Throughout history many philosophies and ideas have presented themselves, thus with these ideas many literary movements started and branched from one idea to the next. The history of these literary movements can be seen in a developing pattern, such as the early concept in America from the 17th century Puritans, wishing to purify and later becoming Deism, the ability to choose a relationship with God. Later in the 19th century, politics and literature were seen through Romanticism and developed into Transcendentalism, where there are no restraints and lastly evolved into Realism, the interest in or concern for the actual truth. The evolution of american literature from puritanism to realism can be identified in the few most well known literature pieces of the era.
Throughout the historical account based on Puritanism, William Bradford wrote Of Plymouth Plantation portraying the values of God, such as predestination damned, salvation by grace, and predestination elect. Bradford introduces the incident involving the profane young man.God before came half seas over to smite this young man with a grievous disease of which he died.[and] was the first thrown overboard (Bradford 55). This shows that the profane young man is not an elect, a person born with a grace, or friendly to the puritans. The statement proves that he was predestined to suffer from God. Salvation by grace was shown through the story when John Howland caught held of the topsail halyards which hung overboard and ran out at length (56). John is being shown as a figure of grace, or someone saved by God. This shows that Howland was gifted with grace from the moment he was born. People that are elected have faith the lord so upheld these persons as in general calamity they were not at all infected either with sickness or lameness (58). These people were.
predestined by God to help others that are ill. This proves that they were chosen to be saved from the damned.
