Carnival Time - Enlightenment

I found that self-betterment and human sympathy/sentiment were the major themes during our Enlightenment section.

Out of the six (or seven counting Abigail Adams seperately) authors we read--Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, John and Abigail Adams, De Crevecoeur, Olaudah Equiano, and Phillis Weatley--four stood out amoung our class.

Many of us were taken with Jonathan Edwards. Some in positive ways and others negatively. It was universally agreed that his "Personal Narrative" was insighful and gave a human element to Edwards that was not evident in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Our class was split about whether "Sinners" was a good sermon or not. Some saw this harshness necessary, both then and now; others saw it as too harsh and something that would not bring non-believers to Christianity but cause them to run away. But regardless, it was agreed to be very impassioned.

Benjamin Franklin was/is an example to all of us. Most people were impressed by Franklin's determination to better not only himself but also other Americans. His influence in upstart of the library system was mentioned often as was his 13 virtues. Also brought up was Franklin's lack of churchgoing: his belief in deism instead of blindly believing in the religion of his time.

Olaudah Equiano was the third author commented on frequently. His trust of religion and the God he read in the Bible was contrasted by the religion practiced around him. In this train of thought, our class enjoyed his frankness about religion and the times he stood up to his "owners" as an example of human sympathies and reason versus religion. Perhaps another element of human sympathies was his enslavement. It was not what many of us expected. It did not highlight the extent of horrors we are used to reading about in slave narratives.

Similar to Equiano, Phillis Weatly's slave experience was not what we are familiar with. Her life was intriguing to readers. Human sympathies was protrayed heavily by Weatley's poems about the equality of blacks and whites expecially in regards to the rights granted by God. Self-betterment is obvious in Weatley's poetry and life and was pointed out frequently.

The Adamses and De Crevecoeur were infrequently mentioned. However, when they did come up the same themes of self-betterment and sentiment were held. (Though they focused more on the betterment of the country than of the self.)

The blogs were great to read. Overall, our class excellently compared and contrasted the different authors and works of writings and pointed out different enlightenment aspects. Kudos to everyone!