A Comparison of John Winthrop's A Model of Christian Charity and Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums

In 1630, upon the arrival of John Winthrop (a devout Puritan) in Massachusetts, the roots of Puritanism were first planted on American soil. Winthrop and his people came here in hopes of establishing an ideal Puritan society. To sum it up very briefly, as Winthrop came of age, the religious and political situation in did not appeal to a Puritan lifestyle, and as King Charles I came to power intent on an absolute monarchy that was not at all aligned with Puritan beliefs, Winthrop sailed for New
England. He emphasized that the purpose of this trip to the states was to “increase the body of Christ and to preserve themselves and their children from the corruption of this evil world.”

The Puritans came to Massachusetts with the intent on building a theocracy; a community Winthrop deemed a “city set on a hill” (the obvious implications being - a city set above all others). It was on his way to New England, on board the Arabella, that John Winthrop wrote his sermon entitled “A Model of Christian Charity”.

Recognizing that the success of his city upon a hill will lie solely in the hands of the individuals of the community and their dedication to his ideal, Winthrop bestowed a warning, he wrote, “"The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause us to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world."

In comparison, Kerouac’s autobiographical “Dharma Bums” (written in 1957) also depicts a man out to find the ideal. Ray Smith (Kerouac’s alter ego) and Japhy Ryder are out to find the “truth the Zen way”. Ray journeys from place to place in search of the meaning of life, or rather, nirvana. He continues his journey until finally, he is given a dose of what he was looking for and the immensity of the experience is something he’d surely carried with him despite his return to civilization.