Motivations, Expectations, and Tribulations

Beginning with a brief explanation of British geographical origins and circumstances, this chapter proceeds to explain the motivations, expectations, and tribulations that contributed to the Puritan colonists’ overall experience as one of heightened anxiety and fearfulness. Looking at the difficulties they faced with the environmental challenges, high mortality rates, fear of darkness and forests, the cultural otherness of the indigenous populations, and their own social and religious conflicts, reveals the numerous crises the colonists had to contend with. To highlight the relationship of gender to the magical mindset and to the tribulations of the colonial experience in New England, Chapter 5 concludes with a discussion of the rigid and explicit delineation and enactment of Puritan gender expectations including speech restrictions.