who helped the 	shipwreckeds.
c. Moreover it was winter, which is a sharp and violent season in America.
d. Around them they could only see a desolate wilderness.	
e. They feel hopeless because, unlike Moses, they couldn't climb the Mount Jourdain and get a great 	view of their new land.
f.  The landscape in front of their land was only a wild savage wood.
g. The ocean beside them was a wall between them and the other civilized parts of the world
h. They knew they were separated from the other civilized countries and only God could help them.

Exercise 2.

Negative indefinite adjectives: “no friend, no inns” ; “no house sor much less towns”
Evocative adjectives: “cruel and fierce storms” ; “sharp and violent winter”
Biblical parallels: “ the Apostles” ; “to got up to the top of Pisgah”

Exercise 3.

	Civilization	Savagery	
Living Beings	Pilgrim Father	Wild beasts, wild men	
Places	Towns, inns	Woods, thickets	
Weather	Summer	Winter	
Feelings	Hope in Spirit of God and his Grace	No small kindness, little solace or content	
 
Exercise 4.

I think Bradford's attitude on the new land is negative: he shows all the defects of the home of the pilgrims to justify their behaviour in front of Natives and demonstrate the pilgrims deserves this land for their valiant resistance during the winter.

Exercise 5.

 1.	The English puritans firstr set foot in America in the spring of 1620. False
 2.	Without Indians help, the colonist would not have survived. True
 3.	The natives attitude towards the newcomer was protective. True
 4.	They fed them with fish from their tribal stores. False
 5.	The colonists were skilled farmers while Indians not. False
 6.	In order to build new settlements, the colonists cut down the forest along the coast. True
 7.	Although they did not believe in private property, the Pemaquids agreed to sell part of their land to please the colonists. False
 8.	In less than thirty years the Native Americans where driven out their territories. True

Exercise 6. Developing critical thinking

The two texts shows two completely different points of view about the arrival of the pilgrims in America. The first text shows the Natives as savage and cruel barbarians, while the second text presents them as a protective and friendly population. This two different consideration are opposite because they came from the point of view of Pilgrim Father and a Native descendant.
Natives describe pilgrims as fierce colonists, interested only in the land: they didn't care of Indians, and so on in thirty years, Natives were gone out of their original land. From the point of view of the pilgrims, they were persecuted and in search of a new land where live alone and in peace. About the resources of the territory, both the text speaks about the plenty of wood and thickets, but in the first text, these were described as “a wild and savage hue”, while in the second text these woods were cut down to built the new home land of the pilgrims (the New England), and in a soon future, these forests  will be the home of the Natives.