Precis..and more

I figured for this weeks blog post, that I would put my Precis assignment on here, and tell you all a little about it. I decided to write my paper on works that include relgious aspects during our time period, and then look at other works from the same time as well as the journals the works from class were published in, in order to see if they were considered mainstream or if they were extraordinary. At the end of my precis, I asked some questions that are essentially the main focus of my paper and need much more research to figure out, research that I am doing in order to finish my paper and in order to learn more about the past world that we live in.

“Devil’s Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy” by David Roberts is about the migration of Mormon followers from Iowa to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1856. It goes into the details of Brigham Young’s movement to get his 3,000 followers to pack up their belongings and travel 1,300 miles to Utah. These followers were too poor to pay for wagons or horse teams so they were instructed by Brigham Young to use handcarts instead.
The first chapter of this book, titled “Patience” introduces the story through the true-life character named Patience. Patience’s family is described and the trek they have completed so far— as well as the many miles to come—is discussed. The Handcart itself is then discussed, its light easy use, along with the rickety fragility that made the vehicles something that constantly needed to be fixed, and a bane to the emigrants existence as four to five emigrants pushed or pulled a single handcart at a time.
Throughout the story, there are journal entries written by another member of their group, Joseph Beecroft told his story right away unlike Patience, who waited until 30 years after to write her story. There are references to Patience’s journal as well and a description of her and her life before this event. After the background of Patience, the story goes into more detail from her memoir and a summary of the beginning of their journey west.
Looking at the background of this story, I learned that emigrants were destitute immigrants from northern Europe who, if outspoken against the trip west, were publicly humiliated by church elders and coerced into participating.

This book gives you a look at the feelings, pain, and anger that the people who lived through this, and the ones that didn’t, must have felt. By using the real-life memoirs of people who completed the journey, it is easier to see how people felt about what was happening to them. It was also easier to feel as those people felt who where there to hear about events like these.
Many works at this time, that involve religion, all seem to be looking at the negative side of that religion, and the story focuses on the plight of the people fighting the yoke of their faith. Whether they come out in the end triumphant over that religion or they have learned what they were missing and have a stronger faith because of it, the public seems to enjoy reading about it.
Some strengths that this chapter has, in correlation with my paper, if the up-close look at how many people viewed religion during this time, and how they were treated if they did not accept that religion. It also connects well with one of the works I chose to use, being of the same subject matter.
A weakness that the chapter had is that I am still in the dark about how the ideas in this book and other ideas like this were received by those not part of the religion. How did the neighbors of those making this trek feel about the friends going west with handcarts in the winter? How did non-member family members take it?