Ana Sofía Hernández. 11°B
Collections Grade 11 Guiding Questions
Collection 1
“from of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford
Read the selection from the historical account of Plymouth Plantation by William
Bradford. Then, reread the lines indicated with each question below. Answer each
question, citing text evidence.
1. Lines 1–5: Paraphrase, or state in your own words, what Bradford is trying to
communicate in the first sentence.
The pilgrims were all together on one ship, they sailed out to sea again with a strong
wind for many days. Which was encouragement to them but many got sick with
seasickness.
2. Lines 6–18: What is Bradford’s central idea, or theme?
The main idea or theme of lines 6-18 is about a sea man who was rude to the poor, he
would curse at them & he would also be punishing the people in their sickness daily. The
young man getting a grievous disease which killed him & he was the first to get thrown
overboard.
3. Lines 19–24: How does the use of passive voice affect the meaning of these lines?
Because with the passive voice you can get a better understanding of the events that
were happening through the story and their order, as it tells us about the ship's journey
and all the complications that it goes through throughout the trip along with the
damage that the ship suffers, worrying the crew for its condition.
4. Lines 29–33: Identify examples of archaic language in these lines. What word
substitutions using current vocabulary might make the sentence’s meaning easier
to understand?
5. Lines 47–56: Determine the central idea of these lines.
6. Lines 60–62: What do these lines reveal about Bradford’s purpose?
7. Lines 78–109: What three allusions does Bradford use in these two paragraphs?
How do these allusions support Bradford’s central idea that the Pilgrims endured
a difficult journey into an unknown wilderness?
8. Lines 110–116: Suggest how this lengthy sentence might be rewritten in a more
modern way.
If someone wanted to say this in the modern world, they would probably just say the
after arriving at cape cod on November 11th, decided to stop and let the ship be fixed,
but that it would take long because of how damaged it was.
9. Map: What connections can you make between the map and of Plymouth
Plantation? What places, events, and journeys described in the text are also
shown on the map?
Ana Sofía Hernández. 11°B
We can see some of the places they have stopped at, we see the territory and the land
they’ve been in, we can see the names given at the time as well as dotted lines of where
the ship has been and the coordinates.
10. Lines 164–168: How does the story alluded to here relate to the Pilgrims’
experience?
From our point of view, we can relate to the Pilgrims in the emotion and even caress of
men for going to explore a new place with so many new things and also even the greed
of being the first to have all those resources all for themselves.
11. Lines 178–185: What theme does the author want to convey? How does the
abandoned corn relate to God’s “providence”?
The lack of food they had but the mercy and miracle god gave them to be able to have
food (corn) and their gratitude to god’s deed. It relates because in this providence the
corn was supposed to be grown, but due to the cold it wasn’t yet they had the seed for
next season, which is what became their salvation.
12. Lines 186–207: What words or phrases describe places, events, or people? What
kind of feeling do these descriptions convey? Using these clues, what might you
infer about Bradford’s purpose?
Weather failing, circulating, very cold, froze, sea spray, fire, storm, dancing, Indians. He
describes the conditions they´re in and trying to make the reader feel the ambient,
through that language He informs the readers of the hardships that the settlers went
through in order to reach the new land but they pushed through and stayed strong.
13. Lines 110–224: Find evidence in these lines of repetition in the events Bradford
describes. What kind of events does Bradford’s writing focus on?
He keeps talking about how the natives react when they arrive to their land, then he
also talks about how they have a colorful culture with different beans and food and
then about them going back to the shallop to continue their exploration of the new land
and the situations they face while getting there, and then he repeats the same but with
the new places they find.
14. Lines 234–259: Summarize these lines. How has the action, or pace, changed in
this paragraph? What can readers infer about Bradford’s purpose from this
paragraph?
15. Lines 260–268: What text evidence suggests that Bradford saw the Pilgrims as
having been chosen by God?
The evidence that give us is that “Thus is pleased God to get conquer of their enemies”
that was his special providence and they have God solemn so thanks for that and the
applaud for the deliverance. they saw the Pilgrims as having been chosen by God
for leaving seeds to plant crops so they would not starve.
God is creator of everything and helped them to get to the new world safely. They were
thankful to God for saving them and watching over them over the ocean. They were
thankful and blessed God for bringing them safely over the ocean to land again.
16. Lines 269–273: What is the purpose of the paragraph that introduces the Second
Book?
Ana Sofía Hernández. 11°B
In addiction it changes since the way in which it is expressed becomes more formal and
authoritative, even a little more firmly to emphasize his point as well in the way of
describing more specifically certain events that at the beginning will happen whit more
fluency.
17. Lines 285–307: How does the diction of the Mayflower Compact differ from the
diction in previous sections of Plymouth Plantation?
18. Lines 308–316: According to the text that comes before this passage, when was
the Mayflower Compact signed? How does the brief summary of events in this
passage compare to those listed in Chapter X?
On November 11th on 1620. The difference is that his summary on chapter X is more
based on the culture and curiosity while this one is the more politic side, it also isn’t as
repetitive. The Mayflower Compact created laws for Mayflower Pilgrims and nonPilgrims alike for the good of their new colony. It was a short document which
established that: the colonists would remain loyal subjects to King James, despite their
need for self-governance.
19. Lines 317–322: Look for phrases that are unfamiliar or appear out of context in this
sentence. What is a synonym for the phrase “discontents and murmurings”? Are
there other substitutions that might make the sentence’s meaning clearer?
Although the phrases are out of context their meaning give us a new perspective,
Synonym could be what they had complaints and differences, the phrase refers to that
when they were in their own territory they would feel more free and in control of
themselves.
20. Lines 330–335: Note the active and passive verbs in this sentence. How does the
sentence change as it progresses? How does this use of the active and passive
voice affect meaning?
Because they were the correct words for what to express what he wanted readers to
understand from that part of the reading, his point of view and perception of how the
Indians approached and behaved.
21. Lines 330–339: What text evidence supports your inferences about the
characteristics colonists valued? How might celebrating the characteristics in this
account influence Bradford’s readers?
22. Lines 346–349: Why might Bradford have chosen to use phrases like “skulking
about” and “stole away”?
I believe that before they used more formal ways of speech and because of it he uses the
word skulking about and aloof as in they were being mean and inconsiderate but when
they approached they would run away.
23. Lines 372–385: Paraphrase the treaty between Massasoit and the Pilgrims and
determine its central ideas.
24. Lines 388–395: Summarize Squanto’s life before the Pilgrims’ arrival.
25. Text rubric
Ana Sofía Hernández. 11°B
The characters of the book are…William Bradford, Captain Standish, Governor John
Carver, the Native Indians. But, these men were too mentioned throughout the story:
William Butten, Samuel Fuller, William Brewster, Myles Standish, Mr. Dermer, Sir
Fernandino Georges
The text is about... the journey of William Bradford and other men when they came to the
Newland, how long it took them to be able to adapt with the natives and come to an
“agreement” of lifestyle in Cape Cod.
Describe the setting of the story…although the story makes reference to England and
other European countries, the setting is in cape cod, the new land of native Indians, where
everything was colorful, from culture, to people, to food. We can see there are many bodies
of water surrounding it but also precious treasures. From the map we can also see a more
detailed image of what it might’ve looked like.
I like when... when Bradford talks about the colorful surroundings of the new world, how it
was strange and different, yet attractive for the English.
I don't like... that the native Indians felt fear and a need to attack to protect themselves at
a certain point of the story.