Bradford In The Grapes Of Wrath By William Bradford

Bradford seemed to have the answer for why things happened during the voyage. It all appeared to come down to what he would call God's providence. "There was a proud and very profane young man, one of the seamen, of a lusty, able body, which made him the more haughty; he would always be contemning the poor people in their sickness, and cursing them daily with grievous execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end, and to make merry with what they had; and if he were by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear more bitterly. But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner" (Bradford 74). The fact that he mentions this young man's behavior prior to him becoming sick and then subsequently dying eludes to the fact that as he later states "...they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him" (Bradford 74). …show more content…
I didn't observe Bradford crediting bad events or evil to the Devil, I only interpreted such things as being God's punishment for bad behavior or a call to conversion or a purgation of some sort due to less than Christian actions or