Interpreting Bias Within Historical Accounts

Imagine sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to a new world, a place that a person has only ever heard about and all of it’s great opportunities. Now imagine sailing the same ocean, only to be unsure if your life will be worsened or not. Bradford’s detailed narrative of “Of Plymouth Plantation” and Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography of his experiences as a slave in “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” are both oddly similar, but extremely different. In this essay, I will be viewing the similarities and differences between these two narratives with the topics of their coming to America story and their writing style and purpose.

The Puritan’s voyage to the New World in 1620 is one of the most well known pilgrimages throughout history. However, there are two different accounts of the events to be discussed: one by William Bradford himself and another in the form of a documentary. Bradford was one of the 102 people to voyage across the Atlantic in order to start the Plymouth colony in Cape Cod. He would later become a very influential leader. His version of the events, entitled Of Plymouth Plantation, is his first-hand account of the voyage and settlement of Plymouth. Bradford wrote his chronicle in plain style, a type of writing that is simplistic and very straightforward. History Channel’s A Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower shows the events from an outside point of view and uses multiple sources.

Within the New World, individuals such as William Bradford, a separatist religious leader as well as governor of Plymouth (131), and Thomas Morton, a lawyer and social reformer, were both very significant men within our history books. The story of Merry Mount/Ma-re Mount is shown from two different perspectives which offers the readers an awareness and understanding of the way religion and government influenced the lives of those who dwelled in Plymouth Massachusetts, and Ma-re Mount. Thomas Morton and William Bradford are somewhat like Tom and Jerry for the reason that they dislike one another and have different accounts of Ma-re Mount/Merry Mount and that they tend to dispute with one another often when it comes to religion. Bradford’s writing tells the story of Merry Mount in a narrative and formal way whereas Morton’s writing is unlike any writing during his time, it’s humorous and also told from a non-Puritans perspective. Although Bradford claims Morton to be an anarchic drunk there are many reasons to say that he was in fact a comedic hero.

In September of 1620, the Mayflower full of Puritans not satisfied with the system of the Church of England and people referred to as “strangers” began their voyage (Desperate Crossing). A Puritan man named William Bradford was among the passengers of the Mayflower and wrote “Of Plymouth Plantation” throughout his odyssey. The use of plain style is effective in historical writing and in William Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation” plain style did not affect the main details of their journey, but rather his bias when comparing the writing to Desperate Crossing: Untold Story of the Mayflower.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, is a moving written account of Frederick Douglass’ harrowing experiences as a slave, and his journey into freedom. In his critical essay “Douglass and Sentimental Rhetoric,” Jefferey Steele argues, that despite being objective, Douglass’ account is mixed with Pathos, complicating the straightforward chronicle. While pathos is evident in the text, it does not complicate the memoir’s straightforwardness. In fact, Douglass’ straightforward tone naturally co-exists with the pathos in his story. Douglass’ logically driven narrative is emotional within itself, and by providing the logical sequences he creates pathos, because

“The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is often told with a harsh and unemotional tone; it is this euphemistic style that gives the reader a keen insight into the writer's epoch as a slave in Maryland during the early 1800’s. Douglass never let us forget that his narrative was true, he wanted the readers to understand the truth that was Douglass's life, in addition the symbols and allusions that populate this book showing the intelligence and sophistication of the writer, while the detached writing also gives the reader another look into that time’s attitude and into Douglass’s own perception.

Bradford’s style is very different from Edwards’. Bradford conveyed his message by describing the pilgrims’ voyage to America. His text is written as diary entries that include stories from their travels. In paragraph two, Bradford describes an event where a man was thrown over the boat. His vivid descriptions of the “fierce winds” allow the reader to picture this story. His use of imagery helps readers imagine and understand what the pilgrims faced while on their voyage and even after the reached their destination.

The Battle of Plymouth is famed for its historical significance and celebrated for its profitable value in tourism. The Battle of Plymouth was a major Confederate victory, but also the background for a tale of great. The history as it is preserved, and the subsequent collective memory, are a byproduct of their modern adaptation which is meant to entertain and entice tourists. The battle is a complex set of events that remain in the interest of the public to this day. When marketing this ever intriguing skirmish, the town aims to draw more income from tourism by targeting specific audiences. The collective memory is not altered exclusively by marketing. Instead, as oral history passes down the stories of the Confederacy, Southerners tend to whitewash of the traitorous secession of the South. Instead, a story of Southern heroism and defiance to federal government is passed down through the generations. This leaves the local people with a biased collective memory and with scarcely and factually based education on the subject.

To begin, a major flaw in the way American history courses are taught is due to the fact that textbooks do not allow students to form their own opinions, for everything is presented as “fact”. This is exemplified through the way early American life is taught. For example, a controversial topic is the specific destination of the Mayflower during the Pilgrim’s journey to America. Some historians believe their arrival in Massachusetts was on purpose to be far from Anglican control in Virginia, while others believe violent storms lead them off track, or there were just navigation errors. The flaw then arises for all textbooks only pick one, and present it as fact to their readers for they believe it is the students’ only way to “learn” about the past (81).

With our history, perspective is key. When reading about a certain speech or event it is important to make sure you have a reliable source. Sometimes primary sources are scarce, so secondary sources will be needed. Sometimes the sources can clash with each other, making it hard to tell what is true and not. Different perspectives of historic events can dampen understanding of the true message given when personal bias and dim perspectives are applied. Our history is being influenced by secondary sources rather than the real message of the primary source.

The Puritan’s voyage to the New World in 1620 is one of the most well known pilgrimages throughout history. However, there are two different accounts of the events to be discussed: one by William Bradford himself and another in the form of a documentary. Bradford was one of the 102 people to voyage across the Atlantic in order to start the Plymouth colony in Cape Cod. He would later become a very influential leader. His version of the events, entitled Of Plymouth Plantation, is his first-hand account of his voyage and the settlement of Plymouth. Bradford wrote his chronicle in plain style, a type of writing that is simplistic and very straightforward. History Channel’s A Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower, shows the events from an outside point of view. Bradford’s use of plain style in Of Plymouth Plantation, while historically and linguistically beneficial, is clouded by

In other words, the cultural narrative and the official archival documents are missing the voices of the population who planned and instigated the revolt. Melville’s narrative strategy forces the reader to see these gaps in Delano’s narrative and the tribunal’s deposition, gaps that Michel-Rolph Trouillot calls absences or silences. In Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995), Trouillot writes that “presences and absences embodied in sources (artifacts and bodies that turn and event into a fact) or archives (facts collected, thematized, and processed as documents and monuments) are neither neutral or natural. They are created” (48). He goes on to say that “the very mechanisms that make any historical recording possible also ensure that historical facts are not created equal” (49).

In Camilla Townsend’s book, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, Townsend points out that there are many historical inaccuracies and myths that are associated with the story of Pocahontas. Using historical evidence to support the story of Pocahontas, Townsend attempted to create an accurate timeline bringing the past to the present. At the same time, the Disney film Pocahontas attempted to depict Algonquian culture accurately, however, according to history, much of the material presented in the film is full of misconceptions and is historically imprecise. In fact, Disney’s Pocahontas epitomizes John Smith and

History is alive. With every step taken across this boundless earth where billions have walked before, it is given life. Speak one word, one whisper, and the voice echoes to the roots of the past from the Roman Empire to Greece and even to a tiny town too small to bear a name but vital to the past and to the existence of modern civilization. Each word spoken and each sentence written is echoed with the voices of billions of people dead and forgotten. History is alive. It lives thanks to the hundreds of thousands of students and historians that map our past so people can have a broad perspective of the present and the future. They accomplish this difficult task by using sources, primary and secondary sources, each offering its share of advantages

One of the noticeable themes of postmodernism is the distorting of lines between fiction and nonfiction. In the hands of a talented writers, “making it up” and “telling the truth” can exist simultaneously and comfortably beside one another. Writers of this genre know that it is obvious to the reader that they are lying to tell the truth. More exactly, these writers lie openly to tell the truth so that their moral position as storytellers exists in their ability to lie openly and cleverly. A term historiografiction – meaning postmodern mixture of the words historiography and fiction – means the literary treatment of persons or events from the past. Historiografiction is mainly disturbed with character and theme; in contrast, historical fiction is started by plot, setting, details or lifestyle. A traditional historical expectations and neutrality is an important element in the postmodern questioning, and it issues authors to investigate the possibilities of previously immersed character and points of view in real events from the past.