One of the most pressing issues in this book is the dual dilemma of having attained religious freedom to establish a new kind of community, by leaving England where their religious views were viewed as extreme or unusual, he Bradford struggles to establish that community given the ironic nature of their strict community rule (having denied previous authority structures like the Church of England, for instance), and also given the very real threat of death and warfare with the natives.
They are not just people with ideas. These earlier settlers are the first line of builders to try and establish real community in America, to make a new home. Their quest involves working through issues with the local natives, and also, it involves the prospect of survival, which is legitimately difficult, given the harshness of winter. In a word, the thrust of the book is their shared need for survival.
Nevertheless, they must establish a kind of social construct that will help them to survive and to correctly train children to understand the drastic stakes of survival in their world. They become very strict and somewhat paranoid, which doesn't bode well with the natives who are likely going to challenge their civilization once they understand the full effects; they are not the only pioneers. They are just the literal avant-garde—the whole of Europe also has interests establishing colonies.
