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The film, ‘The Witch” directed and written by Robert Eggers, shares many of the same concepts that our class has touched on thus far especially in regards to Samuel Huntington’s ‘Who Are We?’ I enjoyed watching this movie particularly because of the plot as I found it to be engaging and moderately scary. The plot of the movie focuses on a New England family in the seventeenth century that has experienced troubles with witchcraft. The farmer, William, was removed from his Puritan homestead because of a difference in religious viewpoints; thus resulting in the relocating of his family to nearby a forest. While things began to settle down, the mother, Katherine, had delivered a new baby. One day, the baby magically disappeared while playing in the backyard, leading to a series of unfortunate events. Katherine basically lost her mind and was very blameful to the child who was with the baby during the time of disappearance; furthermore, the families’ crops failed and were faced with ‘bad luck’. Despite the plotline, one of the key aspects that stood out to me in this movie was the cultural influence. It was inferred that the Puritans removed the New England family from their group due to opposition in religious beliefs. This ideology derives from wanting a community or society to be pure and to have every individual believe in the same mannerisms. The concept of identity comes into play as the Puritans were not in favor of what the family was practicing. Upon this decision, in efforts to keep the community as wanted, the family was despised and banned.

In Samuel P. Huntington’s ‘Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity” I noticed that chapter one, ‘The Crisis of National Identity’ placed a large emphasis on describing American Identity. I especially took note of the fact that Huntington described America as a ‘nation of immigrants’. He went on to say that America’s founders were settlers and not immigrants. The reason being is because the British came to America to discover new land as opposed to leaving society to a new, but already developed one. One of the core points of American identity points to the ‘American Creed’, which exemplifies “the principles of liberty, equality, individualism, represented property, and private government.  Huntington goes on to contend that other nations such as Europe have adopted this statement as they live by it. Based off of the tone of Huntington’s writing, I get the impression that there seems to be a problem with the acceptance of immigrants into American society. After all, immigrants do make up a large percentage of the American population and I feel as though this form of writing derives from a biased opinion. It seems as though Huntington is very patriotic and is not in favor of including immigrants as apart of America’s national identity. As stated in the chapter, Huntington holds several powerful leaders in American history to be responsible for this. Without immigrants in America, it makes me wonder where our society would be in terms of development as well as the status of relationships with other countries.

   This excerpt from Tocqueville is a detailed account of Americas physical charachteristics in the early 19^thcentury. He describes the country as it stood hundreds of years ago before it was colonized by Europeans. The make up of the land was completely different before the Europeans colonized. The forests were more dense and the Natives had not introduced any industry to the continent. It is interesting to see the contrast between the state of the continent pre-European influence.

   In this excerpt Tocqueville makes the distinction between the populations that settled the North, and those that settled the South of the United States. The southern colonies such as Virginia were populated by prospectors from the lower classes of society that had no strong religious affiliation. In contrast to this, the groups that populated the Northern Colonies were extremely religious. The Puritans expressed many of their religious beliefs in their laws. Tocqueville does a good job of expressing the beliefs and backgrounds of the different groups that immigrated to America. These beliefs went on to influence the political processes in America for the next few centuries.

Shane is a movie based in Wyoming in 1889 about a mysterious skilled man who we are introduced to very early in the plot. This man, Shane, rides in on his horse onto the Starrett family’s property without an exclamation. These people are homesteaders who migrated to Wyoming because there is more work for the husband, Joe, to do. Shortly after Shane arrives, a group of men ride in on horses of their own with business in mind. The leader of this group is named Ryker, and he has been tormenting homesteaders and trying to exile them since they got there to try and expand his own territory. Throughout the film as the pressure on the homesteaders by Ryker grows, so does the friendship between the Starett family and Shane. 

Regardless of Shane’s mysterious past as an experienced gunman, eventually Joe Starrett offers him a job to help out around the property and they all become very close. He is not only very valuable to the Starrett’s as a helping hand but also as a companion to the family to make their new life in Wyoming more enjoyable. Joe Starrett’s son’s relationship with Shane is one that will eventually determine life and death later in the film.

Later in the movie Shane rides into town for new materials that were needed on the property where he is approached by Ryker’s men. This encounter eventually turns violent. No guns were drawn, which is surprising because of Shane’s antsy trigger hand which is evident at the beginning of the movie. Ryker feels threatened by Shane, and hires an experienced gunman to try and take care of his new found problem. 

Ryker tries to convince the Starrett’s to come into a saloon where  the shooting is supposed to take place. One of Ryker’s former men tells the family of his plan, which causes a whole new problem in itself. Both Shane and Joe want to be the hero in this situation but eventually it is decided that Shane will go. Unknowingly, he is followed by Starrett’s son Joey. Shane is ambushed at the saloon and is almost killed by one of the men, but Joey warns him and Shane eventually kills him. After this scene, to Joey’s dismay, Shane rides away and the movie ends. 

The film Shane takes place during a time of greed in America. Ryker is a prime example of a person who was always thirsty for more and will do anything to get what he needs. This time was also one of expansion in America. Society took major strides due to some of this thirst for more and also people searching for better lives.  Due to the homestead act homesteaders were searching for work and new lives.