Benjamin Franklin

   Franklin was a big fan of revising and editing. He is not the greatest when it comes to concision though. Throughout the reading I noticed may times that he continues to self-correct him self, to me this is a sign of a person who is striving to reach his whole potential. We all know the story of Ben Franklin putting a key on a kite and discovering electricity, this relates back to him being a perfectionist throughout his ventures in life. The amount of research, test trials, and persistence it takes to finally end up putting a key on a kite and flying it during a thunderstorm is crazy. I would've never done it. He was the guy to try new things, even though they might end up killing him.

Jonathan Edwards

   Edwards is a very extreme and devoted Catholic. This is not a bad thing. Though what he says in "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" can turn anyone away from Christianity. He basically says that God has the power  and the want to, to send people to Hell whenever he pleases. God definitely has the power to do this, but I like to believe that he is much more forgiving in his judgments. It's also possible that God may have taken his anger out on Jesus so that we may not feel his wrath.
   Edwards is a little frightening to read at times, but I understand what he is trying to get to.

Mary Rowlandson

   Although she was in captivity for almost a year, Rowlandson was able to keep her relationship with God strong. Even though she states missing some of her time with God, she understands that God does not punish those who stay faithful to him. She does remember her strong relationship with God and realizes that she needs to keep praying to have any kind of hope of getting out of captivity.
   Her resiliency inspires whoever reads this and can have a strong affect on their faith.

Wheatley

   Wheatley, like Equiano, also has a sort of slave narrative. When she went into slavery, it was almost like am awakening for her. She explains that she is actually thankful for slavery because without it she wouldn't have found Christ. She devotes her entire faith to when she was in slavery. this doesn't happen very often. I don't know if I would have the strength to find an entirely new religion while being treated like a slave, being beaten and whipped would get rid of any hope I would've had.
   This type of mental strength that she was able to gain was sort of an inspiration for me to be a better Christian as well. I hope others feel the same way when they read this novel.

Equiano

   Equiano's story was a classic slave narrative. He goes through a long series of slavery and being captured, to being transported which often took months, back to slavery. During this time he went through a vicious cycle of hope, to wishing he was a slave again instead of being on the boat, to wanting to die. It seemed as if anytime he would have any kind of hope, something bad would happen to make him return back to the harsh cycle.
   An example of this would be when he was 'owned' but didn't consider himself a slave. Basically he was bought by someone but they did not treat him with the harshness other slave owners and transporters had.
  The self-determination he was able to have helped him get through this rough time by the end of the narrative.

Roger Williams

   The persistence of Roger Williams is what really stood out to me throughout the entire reading. He is banished from Massachusetts for not giving up on his ideologies. He then fleas to Rhode Island, which is referred to a sanctuary in the book, and institutes his beliefs to the Native Americans that live there. He is able to teach some of them that there was only one God after they had been led to believe there were many Gods.
   From being kicked out of an entire state to basically teaching people an entire religion, Williams is extremely persistent and I hope people realize this while reading about his life.

Edward Taylor

   Taylor invites his audience to feel how he feels in Meditation 8. This poem is something that someone would write just before communion. He describes it so eloquently to make the reader feel as though they are at church as well. In stanzas 20-25 he has the ability to create a picture of what he himself experiences as he takes communion.
   The one downside of this type of poetry, is that to really take in what he has to say, one must somewhat share the same views that Taylor does. This makes it unreadable to some people.

Bradstreet

   I found when reading Bradstreet very delighted to see someone so curious about religion. She does not just follow everything the bible tells her to do, she follows with questions, which is how I usually retain information from the bible.

   The prologue begins with a lot of her trying to find her own self-worth and how she fits into the world. Stanzas 1-4 really establish this by her telling herself what she can't or doesn't want to do. a little further on going into the 5th stanza she talks about her annoyance with the "status quo", and how this can keep her from being recognized for her poetry because of her gender.

   During stanzas 14-19 she uses no and nor when writing about her house burning down. This suggests a negative place that she carries with this memory.