Puritan Writing - Bradford

I think Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation" seems like it would be a very depressing story. So far all these stories that use the Puritan writing style have all been very depressing stories. I'm not sure if this is a coincidence, if this was just a sad point in time, or if it was part of the writing style. Either way I don't really like it very much. I think the Puritan style was less obvious in this story than in the other two we have already read. Though, this story was straight to the point and mentioned God it seemed like it was written in a journal style which made it seem more modern to me for some reason. I enjoyed this story because I thought it was easier to read than Mary's and Anne's stories. The Puritan style was shown when Bradford mention God. He mentioned Him a few times in the story. The people blessed God when they finally made it to Cape Cod. Even though the people who were already there were in poor condition and were sick and dying that others were happy that they had finally arrived. After almost half of the group died that rode across the sea with Bradford. It was a harsh winter but Bradford and I'm sure others did not lose their faith in God.

Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation. He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish, and to procure other commodities, and was also their pilot to bring them to unknown places for their profit, and never left them till he died. (Bradford 67)

The way it sounds from this writing it seems like the people believe that everything good that happened was because of God. They did not think good things happened just because, they thought everything was planned by God and everything that happened to them had a reason that only God knew. Bradford also was straight to the point when he was writing. He never really went into much detail about things. Like the boat ride he said it was horrible but he never gave specific details about what exactly happened and how long they were on that boat. He also said they ran into bad weather but he never explained any of it, that was all he said about it. I think that is kind of boring. It makes it harder for me to get a picture in my head of what is going on. Overall, I do not like this style of writing very much. I find it kind of boring and confusing at times because not enough detail is used so I get confused on what exactly is going on. I think this style is fast to read and it doesn't take too long to read, which is a plus. But, I do think Bradford is a good writer and it was important for him to write this story because it shares history so people now days can know what it was like for the settlers. Also he could warn people of what it was like in America so they could be prepared.

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. 64-67. Print.