"Plymouth Plantation" was written by William
Bradford. Bradford a thirty year old and was a very religious man. He was on
the Mayflower in the year of 1620. He reflects the feelings and religious lifestyle
of many pilgrims in this time period.
The pilgrims migrated to America from the Netherlands
because the culture was changing. America seemed like a good opportunity to
create their own lifestyle. With America being new, there was a lot disease
that affected the pilgrims (Bradford 67). Therefore a lot
of the people died from the diseases. The winter season also killed off a lot
of the pilgrims.
Bradford's writing has many great examples of Puritan
writing. For example, Bradford wrote about how we do not chose when we die. We
live until God wants us to die. When someone died on the Mayflower, the other
pilgrims knew that it was God's choice that he/she died. This is like the
Puritan writing style because the Puritans also believed that God controlled
when they lived and died. If God was ready for you to die, you would die
(Bradford 67).
Another example of Puritan writing is how the pilgrims
handled death. Even when people died, the pilgrims still thanked God for
getting where they are in life. For example, when they were near Cape Cod, the
pilgrims thanked the Providence of God. They were in the wrong place, too. They
still thanked God for everything. They were very dedicated to their religion. They
were thankful to be on land. In this day and age, if someone was on a plane and
the plane landed in a different country, you would be mad. We would not be
thanking God for letting us reach land; we would be mad about him putting us in
the wrong place. But in this day and age, we do not stick to the Puritan way as
strongly.
The quote "And yet the Lord so upheld these persons as
in this general calamity they were not at all infected either with sickness or
lameness..." (Bradford 66) shows the Puritan belief that only God chooses
who lives and dies. He keeps people alive until he decides that their time on
Earth is up. People had no decision on whether they lived or died. I find it
very interesting that all of these people were that dedicated to their
religion. People these days usually have doubts or do not strictly follow their
religion, but in the Puritan writing style it seems that there are no doubts
and everyone follows the religion very strictly.
The Puritan writing also shows the belief of helping people.
Helping other people was very important in the Puritan religion. Squanto helped
the pilgrims with some of their problems. He teaches them things, too (Bradford
66). They say that he has been sent from God. When something bad happened, they
were positive about the little things and thanked God for them. This writing is
very dedicated to God, just like the Puritan writing style. Everything good
that happened to them was because of their dedication to God (Bradford 66).
I do not like the Puritan style of writing. However I did
find it interesting to learn about a different culture.
Bradford, William. "Of Plymouth Plantation." Comp.
Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature.
American Literature ed. Columbus:
McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 62-68. Print.
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