American Literature / Unit 4 AML 0308 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Providence as a Narrative Principle
Captions available
The idea
Bradford's history is organized by providence: storms, illnesses, harvests and deaths appear as God's dealings with a chosen people rather than as accidents. The method gives the book its shape and its confidence, and it is why a Puritan historian records a hostile settler's death as a judgment.
In practice
Events arranged as God's dealings.
Where people slip
Providence is the history's argument, not its background.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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