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500
American Indian Storytelling
Tribal storytellers viewed characters, and therefore people, as essentially neutral or good. In the myths of the Hopi, Nez-Perce, and Huron, among other tribes, the spiritual world and natural world combine to make people good or erase evil. -
Puritan Era Storytelling
The Puritan storytellers, almost exclusively male ministers, viewed characters and people as essentially evil. Anne Bradstreet, and later Jonathan Edwards, wrote texts {Bradstreet poetry, Edwards' essays and sermons] stating people are born with sin and must be saved through religious teaching and daily practice. -
Colonial American Storytelling
Writers and storytellers essentially viewed characters and people as neutral or good. Authors such as Ben Franklin wrote fiction and non-fiction suggesting people could improve through using logic and their rational mind to solve problems and gain wisdom. -
Romantic Era Storytelling
Thinkers and Writers in this era, spanning up until the 1860's, differed in optimistic and pessimistic views of characters and people. What they did agree upon was a basic belief that one's intution and feelings could often help to solve conflicts and provide wisdom where logic and reason failed to help. -
Civil War Era Storytelling
Thinkers and Writers must account for the grim realities of warfare. Literary thinking shifts away from imaginative settings and intuitive Romantic thinking towards Realism. -
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American Thinking and Storytelling
