Reflection 2

Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford is very similar to the other two stories we read, Upon the Burning of our House and A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. They were all so similar because they were obviously all Puritan writings. Of Plymouth Plantation was not a very fun story, it was very boring, but it was pretty short. It was a very straight foward story. The author basically just told you what happened and then told you his opinion about what just happened in the story. It just got old quick. At the begenning of the story I noticed the obvious red flag of a Puritan story, and that was the center focus of God. Awful things could be going on such as death, murder, divorce, and other awful things, but people are always just focused on god and how important he is(Bradford 64). In the story When the pilgrims first step off of their ship and onto the land, they are so overwhelmed and happy that they drop down to their knees to pray and thank the Lord (Bradford 65). The very fist thing the pilgrims do upon arrival into this new land is drop down to the ground and just praise god. The pilgrams had many struggles throughout everything, but they always knew that it was going to be okay and left everything into the hands of god. During a voyage such as this it was completely different than it is now. There was no technology, actually they never even really had proof that they were sailing the right way and going to where they were headed. A trip like this would be extremely difficult and nothing like it is today. They knew it would be difficult but they also knew that god would take care of them and get them there.

The pilgrims believed that this whole entire trip was to please god and to live for him. This story completely resembles the regular puritan writing style. Even though when they were at sea the pilgrims were facing many troubles, they always had faith in God and trusted things were going to be okay. Voyages on the sea of the time period were very dangerous (Bradford 63). The whole entire thing is about god. The story gets really old after awhile because it seems like they just keep reinstating the point over and over and over and over again. Dont get me wrong, I believe in God and believe in everything with him and know he would be there for anyone and actually almost completely agree with a lot of the Puritan's feeling about how important god is, but that does not mean that I want to read about it over and over again when I already understood it a long time ago. This kind of literature is not really my style, but we are being forced to read and reflect on it. So I will do that much, but I do not enjoy this type of writing. One because it is boring and two because I understand the point of it already and it keeps reinstating the point. Like come on I get it already. I just do not really like these types of stories. They are just not for me.

Bradford, William. "From Of Plymouth Plantation." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm, PhD. American Literature ed. Columbus: Mc-Graw Hill, 2009. 64-67. Print.