Reflection Blog: How does the writing of Bradford reflect the qualities of Puritan writing?

"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.