Bias Perspective in Plymouth Plantation

Bias Perspective in Plymouth Plantation Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Date The literal text, Plymouth Plantation, is a literal text by William Bradford and accounts fo r the history of the colony. In the text, he is both the narrator and a character of the events that took place during early American history. The text begins by shading light on the history of Plymouth in 1620. During this time, King Henry and his daughter Queen Elizabeth brought up new Christian reforms where the Roman were restrained from performing their religious practices through Christian practices (Bradford, 2002). Because of this, many English people felt that they could live up to the new rules, and this made them migrate to Holland, where they had more freedom. Life, however, became hard, and the English reformers, who were known as pilgrims, had to sail to England, and through this, they encountered Native Americans, whom they mistreated through stealing from them and even killing them. Through his text, Bradford presents a lot of information on life at Plymouth Plantation. However, the text has shown a lot of bias in early American history. Bradford was writing the text to read by pilgrims, English men, and because of this, he makes the people from religion look as though they were good, and this shows the biasness in the text. Therefore, the following will show Bradford’s text is biased through the Indian dehumanization, lack of morality and civility, and attack from being the superior group, showing that his perspective on early American history is biased. Bradford represents native Americans as people that were accepted in the community but used foul language to demonstrate them. As the book begins, he refers to Indians as inhabitants from "vast countries of America" as they came in to settle in Europe because of the escape of religious persecution. Bradford refers to Indians and savages and brutish men, and this shows how the Europeans perceived the natives. He dehumanizes the natives as he compares them to animals, and this is seen where the Europeans chase the natives into the woods, wondering if they can speak (Burnham, 2000). He writes that when the Indians disappeared into the woods, they heard sounds of animals from the forest, "These were savages; but they fled into the woods, and the English followed them, partly to see if they could speak with them, (Bradford, 1952)." However, Bradford introduces the character of Samoset, an Indian that could understand English, and he uses this to make it seem as though the English were accommodative to natives, which they were not, and this exposes the biasness in this text. He tries to humanize the Indians by allowing them to belong to a social group of leaders with an interpreter. Also, he tries to make it look as though there is some neighbourliness and a treaty to exist among each other peacefully. Bradford makes it clear through the text that Indians and Europeans were not equals in the most innocent way. The Indians aided the Europeans in conquering more land, and therefore, they were only useful to them if they made exploitation successful. For example, the Indians are hit by a smallpox epidemic where most of them died, "got them victuals whilst they lived and buried them when they died (Bradford, 1952)." Bradford shows that smallpox was there not attack the minority group who were not recognized as colonialists. He brags about how the epidemic did not kill any Europeans, and this shows that the natives were already at a disadvantage, and even nature acted upon them unfairly. Bradford always seemed to present people from his group in a better place in society as compared to the natives. Bradford presented no moral and civility between the natives and Europeans, showing that he wrote the text in a biased manner. Pilgrims were always determined to feel more superior than any other group, and these dynamics could not allow the civility that Bradford wrote about to be anything close to the truth. Native Americans were denied their religious conviction, but the way Bradford portrays Plymouth Plantation, it different. He also makes the place look as though it was well organized, and cooperative making the natives looks a though they had no cooperation on their side. The natives were much more organized, and we see that they even provided the pilgrims with corn and even taught them how to fight (Howard, 1971). However, Bradford does not acknowledge this and talks highly of Pilgrims and how they would receive rewards from God for being good towards the natives. Bradford displays some type of cognitive dissonance where he writes through a bias tone because of how he intended the information to be received by English readers. The writer displays a lot of propaganda to make the English look sophisticated and superior to the natives, who had more success and survival ability in New England. Bradford also argues that the natives and the English lived harmoniously, but later in the text, we find that the English created an army that would eventually attack the Natives. Evidently, the natives were a big threat to the pilgrims; however, Bradford does not acknowledge this factor. Conclusively, Bradford's text Plymouth Plantation has been written in a biased manner giving the wrong perspective on early American history. He chooses vile words such as savages to dehumanize natives but then goes ahead to say how the two communities were able to co-exist. The natives were more superior than the English, as they helped them get corn and teach them how to fight, but Bradford does not acknowledge such factors, showing that his text is biased. Bradford seems to have been based on his text because he was afraid that if he represented the English in a negative, his company Virginia Company, would be exposed for unlawful activities. He might have also used a biased view to make the English seem as though they were superior to other groups, as a sense of power and dominance. However, the book exposes his bias because the natives were nothing like what Bradford tried to display. References Bradford, W. (1952). Of Plymouth Plantation, . Rutgers University Press. Bradford, W. (Ed.). (2002). Governor William Bradford's Letter Book. Applewood Books. Burnham, M. (2000). Merchants, Money, and the Economics of “Plain Style" in William Bradford's of Plymouth Plantation. American Literature, 72(4), 695-720. Howard, A. B. (1971). Art and History in Bradford's of Plymouth Plantation. The William and Mary Quarterly: A Magazine of Early American History, 237-266. Show Less