Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford and A Description of New England by John Smith are essentially irrelevant to one another in the way that each piece has a very different point of view. The author John Smith was a pilgrim who arrived in the Americas and wrote a description of the new land. William Bradford was also a pilgrim who arrived at Plymouth and wrote more about the realities of his personal journey. The purpose of this essay is to contrast the purposes of the writers, their intended audiences, and how each writer gives out a specific feeling. Smith’s and Bradford’s individual descriptions are simply two categories; fiction and nonfiction. Smith’s intention for his audience is that the new land is everything you can wish for without a single fight. Smith starts by describing the content and pleasure that risking your life for getting your own piece of land brings to people. He is luring his audience in by telling that it is a wonderful world of vast food and gratification. Smith wants his audience to be more of the joyful individuals who look for the good in everyt...
As the regions began to expand and develop, their motivations for settlement helped to mold their societies. New England was a place where men sought refuge from religious persecution and was established as a haven for religious refugees. Despite this reason for settling, the New Englanders still attempted to spread their own beliefs of religion. As illustrated by John Winthrop in his Model of a Christian Charity, he preached to his fellow colonists that “we shall be a city upon a hill” (Doc A) exemplifying the Puritans’ aspirations of a Holy Utopia. He and countless other New Englanders practiced the belief that they must all work together. They were determined to “mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work.” The Articles of Agreement plainly laid out the basis for the New England region. These articles made New England a cosmopolitan mix of rich and poor families, all being in possession of land and resolute in doing God’s work (Doc D). However, while the New Englanders settled to create a Holy Utopia, the people of the Chesapeake were concerned not only with their religious freedom, but also ...
Nathaniel Philbrick tells the story of the Pilgrims, beginning with them breaking away from the Church of England, emigrating to Holland, and eventually to America on the Mayflower. He talks about the relationship they had with the "Strangers" or nonbelievers that accompanied them on their adventure. He tells stories about disease, death, deception, and depression. I had never thought about it, but you know some of those people had to be suffering from depression. He tells of joys but mostly of hardships and as he describes some of the first meetings with the Native Americans. His description of the first Thanksgiving is not the same as the pictures I have seen all of my life.
In the New World Bradford and Morton were both important men of our history. The stories of both great men give us an insight into the way religion and influence affected Puritan life.
During the 1700's, people in the American colonies lived in very distinctive societies. While some colonists led hard lives, others were healthy and prosperous. The two groups who showed these differences were the colonists of the New England and Chesapeake Bay areas. The differentiating characteristics among the Chesapeake and New England colonies developed due to economy, religion, and motives for colonial expansion. The colonists of the New England area possessed a very happy and healthy life. This high way of living was due in part to better farming, a healthier environment, and a high rate of production because of more factories. The colonists of the Chesapeake Bay region, on the other hand, led harder lives compared to that of the colonists of New England. The Chesapeake Bay had an unhealthy environment, bad eating diets, and intolerable labor.
Thomas Morton wrote about the Native Americans and their way of life while the colonist slowly populated the Americas. Native American’s living styles, religious views, and the relations the Indians had with the colonist are a few of the things that came across when you heard about the Indians during the time the colonist inhabited the Americas.
...ve Indians. From the copious use of examples in Winthrop's work, and the concise detail in Rowlandson's narrative, one can imbibe such Puritans values as the mercy of God, place in society, and community. Together, these three elements create a foundation for Puritan thought and lifestyle in the New World. Though A Model of Christian Charity is rather prescriptive in its discussion of these values, Rowlandson's captivity narrative can certainly be categorized as descriptive; this pious young woman serves as a living example of Winthrop's "laws," in that she lives the life of a true Puritan. Therefore, both 17th century works are extremely interrelated; in order to create Winthrop's model community, one must have faith and closely follow Puritan ideals, as Rowlandson has effectively done in her A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.
Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.
I rose from the sweet sands and soon the warmth of the land’s impression had lost its heat (Of Plymouth Plantation, page 8). We have been building houses and freezing and had sacrificed ourselves to labor’s tiresome definition (Of Plymouth Plantation, page 9). Now, labor’s meaning has washed to a numbing survival amongst everyone in our settlement. However, we have settled on these soils comfortably enough to call it home. A few months into the settlement lived a temporary famine and devilish plague that kept some civilians dropping like flies (Of Plymouth Plantation, page
Based on the excerpt from "Of Plymouth Plantation" by William Bradford and from the videos, the message that William Bradford is trying to convey in this narrative is despite the hardships being faced, one should never give up on their aspirations. At the beginning of the excerpt the passengers, and Bradford were still aboard the Mayflower and on their journey to America. On September 6th, he wrote about how many of the passengers were afflicted with sea sickness, but, there was one man who continued to lift peoples spirits, despite the sickness. This man died of disease and was the first among many thrown overboard. The other passengers knew the chances of dying of disease, but continued to be hopeful about the journey to America. After 66
In “ A Description of New England ”, Smith starts by describing the pleasure and content that risking your life for getting your own piece of land brings to men. On the other hand, Bradford reminds us how harsh and difficult the trip to the New World was for the p...
In the tale of his experience with the freedom of a clean slate and the ability to be entirely individualistic out in the empty expanse of Wyoming, Ehrlich shows us that while this freeing but also emptier than normal life, we can and all should open ourselves up further to seeing beyond what has become a race to “strangle ourselves with what we can buy” (Ehrlich 476). As his story out on the open plains progressed, one could see this greedy and blinding race for material goods further even out in this area renowned for open spaces. Over the years, it too had become a place where “barbed wire abrogated space … the ‘anything is possible’ fever — the lure of a new place — was constricted. The integrity of the land … and the freedom to ride anywhere
Language is the main boundary between those of the human species, it divides them, making communication difficult, seizing productivity. Language is, as best explained by Roger Williams, is a key that may be used to unlock mysteries. The early colonials of the 15th century utilized the one of the unique attributes of language, rhetoric, and its implementation into the ‘New World’ to communicate with the natives as well as their countrymen. Most notable of these colonists are William Bradford, author of Of Plymouth Plantation, and Roger Williams author of A Key to the Language of America. 193
William Bradford and his fellow Separatists faced many challenges in their fight for religious freedom. Bradford, In Of Plymouth Plantation, gives the reader insight into the Separatist’s trial and tribulations beginning with a brief history of Christianity. Bradford states, “it is well known unto the godly and judicious, how ever since the first breaking out of the light of the gospel in our honorable nation of England, what war and oppositions ever since Satan hath raised, maintained ever since, Satan hath raised maintained and continued against the Saints.” (3) Bradford is explaining how Satan worming its way into Christianity is not a new problem but one that has and will continue to persist. Bradford mentioning this is significant, by
In Of Plymouth Plantation (1630), the author, William Bradford exhibits the struggles he and his group went through to survive their exploration. Bradford led a group of Puritans and traveled on a disease-infested ship with poor conditions in order to arrive at Cape Cod. Upon their arrival, they were greeted with almost no civilization and nobody to aid them. They soon realized the land that they arrived on was abandoned Native territory, but still decided to settle there. Throughout their stay, they struggled with starvation, disease, and fear of being attacked by the savages. They eventually undertook a minor attack from the savages and had a small battle where no one was injured, and a little while later, a bold Native presented himself to the explorers and spoke to them with broken English. It turned out that he had come to make peace and help the Europeans. The Pilgrims began to get along with
Fuller, Edmund and B. Jo Kinnick in “Stories Derived from New England Living.” In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.