Anne Bradstreet Position Paper

In nearly all of Anne Bradstreet writings, she believed that the Earth could notfulfill her heavenly desires, only God could. She was concerned with how people became less attached to God when they have countless material possessions. Bradstreet

believed finding God's will through hard work, prayer, and sacrifice is the only way to achieve salvation. According to Bradstreet, all the riches of the Earth cannot compare to what is stored in heaven, which contains rewards far beyond imagining. Anne feels the Earth does not offer this type of reward, and fails her, because the world contains nothing more than weak-willed people who choose to sin.

I believe we all could learn a great deal from Anne Bradstreet today. She was a woman who was always conscious of the pleasures and rewards of earth--love,family, comfort, learning. When I look at our world today, I have to look very hard to

see the Godliness in our society. Most of us are consumed with possessions and and are extremely self centered. Even the harsh realities of the new world, which Anne made home, were preferable to gold and jewels. How many of us today could say we would be happy living like that? I feel Anne Bradstreet had a choice. She had the riches available to her, but chose to live Godly. Anne held sacred what she believed and was not afraid to share it in her writings. She believed the unimaginable treasure stored in heaven should be motivation enough to pursue God's will. The unwillingness of people to

practice these values makes the world an evil place to live in. She believes heaven is better than Earth because not only does it contain an endless amount of treasures, but it is made of treasures as well. Anne Bradstreet was a firm believer in the Puritan experiment in America and lived by those strict Puritan values, which no longer exist in our society

today. "In Memory of my Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet" she compares life to ripe fruit and trees but also displays Puritan fundamentals by the inclusion of God's will to guide their fate. Anne wrote to her children, "If at anytime you are chastened of God, take it as thankfully