Song of Myself: Verses1-21

    Walt Whitman created a poem about his perception of the world around him and wrote it in such a way that it described numerous lives. The way this was done through the descriptions of the world around the individual. This poem claims to focus on the creator (Walt Whitman) however it was written in such a way that readers can identify with it as well. Throughout the poem Whitman describes the way that the world around him is perceived "The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless," (Whitman, verse 17).
      The way Whitman describes the world around himself is easy for the audience to relate and associate with. It is through this process that Whitman does make a "Song of Myself." The trick to this; however, is that Whitman makes it a song of 'many selves' by making it so easy to identify with on a personal level.
    Whitman also adds in an additional conundrum towards the beginning of the poem, "I loafe and invite
 my soul," (Whiman, verse 4).  This poses to the audience a challenging concept of themselves of feeling
that there is no direction in life. If that resonates with the reader it makes the poem more personal to the individual as the audience can sink the words of Whitman in with a kindred perspective of seeing the world around the reader as Whitman sees it.
      The purpose of Whitman composing this poem was to express how Walt Whitman saw and perceived the world about him. The product of this purpose was a song that would be able to resonate with the feelings of a large audience and give a viewpoint of the surroundings of the audience that would encompass them on a broad view and bring it into a narrow focused lens for those that delved deep enough into the poem.

The Lenape War Song (Repost)

The Lenape War Song is more of an Religious Song rather than a war song.

    In the Lenape War Song the first few verses do indeed have a resemblance to war during the opening. ‘O poor me, who am going out to fight the enemy, and know not whether I shall return again, to the embraces of my children And my wife.’ These lines show that the individual is preparing for war. Once the poem moves past line five is when the mood shifts to a more religious tone throughout the rest of the poem. It seems to be more of a prayer rather than an up-tempo war song that is meant to inspire an individual. That is my conception of a war song. A war song in my eyes must rally the troops, the individuals to fight on and boost morale. The Lenape War Song on the other hand shows more of a prayer rather than an uplifting tune. On the verses 11-14 it states 'O! thou Great Spirit up above! Take pity on my children And on my wife! Prevent their mourning on my account!'

On verses 11-14 the song shifts its focus from War to a plea to the 'Great Spirit' as stated. This in my opinion gives support to my thesis statement of it openly becoming a prayer. The song continues to support my claim as it moves along, it asks for the Great Spirit to help the individual slay his enemies and to grant the individual strength in returning home. It does still retain aspects of the theme of War but it presents the theme in more of an open prayer rather than a War Song bolstering a large amount of people for an upcoming conflict.

In the final two verses of the Lenape War Song it states 'Take pity on me and preserve my life, and I will make to thee a sacrifice.' This provides irrefutable proof of the religious tones set forth in this song. I again state that this is a War Prayer rather than a War Song. The song asks a Great Spirit for strength, and to preserve the individual's life and if the Great Spirit does so the individual will make a sacrifice to the Great Spirit for accomplishing what had been prayed for.

Intimidation of 'Sinners'

In Jonathan Edwards' sermon; Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards provides a detailed account that all that are wicked shall be cast into hell. The point of reading this sermon is to provide detailed evidence that this is an intimidating sermon with the sole purpose of scaring those with guilt to convert to Christianity and hope that God will be merciful unto them and prevent the followers of God from falling into the pits of hell.       "The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall 
permit him." (Edwards, 392). This is further in the text but as described by Edwards, the devil is already ready to fall upon wicked people to claim them. The tactic here is to instill a sense of fear into the congregation that are not believers or believers that aren't as devout in following God. Edwards continuously shows people that if God is not followed with hearty fervor that all are risking falling into hell. 

 "Natural men’s prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment." (Edwards, 394). Edwards here shows that no matter what an individual does there is no way to have a moment of security or safety. "All wicked men’s pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment." (Edwards, 394). Edwards again instills fear as those dubbed wicked that do not accept Christ will not be safe. This is a nod towards those who have not converted to Christianity. To those listening to this sermon would it not be intimidating to hear these words that no matter what you do if you do not believe Christ that wicked people would be sent to hell regardless. 

    It is prominent to showcase that Edwards is a man who sought to intimidate and scare individuals to follow God or be looked at with pity by those who do believe and follow Christ knowing that many of who are seen on a daily basis will be going to hell. Edwards' approach is genius but morally incorrect in how to usher in a feeling of being welcomed into a religion.

Cherokee War Song (Unwanted War)

    In the Cherokee War Song there is several lines that indicate that the war is unwanted but nonetheless they will participate for the country. "In hostile fields to wage destructive war" 
This is from the fourth line of the song and already it has shown distaste describing war as 
destructive which is in itself and indicative of an unwanted process that has shown to be 
necessary by means of serving the country. 
     "And wish, with tears, they ne’er had come to war." This shows that the enemy will 
also express the unwanted necessity of war once defeated. All in all there is never anyone
who wants war but will deem it as a neccesity in order to continue the country's survival. 
"And grace our own and country's name." There is pride shown continuously through this 
song and this summarizes an individual's pride in war. Thinking upon this fact as individuals 
there are few who would ever express a fondness of war. 
     The thinking of war as unwanted now is much the same as those in the past and has shown 
true such as the Cherokee War Song. There is an immense amount of pride in serving in military actions. 
This has held true to how serving in the armed forces is depicted in the United States today. 
   The Cherokee War Song shows a depiction of seeing war as a destructive force, but yet shows that
it must be done in order for life to continue in its course. Without war the way of living to individuals
 may be threatened in such a way that war is inevitable and necessary in order to preserve the way of life. 
The Cherokee saw this plainly and described this feeling truly in a way that showed pride in one's country 
and would march to war with this pride in heart while knowing the atrocities that will come from war as 
well as the risks.

A Model of Christian Charity (Loans Emphasized Primarily)

        In A Model of Christian Charity John Winthrop describes fundamental concepts of Christian Charity and sets an example of how to treat others in need. The usage of this poses more of an loan system with a value in loan forgiveness rather than charity. John Winthrop uses this to be a more logic based sermon rather than using an emphasis of gospel, nevertheless Winthrop does introduce sections of religious text to convey the logic behind the statements being made. There is a fact that Winthrop is producing more of an opportunity for those of less fortunate circumstances to have the benefit of taking a loan from another individual on the premise of repayment. This helps the lower classes as the upper class is implored to help those of lesser standing as they will repay in due time but forgive those who borrow and cannot repay. Winthrop sets out guidelines in order for loans to be given to those who have the ability to repay eventually while also giving the more charitable view of giving the needy the bare basics of survival such as food.

    John Winthrop mentions the passage of Isaiah 58:10 "If thou pour out thy soul to the hungry, then shall thy light spring out in darkness, and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones" This goes hand in hand with the idea of charity while hiding the goal of setting up a loan system into the New World society. 

     "There are two rules whereby we must walk with one another: justice and mercy." Winthrop states here that justice is not to be abandoned when it comes to repaying loan. While doing so Winthrop does indeed argue for less severe punishments but not to leave the ones who default on payments without needing to answer for transgressions. 

     In short the purpose of this sermon was to spoken with the purpose to draw attention to the causality of participating in a loan and what each participant the lender and the borrower to come to a mutual understanding with moral implications needed in order to come together in a sense of spiritual agreement while fulfilling the necessities of one another. Borrowing and Lending out must come to a compassionate understanding of each other's predicaments. 

The Good Mind and the Bad Mind are the same Person

The Good Mind and the Bad Mind of the Iroquois Creation Story were the same person.

     In the Iroquois Creation Story it details the birth of twins who were dubbed the Good Mind and the Bad Mind. What if these twins were actually the same as they both possessed the powers of creation and controlled a large amount of power. This is why the Good Mind and the Bad Mind are the same person. Putting aside the fact that they were stated to be twins that were born from the woman. The way that I see this is that the twins were of the same body. If this came to be then what if the individual that was born had a Good Mind and a Bad Mind, a since of morality that the individual was always fighting with for dominance of Good and Bad.
     It states in page 34 "The good mind continued the works of creation" which proves that the Good Mind had the same powers of the Bad Mind described later in the text "two images of clay in the form of mankind; but while he was giving them existence they became apes; and when he had not the power to create mankind he was envious against his brother; and again he made two of clay. The good mind discovered his brother’s contrivances, and aided in giving them living souls"
        This again goes to prove that they both have the power of creation, it also states how the Good Mind made landscapes as did the Bad Mind but with more malicious creatures inhabiting them.
In the womb it was also stated that the Bad Mind had a way of forceful escape and that the Good Mind prevented the Bad Mind's escape design. This is another indication they were of the same person and fighting the consciousness of one another.
       At the end of this story it states the battle between the brothers that lasted for days until the Good Mind finally won by beating his brother with the horns and thus the last words of the Bad Mind was that he would have dominion over the souls of mankind after death and became the Evil Spirit.
     
       While this thesis statement may bring the story to an ideological process of critical thinking and a rereading of text I believe that the Bad Mind and the Good Mind are the same person. The aspect of finishing the battle with one still remaining alive to hold dominion over souls after death goes to prove my theory. I believe that the battle was an inner turmoil and fight of wits before the Good Mind finally prevailed over the Bad Mind. Allowing the individual's good actions to continue without the constant interference and temptations of the Bad Mind.