William Bradford Vs John Smith Essay

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If one had the opportunity to enlighten others of their new land, what would they reveal? John Smith and William Bradford both were given this opportunity and wrote tales about their endeavors in New England; the two of them had very differing stories. The two men were both leaders who established colonies, and they attempted to attract readers with their writing. Both John Smith and William Bradford wrote stories about their colonies and experiences there, but each of them had contrasting views of what they chose to share. John Smith had different views than William Bradford and had a different audience he was writing to. The book The Generall Historie of Virginia was written by John Smith; in which he boasts of his time with the “savages” …show more content…

His audience was intended for the future generation. He wrote a diary about his actual experiences in Colonial America. Bradford discussed in his diary about the many hardships he and the colonists faces. Bradford said, “So as there died sometimes two or three of a day int he aforesaid time, that of one hundred and odd persons, scarce fifty remained” (Of Plymouth Plantation page 81). Though Bradford talked about the bad things, he also talked about the goods things that occurred during the first Thanksgiving. William Bradford said, “Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell to their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element” (Of Plymouth Plantation page 80). William Bradford wrote about his time in New England, but his story differs from John Smith’s. John Smith and William Bradford had differing ideas about their time in the colonies, but both wanted to promote the colonies through their writing. In their choice to enlighten the world about New England, Smith and Bradford took very different approaches. Both Bradford and Smith wrote about the colonies and what they had to offer but they had different audiences and purposes. When informing a world about a colony, did these men choose the proper way to represent

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