Summary Of Frethorne's Letter To Fethorne

Indentured servitude was not the best of both worlds. Many indentured servants had hoped to come to America to gain more income or attain land but many ended up getting infected with sickly diseases on the way to America. In Frethorne’s letter, he explains how his life as an indentured servant was laborious, while in Hofstadter essay he supports Frethorne’s letter as well as challenge certain areas of Frethorne’s letter. Frethorne’s letter starts off explaining how just the trip to America was an abysmal experience with all the people who were sick around him as well as the lack of food. As Frethorne says in his letter,”… is such that it causeth much sickness … I never ate anything but peas and loblollie.” A similar statement supporting …show more content…
Hofstadter makes his claim when he says,”… bearing in mind the poverty and the ravaged lives which they left in Europe…”Hofstadter implies in his writing that these people who arrived to America shouldn’t have expected a walk in the park. They should have known that there will be struggles due to the fact they have bad reputations from England. Frerthorne had even expected life in America to be simpler even though he is a beggar he complains that he has,” eaten more in one day at home than I have allowed here for a week.” Sadly many of these servants had thought similarly to Frethorne which led to many regretting leaving England. Many of these servants longed to come to America to find greater opportunities than they had in England but their dreams were crushed by many unfortunate events. In both Hofstadter and Frethorne’s writing, they agree on certain areas of the life of an indentured servant. However Hofstadter challenges certain areas of Frethorne’s letter for certain ideas that the servants