StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Family Life in Puritan Community - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The author of the paper "Family Life in Puritan Community" will be seeking out answers to the following questions: How were Puritan families organized? What roles were assigned to men and women? How was property owned? What the relationship was between parents and children?
 …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94% of users find it useful
Family Life in Puritan Community
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Family Life in Puritan Community"

The Puritan communities were taught to live for God, not the pleasures of this earth. A Puritan family’s goal in life was to live righteously using individually interpreted Biblical instructions. Puritans believed the Bible showed that men were superior to women. Not only were men superior to women, but men were superior to each other depending on their station in life (Morgan, 1966: 18). For example, a rich man was superior to a poor man; a white man was superior to a black man, and so forth.

Old men were superior to younger men (Morgan, 1966: 18). This leads to the assumption that the patriarch of a Puritan family was the dominant force in the family. Men were the head of their households, while their wives and children were submissive to their husband's or father’s will. In turn, the head of the household was submissive to God’s will.             Puritan men had to provide for their wives and children. They were the money makers.

It was considered shameful not to feed or provide a roof over their family’s heads. These men were farmers, carpenters, merchants, and keepers of other various trades. The Puritans were honest in their jobs and dealings, like with the rest of their lives. They would never engage in illegal trade, own a tavern, or other seedy occupations.             Puritan families did not work on Sundays. They would attend a meeting house in the center of the village or town.

Men would sit on one side, while women and children sat on the other. Ministers were speaking to the men. It was a man’s responsibility to explain theological matters to their wives. Women could not speak in churches. They could speak amongst themselves but had to defer to their husbands on major Biblical issues.             Women in Puritan families were the keepers of the home. Poor women concerned themselves with the children, cooking, cleaning, sewing, and other household duties.

Richer women oversaw their servants in doing these household chores. Women were considered the weaker sex. Their husbands dictated every part of their lives, including the religious aspect. Women were too delicate to understand the Bible. They could not interpret the Bible but had to have their husbands instruct them (Morgan, 1966: 44). Puritan women did not have jobs outside their homes.             The relationship between a Puritan husband and wife was unique.

Men needed women to bear children, keep their homes, and perform wifely duties. However, men were suspicious of women. Since a woman had sinned first in the Garden of Eden, all women were more sinful than men (Demos, 1999: 84). Women had to be protected from their wanton selves. Men, especially a husband, had to protect their women from their natural sinful nature.             Puritan women had little or no recourse in their station. Disobedience or rebellion would have been squashed by the head of the woman’s household.

More importantly, the majority of Puritan women did not want to rebel. Rebellion or disobedience was not seen as being toward their husband but against God. It was not worth going to hell in order to have disobedience. Obeying God meant first obeying one’s husband.             Puritan children were respectful towards their parents, especially their fathers. They were taught to read by their mothers or tutors. Puritans, rich or poor, believed that idle hands could be influenced by the devil.

Children as young as five were assigned chores. Young boys between ten and fourteen would choose their trade and become apprentices (Morgan, 1966: 68). Girls would help their mothers with household chores, learning how to sew, cook, milk, and take care of children, in order to become potential good wives for their future husbands.             Puritan families were nuclear families. A family generally made up of a father, mother, and children (Demos, 1999: 62).

When a child reached maturity or married, they moved into their own home. This home might not be far from the parent’s house, but there was a separation of the households. This is due to a popular passage in the Bible that states when a person is married, they should cleave unto their spouse and leave father and mother. Puritan families took this to heart. The exception to this rule was elderly parents, no longer able to care for themselves. Elderly parents would go to a grown child’s home to stay (Demos, 1999: 75).

However, in Puritan families, two or three families did not share dwellings.             The property was owned and controlled by men. If a man died, his property went to a son or brother, with the understanding that the beneficiary would take care of the man’s wife and children. A married woman “was virtual without rights to own property, make contracts, or sue for damages on her own account” (Demos, 1999: 84). Property could be passed to sons, but not daughters.

If a man only had daughters, her husband could receive the property. Wills could have stipulations. For example, one man stipulated that his property could only be inherited if his wife could stay until her death (Demos, 1999: 25). Men were in control, no matter the will. Women did not have a say.             Puritan families were nuclear families. The man was the head of the household. Women and children were submissive to their patriarch.

Women could not hold property or jobs. Puritan families were organized around the Bible and God. Submission was the key. Men were submissive to God’s will, women submissive to men, and children submissive to their elders. Puritans believed that this type of family was dictated by God.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(How were Puritan families organized What roles were assigned to men Essay, n.d.)
How were Puritan families organized What roles were assigned to men Essay. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1714171-how-were-puritan-families-organized-what-roles-were-assigned-to-men-and-women-how-was-property-owned-described-the-relationship-between-parents-and-children
(How Were Puritan Families Organized What Roles Were Assigned to Men Essay)
How Were Puritan Families Organized What Roles Were Assigned to Men Essay. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1714171-how-were-puritan-families-organized-what-roles-were-assigned-to-men-and-women-how-was-property-owned-described-the-relationship-between-parents-and-children.
“How Were Puritan Families Organized What Roles Were Assigned to Men Essay”. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1714171-how-were-puritan-families-organized-what-roles-were-assigned-to-men-and-women-how-was-property-owned-described-the-relationship-between-parents-and-children.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Family Life in Puritan Community

The Legacy of a Nation

Colonists, forced to turn to community government in the face of British absenteeism, established a legacy that persists today.... The legacies of freedom and self rule have demanded a responsibility that we find in the puritan inspired legacy of hard work, honesty, and family.... hellip; There are six legacies that fit these descriptions that every American can readily acknowledge as a part of their life today. Freedom has been one of our most recognizable legacies....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

A comparison between modern life and life in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts

A Crowded Life: A Comparison Between Modern Life And life in 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts Were it possible toshift from today's modern world to that of Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1690, the largest adjustment would be the closeness of the community.... Were it possible to shift from today's modern world to that of Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1690, the largest adjustment would be the closeness of the community.... hellip; While immediate family size would exponentially multiply, the surrounding community would be much smaller and, therefore, more interdependent....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

The Reshaping of Everyday Life

am of the puritan faith.... The essay “The Reshaping of Everyday life” is about the life of Jacob Winthrop, a distant relative of Governor John Winthrop.... provide a good living for my family.... He is married with three children....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

The Oneida Community

The essay “The Oneida community” looks at a religious utopian community founded by John Humphrey Noyes, who was born into a prominent Vermont family in 1811 and experienced conversion at a Revival.... hellip; The author states that the objections of the citizens of Putney to Noyes' way of life, led the community to relocate on forty acres of land in Oneida, New York, in 1848, becoming the Oneida Perfectionists.... The Oneida community formally adopted communism as a way of life, with property and marriage partners being held in common....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Seventeeth-Century Roles for Puritan Men,Women, and Children (by James Kirby Martin et al

With community leaders being male, any woman who objected to this practice was harshly resisted. The role The Changes in Women's Roles The roles of women have dramatically changed since puritan times where their roles narrowed to giving birth to children, bringing them up, serving their husbands, the production of food and clothing for the family, among other responsibilities, which just centered around the home environment.... With community leaders being male, any woman who objected to this practice was harshly resisted....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

The research paper “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God” looks at Mary Rowlandson's work, “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs.... Mary Rowlandson”, which gets attributed as a best-selling novel.... hellip; The author states that Mary Rowlandson's determination to survive the captivity and find her way back to civilization without her goodwill as a new citizen in the land of America being crashed to oblivion and non-existent by the Indians is easily noticed in this particular exceptional literature piece....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

Family Heritage

My parents had set up a business to support the family after my sibling was born.... The estimated population of people in Fujian province is three million people.... It is largely occupied by the Han people and four administrative districts namely Changing, Hanging, Lichen and Xiuyu and a county called Xianyou....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Anne Hutchinson, a Radical Thinker and Activist

This paper 'Anne Hutchinson, a Radical Thinker and Activist" focuses on the fact that Anne Hutchinson, though rooted in the puritan tradition, grew up to denounce the unholy alliance of the Church and the Government which connived to downgrade the worth and inherent strength of women.... hellip; Anne Hutchinson's migration to the Massachusetts Bay Island led to one of the most tumultuous periods in her life (Winship 184).... It was a patriarchal society and women were treated as inferior to men in all spheres of life and this concept also enjoyed religious sanction in the laws framed by the Puritans in the colonies....
8 Pages (2000 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us