You may find it difficult to apply literary analysis to this work because Bradford’s work is primarily journalistic in nature. He describes places, people, and events in a seemingly straightforward manner. However, he does use the occasional allusion and metaphor in order to imbue the events he describes with epic religious significance. In other words, he subtly turns a simple record of events into a story. Primarily, he adds biblical allusion to the events that he reports, attempting to cast the Pilgrims as walking in God’s Providence and rising to the challenge of the faithful, much like the Jewish people of the Old Testament taking their journey to the promised land. Focus on any one of these things as a narrowed topic and connect it to some sort of context.
