Literary analysis: The Crucible

1. The Crucible is a playwright that is based on the Salem Witch trials. A bunch of nonsensical girls in Danforth try a few spells and other forbidden things with a black servant. They soon get found out, but deny it all. They then proceed to act like they've been cursed and possessed by witches, all in order to stay out of trouble and to also gain things they wanted. The Puritan community is scared by the girls' actions, and many innocent women accused of being witches are sent to jail. The proctors are targeted by the lead girl, Abigail Williams, because she wanted to be with John Proctor. Ultimately John himself is sent to the gallows, and a year later the witch trials had caused lots of trouble, and came to an end.

2. I picked up two themes from this book. One big one is how quickly people can succumb to fear. When a few people started becoming afraid of the Devil and witches in their community, all the citizens began to panic, and started to think irrationally. The effect of this widespread panic was the death sentence of many innocent women accused of being witches. Another theme would have to be the way they treated the people they charged. Many of the women sent to death by the trials were women (and a few men) who didn't really fit into the community that well. They were known for odd things here and there, but not something that would've made them a witch before the girls started with the accusations.

3. Since this was originally a playwright, the author provided different tones for each person that was talking in different situations, since 85% of the book was dialogue. Yet a common thing between all character's voices and the bit of narration was how solemn it sounded, and sometimes even fearful. The story took place in a time of panic and fear.
"Mrs. Putnam, softly:Aye. Her voice breaks; she looks up at him. Silence." - Act One, pg. 39
"Hale: Believe me, Mr. Nurse, if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing's left to stop the whole green world from burning." - Act Two, pg. 71
"Mary Warren, hysterically, pointing at Proctor, fearful of him: My name, he want my name. 'I'll murder you,' he says, 'if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court he says!'" - Act Three, pg. 119

4. There is dramatic irony used in this story. Most of the time I knew what the girls were really up to, while the other characters did not. Arthur Miller is also very descriptive with some of his character's dialogue. The dialogue itself can be considered a literary element, since he uses it to provide indirect characterization of his characters. There is conflict between the innocent accused (Proctors, others) and the "possessed" girls and the juries and judges of the trials.

1. Direct Characterization:
“Proctor was a farmer in his middle thirties. He need not have been a partisan of any faction in the town, but there is evidence to suggest that he had a sharp and biting way with hypocrites.”
“He was the kind of man- powerful of body, even-tempered, and not easily led- who cannot refuse support to partisans without drawing their deepest resentment.”
Indirect Characterization:
“In Proctor’s presence, a fool felt his foolishness instantly- and proctor is always marked for calumny therefore. But as we shall see, the steady manner he displays does not spring from an untroubled soul.”
All of the dialogue between the characters can be used as indirect characterization of all the characters, e.g. how evil Abigail really is.
Miller uses both to show his character’s true colors, in a way that is obvious and a way that you have to really listen/read closely to figure out. This really helped me in order to see what the characters were really up to, like Abigail and her reasons for her acting possessed.

2. Since Miller is writing with dialogue for 85% of the story, each character has their own unique diction. Most characters share the same kind of Puritan-style speaking, while there are some uneducated characters speaking differently, like Tituba. She speaks with words such as “git” and “goin,” showing she can speak English, but not properly.
3. John Proctor is a dynamic and round character. He changes completely through the book. He starts out as a kind of quiet, farmer man who was having marriage troubles after he was fooling around with Abigail Williams. But towards the end he gives his own life for his wife and to make a statement about the wrongdoings of the girls accusing people of witchcraft.
4. To me, I felt like I was reading a part of a history book, and not in the bad way. This is very close as to what really happened in the Salem Witch Trials, with a few exaggerations to make the story more interesting. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters, even though I did sympathize toward John Proctor and his wife.

Who was Shakespeare?

Shakespeare is perceived by many students as some boring writer who writes in weird language. Many teachers and philosophers see him as a great mind and thinker. Many see him as one of the greatest play writers ever. When don't know to mug about him. For example we don't know his birthday or what he looked like we just know him for the things he wrote.what seems weird to me is that website seem to know his personal life and when he was baptized and who he married. But they are quite sure if he even wrote those plays or if it was someone else under a fake name. There is still a lot of mystery whether Shakespeare did really exsist or not but the works are really what counts.

Tools that change the way we think

How does extensive Internet/media/technology use change the way we think?

Internet/media/technology definitely changes the way we think. We don't have to memorize information as much anymore because it is now on the palm of our hands with the smartphones that we have. We can always go back and find something that we need the answer to. Our minds are becoming trianed to search something and the first thing that comes up is the answer to our question.technology has become easy for everyone now. You don't have to go and find an encyclopedia to get an answer. I think that technology defintly makes us more lazy especially more and more when the Internet choses what comes up. This has made so much more information available to people but I do think technology has its good and it's bad moments.

To Facebook or not to Facebook

Everyone has their different views on Facebook. I think that Facebook can me good in ways to network with other people. We can also keep in contact with long lost family members or old friends. Our English group is super helpful when we have questions on the homework or we need comments for our blog. We are able to help eachother on one website that we all know how to use. The bad things about Facebook is no matter is your settings are private people can still look at the pictures you post or the comments and statuses that you make. Employers are now looking at face books to see if you would be a good employee. But employers can also see things you have done/ accomplished and may see you as a good employee. With anything on the Internet you have I be careful what you put and what people can see.

Voacb #9 Remix

These are the defintions to the vocab list:

 

Abortive: failing to produce the intended result

Bruit: spread a report or rumor widely

Contumelious: scornful and insulting behavior

Dictum: a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source; a short statement that expresses a general truth or principle

Ensconce: establish or settle

Iconoclastic: characterized by attack on established beliefs or institutions

In medias res: a narrative that begins somewhere in the middle of a story rather than the beginning

Internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict

Maladroit: ineffective or bungling; clumsy

Maudlin: self-pitying or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness

 

Modulate: exert a modifying or controlling influence on

Portentous: of or like a portent; done in a pompously or overly solemn manner

Prescience: the power to foresee the future

Quid pro quo: a favor or advantage granted in return for something

Salubrious: health-giving, healthy; pleasant, not run-down

Saturnalia: the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December; an occasion of wild revelry

Touchstone: a standard or criterion by which something is judged or recognized

Traumatic: emotionally disturbing or distressing; relating to or causing psychological trauma

Vitiate: spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of; destroy or impair the legal validity of.

Waggish: humorous in a playful, mischievous, or facetious manner

Vocab Midterm

I recieved a 64 out of 81 on my vocab midterm. I am somewhat content with how I did. I though I did worse but I know I could have done way better. I did not study as much as I should have. I only stuided a few of the lists and not all of them. What I want to do for the midterm is study my words more ahead of time. I also want to have a study buddy, because if I do not I will probably do a half ass job of studying like I did last time.

A Remix on Hamelt

I chose to do a remix on Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1

What is going on in the scene is the King and Queen are trying to find out what is driving Hamlet crazy. The two spies that they sent on him are Rosencratz and Guildenstern. What they tell the King and Queen is that he was cool when they met up with him. He wasn't excited to see them but he wasn't mad.  He was acting stranger than what he would be normally acting like.

The next thing they want to do is have Ophelia act as bait. They are hoping that Ophelia is the cause of his craziness and the love is what the cause is. The queen is desperatly hoping that she is the true cause of this. She wants her to bring him back to normal. Ophelia does agree to this and she acts as bait.

Hamlet comes in and starts talking about death and how he should kill himself but he is not quit sure what is on the other side when he dies. In his to be or to be speech I feel as if he is depressed. He is not sure wether to sit back and take all the terrible things that are happening to him or to end all of his troubles. He realizes that like everyone else he is a coward and this is why many people do not kill themselves. After this whole speech he tell Ophelia to remember all the horrible things he has done which are his sins.

After this Ophelia kinda brushes what he says off and asks how his day was. He say it was ok and she wants to repeat something that he has told her. Hamelt really doesn't want her to and claims that he never said that. Then Hamelt goes on to say that her honesty should not measure up to her beauty and that she is just a pretty face. Soon everyone will just care about looks. Hamlet tells her that he never loved her. He tells her to become a nun so that she could never marry anyone. If she does choose to marry than he wants them to be cursed. Hamelt does not want them to married becuase them their children will be like sinners. In his mind she is better off a nun.

After he leaves Ophelia is left shocked and knowing that his is not the same man that she knew. The king now believes it is something else that is driving Hamelt crazy but Polonius still thinks that it is love. They do not want to leave him without someone watching him.

In this scene I think Hamlet is telling himself if I can't be happy then no one else can. If he can't have his love then Ophelia can't love either. If the king and queen can't be content then by acting as if he is crazy then he will drive them crazy. He wants to drive Polonious crazy because he did not approve of his love life. If I can't be happy and content in my life then no one around me can.

Vocab #8

Abeyance-(N.) A state of temporary disuse or suspension.

Ambivalent- (Adj.) Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

Beleaguer- (V.) Beset with difficulties

Carte blanche- (N.) Complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best.

Cataclysm- (N.) A sudden violent upheaval, esp. in a political or social context

Debauch- (V.) Destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt.

(N.) A bout of excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, esp. eating and drinking

éclat- (N.) brilliant or conspicuous success

Fastidious- (Adj.) Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail

Gambol- (V.) Run or jump about playfully

Imbue- (V.) Inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality: "imbued with deep piety".

Inchoate- (Adj.) Just begun and so not fully formed or developed

Lampoon- (V.) Publicly criticize (someone or something) by using ridicule or sarcasm.

(N.) A speech or text criticizing someone or something in this way 

Malleable- (Adj.) Easily influenced; pliable

Nemesis- (N.) The inescapable or implacable agent of someone's or something's downfall

Opt- (V.) Make a choice from a range of 

possibilities

Philistine- (N.) A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them

Picaresque- (Adj.) Of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero

Queasy- (Adj.) Nauseated; feeling sick

Refractory- (Adj.) Stubborn or unmanageable

Savoir-faire- (N.) The ability to act or speak appropriately in social situations.