Reading Reflection: Bradford

The Puritans had a very strong basis on religion, and it showed in their writings. The memoir written by William Bradford told of his journey to America. Many people are confused as to who came to America, the Pilgrims or the Puritans. Puritanism is a religion, while being a pilgrim describes a person on a religious journey. Sure, most of the Pilgrims were Puritans as well, but not all of them were. An example of that same situation would be that all Catholics are Christians, but not all Christians are Catholics. Same type of deal (sorta...). On just the first page there was a reference to God. "But it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail" (Bradford 64). The Puritans tended to refer to God a lot in their writing, mostly because God was a huge part of their lives. Another main example was when the Pilgrims were searching for a place to sleep in the cove. They were looking too close to the shore, and found themselves in a little bit of trouble. They claimed that it was by "God's good providence" (Bradford 65) that they were able to be freed. It couldn't have had anything to do with their amazing sailing abilities. The Puritans literally gave God credit for every single little thing that happened, because they believed that since everything that existed was created by God, every interaction was an act of God as well.

"They fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven..." (Bradford 65). As soon as the Pilgrims realized that they had reached a safe place, they immediately gave thanks to God. Enough said. In a passage at the beginning of chapter 11, Bradford told of the people that helped the dying Pilgrims. The people would feed them, cloth and unclothe them and make their beds (Bradford 66). Bradford then said that it was by the power of the Lord that they were not effected by sickness or lameness (Bradford 66). Basically, he said that God protected the people that were protecting them. I find that a little weird, because it almost sounds like Bradford is acknowledging that a person was responsible for doing God's work. Obviously, no man can do God's job for him, but the way it was presented in the reading, Bradford was giving thanks to a man before he gave thanks to God. Hmm...

Bradford showed many characteristics of Puritan writing, just like Rowlandson. Both left a huge stamp on their writing with their faith. I mean, it is categorized as "Puritan writing," it's obviously going to mention God a lot. The writing was really more than just mentioning God a lot though. Through the writing, it was easy to see that the Puritans really believed what they were writing. Bradford wrote about how he believed that God was watching over his people and Rowlandson wrote about how God was watching over her as she was captured. Both heavily relied on God for guidance and safety, which is why both works would definitely be classified as Puritan writing.


Bradford, William. "from Of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 64-66. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Capitivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 84-88. Print.