puritanism:missing the point

Before I get into this, I just want to say that I am a Christian too. Now to begin, like I said, I am all about pleasing God and living a good life that pleases him. However, the whole puritan idea of predestination and the elect is totally mind boggling to me. One of the basis's of Christianity is the salvation for all believing sinners no matter how much wrong is done in the earthly life. The idea of working tirelessly and still unable to get into heaven seems crazy. I would have thought that a people who study the bible that much and base their whole life on their religion would have at least a good idea what their scripture said! Like for example, in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, it does not matter how good you are, you are at the mercy of an angry God who reveres punishing all people. That is not the image of God found in the Bible. He is a happy God who wants to see everyone go to heaven. So I cannot see where the Puritans came up with an image of an angry God with a goal to ban all sinners to hell. Even though the people were genuinely devoted to God and puritanism, I think that they got so wrapped up in principle that they missed the big message, salvation and eternal life for all.

Sherman Alexie: The Truth Hurts

I commend Sherman Alexie's writing. First off, Alexie is a Native American writer who is aware of the social position of his people. He understands that Native Americans are looked down upon from society because they have a bad reputation to be unsuccessful, alcoholic, and stagnant as a reservation. Very few make it out of the desolate reservation to go to college and make a life for themselves. However, just because it is expected that Alexie did not do anything with his life, that did not stop him from defying the norm and finding himself through writing. His writing is, in my opinion, very commendable because he is honest to the reader. He could write stories about the Indians and leave out all of the negative sides of the culture, however, he decides that if he is going to write about his people , he is going to cover all aspects of them, including the alcohol problem and depression associated with Reservation life. I also appreciate how Alexie is willing to confront the stereotypes of his people and admit whether some are true or just nonsense. He does not try to avoid all the stereotypes, and some of them he even embraces as a proud part of his culture. For example, his braid. It is a stereotype that all Indians have thick, long, black braids. Instead of being embarrassed about it because it is a known stereotype, he embraces it and is so proud of it that he grows it as long as it has ever been in his senior year. So in general, Alexie is an honest writer who is not afraid to speak the harsh truth.

Heritage: Face Paint but Nothing Else

Heritage is said to be one of the biggest characterizations of people. People are classified according to where they come from. It is said to even classify you as an individual person. I however, disagree. Every human is different, no two humans are the same. Just because you came from a similar background or ethnicity, does not make you the same as another person. Each individual is unique and has a different personality and emotions. For example, in The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, Jeanette and her siblings grew up in destitute dealing with an alcoholic father and a bipolar mother. Even though Jeanette and her siblings grew up in the same situation as her parents, that did not identify them as people. They were different from their parents; they wanted to escape poverty and be successful in life. Another example from literature would be in Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare. Both Romeo and Juliet come from sparring families who should hate each other, however, they soon fall in love even though their heritage forbids it. Their heritage did not determine who they were as humans because it is little more than a name or a background. Instead of looking at the last name of a person or their family history, it is better to look at their heart and their personality because in reality, heritage means nothing.