Journal for Bradford

Gregory Alcala
November 24th 2009
English 48A
Lankford
Journal for Bradford
Quote:
“What could now sustain them but the spirit of God and His Grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: ‘Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity” -William Bradford, Chapter IX. Of Their Voyage, and How They Passed the Sea; And Their Safe Arrival at Cape Cod
Summary:
This first chapter of the reading seemed to be more factual then his personal views of the world. This quote shows his belief in God’s will and how it affected everything in the world. Bradford gives credit to God that they landed in the New World safely. I wanted to see, well, more likely expected to see God appear in Bradford’s writing. However, Bradford didn’t seem to need to write about God as often as I wanted to see.

Quote:
"Bradford writes most of his history out of his nostalgia, long after the decline of Pilgrim fervor and commitment had become apparent. Both the early annals which express his confidence in the Pilgrim mission and the later annals, some of which reveal his dismay and disappointment, were written at about the same time.” -Walter P. Wenska, Bradford’s Two Histories: Pattern and Paradigm in ‘Of Plymouth Plantation
Summary:
Bradford’s writing shows emotion but nothing like Bradtsreet. Bradford, being governor, left out emotion in his early retelling of the voyage to the New World and then speaks more about God’s Will. It was the will of God that everything happened, according to Bradford. Wenska points out the time of Bradford’s writing being around the same time, I can only guess that Bradford was trying to appeal to different audiences with his cheer and commitment to the Pilgrim’s cause and the opposite view of noticing the flaws.

Overall Summary:
I could not seem the anger in Bradstreet’s writing about the ‘failure’ in the Pilgrim’s mission to the New World. Maybe it cause he was a man, I didn’t see a choice of words that made his emotions spring off the paper. How could he as a figure of power in the community write about his emotions on the lack of success of their mission. The further I travel back and read the writings of people that lived so long ago. I really have a hard time understanding their fight for life. Craving a township out of the woods. Even though Loewen says that if it wasn’t for the Native Americans that the Pilgrim’s fight would have been only harder. It would have been difficult for Bradford to imagine what the future would truly be like. His writing were more of a slice of time of life in the America before it was America.