Girard might suggest, for example, that the Puritan desire for land was prompted in part by their envy of Native Americans’ closeness to the earth in bringing forth its bounty and the uncanny power that witches drew from its dark wilderness. These energies elicited Puritan orthodoxy’s own desire for mastery of the New World, leading to the elimination of all rivals. The Puritan social order required that devilish Native Americans and demonic women be singled out in the process of “purging” God’s New Canaan of unmanaged desires.
