Is America Still Puritan?

THINKING ROUTINE

SEE

1. The animal represented in the picture is a turkey.
2. The characters sitting on it are a man and a woman wearing a typical Puritan costume.
3. The people in the foreground are wearing typical Puritan costumes.

THINK

1. I think that typical costumes have a historical significance.
2. This picture represents the Thanksgiving day.
3. The elements that make me think the scene is from today’s world are the parade and the big float representing a turkey.

WONDER

1. These people are celebrating their Puritan origin because they want to state their identity and to show to the rest of the world their traditions and culture.
2. I do not know any similar celebrations.
3. Italy has some national symbols: Italian flag, Italian hymn (il Canto degli Italiani), the Vittoriano and the 2^nd June Parade in Rome.

EX.1

1-G         2-E         3-A           4-F           5-B             6-C

EX.2

1. The first experiment demonstrated that American college students solved more anagrams with salvation on mind, than Canadian students.
2. Young American people judged promiscuous women more harshly than British students, because of the influence of the Puritan sense of prudishness in the American culture.
3. The element that makes me think that the author is an American is the use of the pronoun “we” instead of the one “they”, which is used for Canadian people.
4. The paradoxical idea is that in the USA even if a person does not believe in God, he/she is influenced by Puritan values.
5. New England has had a disproportionate influence on American ideals through its universities, its print culture and the writing of its famous clergy.

HEADLINES

Paragraph 1 : Does the protestant work ethic still apply today?

Paragraph 2 : Some experiments demonstrate it.

Paragraph 3 : The influence of predestination and success as a sign of salvation.

Paragraph 4 : An experiment about prudishness of the Puritan people.

Paragraph 5 : A third experiments

Paragraph 6 : A paradox about American people.

Paragraph 7 : The influence of New England on the modern America

Paragraph 8 : Puritanism’s consequences are visible in industrialisation and social changes.

Paragraph 9 : Tocqueville could have saw it still today, if he had been in the USA.