Comparing Contributions of William Bradford and Christopher Columbus to American Literature

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Comparing the contributions of William Bradford and Christopher Columbus to
American Literature
Introduction
On a traditional basis, USA is viewed as the melting pot for the people that comes
from numerous diversity of cultures and races particularly European People from the
different nations that decides to come to America for economic or social reasons1. When
speaking regarding their culture it is not possible to simplify due to each group has their own
identify and has formed their own culture with their language through the religion and
religious belief. The essay aims to understand the contributions made by the Williams
Bradford and Christopher Columbus to American literature.
Discussion:
William Bradford was a writer from the Colonial America. He was also the part of
Mayflower and his contributions included important works that included Mayflower compact
and “Of the Plymouth Plantation” during the year 19222. William Bradford is regarded as the
different writer from the other writers from the present time since he was not very
adventurous. He did not get captured by the Indians such as John Smith or went on the
voyage like Columbus. He was considered famous for being the governor of the
Massachusetts Colony. He was mainly famous for creating the first government. Prior to
William Bradford there were no forms of rules, laws and governments. When he arrived in
1 Levine, Robert S., et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Volume A and
B. Vol. 1. WW Norton & Company, 2016.
2 DiCuirci, Lindsay. Colonial Revivals: The Nineteenth-Century Lives of Early American
Books. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018.

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America, he began doing these things. Considering his literary work “Of Plymouth
Plantation”, William Bradford discussed the reasons why he left England. His work included
the reasons that were mainly related to religion reasoning since the English did not accepted
the Puritans.
The writings of Bradford also talked regarding the great things which was heard
regarding the New World along with the native People. His writings criticised the natives
despite the fact that he never met them. The narration of Bradford reflected the importance of
God for the puritan mind and because of this reason the entire narrative comprised of several
references particular when they successfully overcame the adversity3. The opinion of
Bradford included the viewpoint on Americans that they are not joyful and often carried the
feelings of sadness with proud. The literary works of William Bradford does not comprise of
the imaginations but contained emotions which made him totally opposite of Columbus. The
purpose of the writing was to morally create the connection of what he sacrificed for the
citizens that are living now among the readers and writer.
The Christopher Columbus and his expeditions disembarked in the American
continent during the year 1492. The autonomy relating to the native population began to
diminish as they were enslaved, murdered and were forced to leave their lands4. Several
written records of Christopher Columbus during those time presented the new continent as
the promised land which was ready for colonialization with full of treasures and
opportunities.
3 DeRosa, Robin. "The open anthology of earlier American literature." (2015).
4 Ruland, Richard, and Malcolm Bradbury. From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A history of
American literature. Routledge, 2016.