Puritan Motives

The Puritans and their Pure Motives

People will always be born as well as people will always die, but what gives a certain person value is what they do in their lifetime. This value is calculated depending on what the person’s views on life are, but a universal high value is if someone is a hero. Being a hero is something that should not exactly be sought after and it’s almost as if it’s a sacred task. Some people who do seek it succeed but if they are only looking for personal fame then it fails. Two heroic figures are shown in the two historical accounts, The General History of Virginia by John Smith, and Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford. Both of these men can be regarded as heroes but one of them is far more heroic than the other.

Caring for others is a huge portion of being a hero and most of the time this is what defines a hero. The Puritans are more heroic than Smith and this is supported by the degree to which each cares about his fellow colonists. After arriving to the Americas with low food and no housing, Bradford objectively studies, “And of these, in a time of most distress, there was but six or seven sound persons who to their great commendations, be it spoken, spared no paints night or day, but with abundance of toil and hazard of their own health, fetched them wood, made the fires, dressed them meat, made their beds, washed their loathsome clothes, clothed and unclothed them” (Bradford 81). Even though disease

The Puritans do not take full credit for the people they have helped and saved and instead giving it all to God. The Puritans land at Cape Cod but are not pleased so they continue southward. After some rough waters, Bradford writes, “Being this arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element” (Bradford 80).The Puritans are constantly looking out for others, but it is not for personal gain. Bradford says that they survived and helped others for God and that he is the one who should be thanked. The Puritans show heroism by not asking for a reward and not boasting their accomplishments. However, is an egotist and does everything for personal gain. the first leader of the colonist failed to do his job, Smith writes, “Committed the managing of all things abroad to Captain Smith, who, by his own example, good words, and fair promises, set some to mow, others to bind thatch, some to build houses, others to thatch them, himself always bearing the greatest task for his own share, so that in short time he provided most of them lodgings, neglecting any for himself” (Smith 74). The colonists in Virginia are dying off and the