Puritanism

Puritans were the more extreme  part of the Church of England when they started out.  They wanted to purify their national church by eliminating Catholic influence. Hence, the name Puritans.  If you were Puritan and you did not go to Church every Sunday and you disagreed with the minister you would be looked down on as a sinner.  John Proctor is an example of this, kind of, becausehe did not really like Parris.  The Puritans influence us today because society has a set of standards, morals, rules that we must loosely follow and I think that most of these are from the Puritans.  But in a more loose form.  For, instance if i disagreed with a minister people would not necessarily call me a sinner.  But in some states adultery is still a crime.  Some people say it is unconstitutional but it shows that the Puritans have definetly influenced us and still do.

Now Nathaniel Hawthorne ties into this in a way.  Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts.  He has written many books and stories.  His father, who has the same name was a sea captain who was a descendant of John Hawthorne.  If you can recall John Hawthorne was one of the judges at the Salem witchcraft trials.