Smith vs. Bradford Essay

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Both John Smith and William Bradford describe New England, but they do so for various different reasons, and therefore both gave drastically different impressions of the New World. Bradford simply wrote his accounts for posterity, and as a result a very true, yet harsh reality was detailed. In contrast, Smith wanted to attract new settlers, and therefore shed a very positive light on the New World. For example, Smith excluded many of the harsh realities of the New World, and Smith also made many promises, which contrast to the records detailed by Bradford. Some of these promises were: that a man could work “three days in seven,” and still have an excess of money, a man could catch “300 cod in a day,” and that many fruits and herbs can be grown. All of these directly contradict the word of Bradford. The statement made by Smith, regarding the amount of work one has to do, is outrageous. Bradford details how one-half of all the original people died. Logically, if half the people are dead, and many are still dying, those that are well are forced to work harder to maintain a livelihood. In regards to growing the many fruits, and vines, Bradford only mentioned corn, when speaking of vegetables. There was no evidence of any other vegetables. Smith said a man could catch 300 cod in a day, this is clearly malarkey, as there wouldn’t be a section labeled “starving time” in Bradford’s account. In addition the season for fishing was very short. After the fishing season was over, winter began. Bradford describes the winter in detail, but strangely the concept of winter cannot be found in the pamphlet by John Smith. The most obvious reason would be that the concept of winter would probably scare people away, rather than make them want to settle the New World. The other concept that Smith omits is the Natives. The Natives launched a vicious assault on the

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