The Wordy Shipmates, Chapters 11-15 Response

This section begins with explanations of Winthrop's tirp to America, as percieved through his personal diary. The trip seemed to have gone just as the settlers predicted; a tough voyage across the ocean, during which time many died and many more grew desperate, yet the voyage finally came to an end-with whatever remained of the ships crew-and the settlers were greated open heartedly by the population of Salem.

Vowell is also sure to point out how the first pilgrims came over to America, overjoyed by the sucess of their venture, yet without any host to help them recover. She does this, in my personal belief, to single out the Winthrop settlers, as if their feats were less as remarkable as those before them. However, this is a hard conclusion to jump to, as she also so ordinarily refers to Winthrop as highly as she does.

Vowell's description of Endecott, including the story about the duplicate Charter, makes me think of him as a puppet. He was not really in charge, and those who were in charge were just keeping him happy enough so that they could continue to use him for their betterment.

The "Great House" in which Winthrop lived is a classic example of how those in power live in the greatest estates. Our own president lives in one of the most luxurious and protected establishments in the U.S., much like Winthrop.If it was not evident before, Winthrop was a very busy guy. This is made evident in his journal entries, in which he is much less eloquent than he was delivering speeches to soon to be settlers.

The length of chapter twelve talks in part about the roles of clergy men in the church. The "leaders" of the church are the preacher and the teacher. They are a duet, a small oligarchy, the two consuls of early American settlements. If you had one of these two jobs, you were a made man, yet Roger Williams turned down the opportunity to be a teacher, as he felt it was not "sepratist" enough. Williams is also not a fan of religious warfare, for he sees the ordeal of trying to change people over to other forms of religions as we do on the outside; "Why not just be happy that if they are wrong they will burn in hell?". It is a terrifically rational train of thought that makes Williams-in my opinion-very intellectual.

In 17th Century America, Puritans called improbable acts omens. Many current Christians view improbable acts as miracles. Personally, looking at it rationally, I believe anything to be possible, because nothing is impossible. I do not think that when something amazingly improbable happens it is an act of God, just the minute percentile (that .01% that he would pull through) coming through as it is bound to do every once in a while. Saying that a "miracle" happened because Billy only had a 20% chance of survival is near ignorance, atleast, that is how I view it.