Bradford and Morton of Merrymount

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Lilian S At the beginning of the 17th century, a group of people coming from England settled themselves in Massachusetts, North America. The reason of change from one to another country was the disagreement with the Church of England. A member of this group of believers called William Bradford documented the whole travel since they sailed from Southampton in England until the new community settled in Plymouth. William Bradford and his group believed they were a special group of people, chosen by God to start a new land. Therefore they called themselves Pilgrims and Puritans. Of Plymouth Plantation is the document of this long journey through which Bradford became a community leader, governor of the Plymouth Colony, writer and considered the main founder of the American Society. In this paper I chose pages 71, 72 and 73 to make a close reading of two paragraphs where Bradford speaks about the visit of Mr. Morton of Merrymount to the Puritan’s colony. I will first do the close reading of these paragraphs; explain my understanding of them, pointing out some details which I will extract from these parts of the text. Then I will discuss about the literary techniques applied in Bradford’s narrative, regarding these paragraphs above mentioned. From page 71 to 73, Bradford describes an unstable period at the Plantation. The Colony receives a visit from different men looking after a new place to live. Among them is Mr. Morton of Merrymount. In Bradford’s description, Merrymount is a man of little respect, who is often searching for smarts opportunities in order to gain something over other people. Merrymount make up some worker’s minds to set him as their leader. Since then, he introduces some new practices in the Colony, as dancing, partying, drinking alcohol and reading poetry. Those practices are not tolerated by the Pilgrims whose principles are hard work,

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