...factors that contributed to how people are viewed today. Nevertheless, the segregation of people by race, religious affiliation, ethnicity, sexuality, and occupation are still problems people face on a daily basis. Philosopher and novelist George Santayana understands this reoccurring problem better than anyone. He states, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” True to this statement, hundreds of years before The American Civil War and World War II were the Salem Witch Trials where people were segregated simply on suspicion of witchcraft. Two eye-opening, fictional retellings of this tragedy are The Crucible...
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...What are the characters like in The Crucible? There are two ways an author introduces a character: by using direct and or indirect characterization. When the author introduces characters directly, he or she is telling the audience. When the author introduces a character indirectly, he or she has the character tell the audience through their actions and dialogue. In the play ‘’ The Crucible’’ author Arthur Miller uses direct and indirect characterization to introduce Reverend Parris, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, and Mary Warren. Reverend Parris is the first character introduced in the play ‘’ The Crucible”. Directly, Arthur Miller tells us Reverend Parris is ‘’in his 40’s’’, he feels ‘’persecuted,’’ ‘’has no interest in children,’’ and was a merchant in Barbados. Reverend Parris dialogue includes ‘’I cannot blink what I saw… for my enemies will not blink it,’’ ‘’No No I, cannot have any. (enters Putnam) why, Goody Putnam come in,” ‘’Where is my wood… I am waiting since November…,’’ and ‘’ God help me”. These parts of Reverend Parris’s speech tells the audience he is more worried about himself. He’s influenced by money and power,...
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...they felt. Although you can see this theme manifest throughout most plays, movies, and books, you can particularly see throughout The Crucible by Andrew Miller and Goodnight and Goodluck written by George Clooney. The The Crucible, a play, and Goodnight and Goodluck, a movie both dramatize times in history when, in the case of the play, a real witch hunt occurs, and in the Movie a metaphorical witch hunt takes place. In both the play and the movie, you see people's actions are often motivated by a desire for revenge. In The Crucible, there is a woman named Ann Putnam. She has had seven babies and only one of them has lived. This would obviously make any mother...
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...Throughout Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose and The Crucible by Arthur Miller, fear is the most prominent motivation of the key characters in these two plays. There are many differences and similarities between both of the plays Twelve Angry Men and The Crucible, the main similarity between them both is fear but there is also similarities in the sense that prejudice, justice, and tension between the communities in both of the plays. Fear is something caused by threat, danger, harm or anxiety, in Twelve Angry Men it is shown though fear of youth (young people) and also fear of racial minority's where as in The Crucible the charters are fearful of witches and the devil as well as themselves and others. The attitudes of those we are surrounded by everyday are the ones who have an influence...
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...common attribute. It is proceeding to do something immoral while recognizing its potential risks. Through the voice of Elaine Aron, Zimbardo claims that such qualities are embodied among ordinary people put under various pressures to create an evil situation. These traits repeatedly appear among characters in both American literature and history in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and the events related to McCarthyism. Authority gives one the right the apparent right to demand obedience and expect the norm from “their people”. They are expected to use beneficial judgment and lead society forward and on the right path, but given power, leaders’ minds are tainted. People of authority are often given “responsible sounding roles such as “guardian,” “teacher,” [or] “defenders of the law” (Aron 4). This results in the manipulation of peoples’ minds as they tend to trust those with a name of great significance and respect. The society in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson often faces the challenging task of distinguishing between immoral and moral to the point where they have lost the ability to recognize the nonexistence of the moral. The people “had done it so many times” (Jackson 296), yet they do not question their traditions, and simply abide by the rules enforced by the conductors of the ceremony, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves. On one...
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...These common themes in all three plays stem from events that Miller had experienced in his own life as a young man. Miller’s father was a Jewish immigrant from Poland who was illiterate, but managed to run a successful coat manufacturing business in New York. This business helped Miller, his siblings and his mom continue to be financially stable. Due to the fact that Miller’s father, Isidore was illiterate, there was a stronger bond with his mother, Augusta because she enjoyed reading and was an educator herself. The family managed to live lavishly until the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which had led to The Depression caused them to lose practically everything. As a result of the Wall Street Crash, he had to move into a smaller home and struggled financially which shows that he experienced struggle firsthand. After that, Miller managed various odd jobs that helped him get by financially (Rachel Galvin). However, the sudden change influenced him in the rest of his life. In his autobiography, he wrote, “This desire to move on, to metamorphose – or perhaps it is a talent for being contemporary – was given me as life's inevitable and rightful condition” (Miller, Timebends, a Life 2). He had then turned to playwriting. His 1944 first Broadway show was of his first play,...
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...Centola.] 1915 Arthur Aster Miller was born on October 17th in New York City; family lives at 45 West 110th Street. 1920-28 Attends Public School #24 in Harlem. 1923 Sees first play--a melodrama at the Schubert Theater. 1928 Bar-mitzvah at the Avenue M temple. Father's business struggling and family move to Brooklyn. Attends James Madison HIgh School. 1930 Reassigned to the newly built Abraham Lincoln High School. Plays on football team. 1931 Delivery boy for local bakery before school, and works for father's business over summer vacation. 1933 Graduates from Abraham Lincoln High School. Registers for night school at City College, but quits after two weeks. 1933-34 Clerked in an auto-parts warehouse, where he was the only Jew employed and had his first real, personal experiences of American anti-semitism. 1934 Enters University of Michigan in the Fall to study journalism. Reporter and night editor on student paper, The Michigan Daily. 1936 Writes No Villain in six days and receives Hopwood Award in Drama. Transfers to an English major. 1937 Takes playwrighting class with Professor Kenneth T. Rowe. Rewrite of No Villain, titled, They Too Arise, receives a major award from the Bureau of New Plays and is produced in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Honors at Dawn receives Hopwood Award in Drama. Drives Ralph Neaphus East to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain during their Civil War, and decides not to go with him. 1938 The Great Disobedience receives second place...
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...an individual from others. The novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, play The Crucible by Arthur Miller and the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy all have underlying themes of the society influencing a character’s individuality. In each text, each character struggles with the difficulty of the society’s impact on their lives. Through each text we see the struggles and stress “the society” puts upon people. In “Barbie Doll,” the main character struggles with her self image, whereas in Catcher, Holden struggles with the society’s pressure to become materialistic. In The Crucible, every character is under the microscope and pressured to stay in order and not to step out of perfection. If they do not do as told or what is thought to be the correct way to act they will be accused of witchcraft even if innocent. The society has such a large impact on each and every one of these characters, that without a doubt each character has been influenced one way or another. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden faces the pressure of the society alone and struggles with the ability of keeping his individuality from slipping out of his grips. The society in this novel brings upon the pressure of having everything, even if it means really having nothing at all. Holden feels he cannot be himself in the society surrounding him, his school tries to change him, his parent’s values aren’t the same as his, and he hates everyone because everyone is alike; they all have the same personality, without...
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...Joshua Smelser Professor Lee Hinds Composition 2 September, 10, 2012 Fear As a Living Person In the movie, The Crucible, inspired by Aurther Miller and directed by Nicholas Hytner, fear is a subtle but important aspect in the movie. In fact, if fear was an actor in the film, it would be the lead character, leading to deaths, lies, and betrayal. Now the movie starts off with the towns teenage girls dancing in the woods, conjuring up spells to make boys like them. As they dance around, some naked, reverend Paris a man with power in a city of puritans discovers the girls. This would be the first time fear appears in the movie. Out of fear the girls scatter to avoid getting in trouble with the reverend. All but two girls get away, the reverend’s daughter Betty, and his niece Abigail. After this scene fear gets its biggest part in the movie. Betty falls into a coma nothing can wake her. The town including her father believes that the devil has got hold of her. I believe that Betty is just scared to get in trouble, and there are pieces of evidence that prove it. First off through the entire movie all the girls of the town are lying that they can see the devil. Why would this be untrue for this small girl? Second during church Abigail and the girls march up to Betty’s room and explain to her that everything is ok, her father knows and is not angry. Remarkably she wakes and says she wants her mom. If Betty was truly possessed I am sure she would not wake at the first instance...
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...Nick moved in next to the millionaire, Jay Gatsby and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy and her husband, Tom. The explorer in the novel would be narrowed down to either Nick Carraway or Jay Gatsby because they both arrived in New York in search of fortune. They’re explorers because they worked hard to end up where they are now. Despite the fact that Jay acquired his fortune in a bad manner, all that matters is the dedication he had while doing this kind of work. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." (Fitzgerald 1-3). The quote unfolds how dedication and perseverance will serve you better in life. “The Great Gatsby” has shown me of the importance of how hard work will pay off in the future. Jay and Nick both deserve to be the explorer because they both had the challenge of going through poverty and judgment to get to where they are...
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...Wiesel, a Jewish boy whose family gets deported to the concentration camp with other Jews from his town. Upon arrival his Mother and Sister, Tzipora are separated and executed by the Nazis in the Auschwitz death camp. Following that, after months of work, with the advancing allied front, the prisoners were forced to march all night to the Gleiwitz concentration camp. As Elie’s story continues, after being stuffed inside a camp barrack for 3 days without food or water, the Prisoners were let out for a selection, Elie’s Father was chosen to...
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...during an interview a Marine was asked about the ins and outs of recruit training. How’s it work? What happens in the process? After responding to these questions one man said, “But Marines are brainwashed.” Being the proud and disciplined Marine that he is, he responded quickly with something along the lines of, “Yes I am brainwashed, the Marine Corps has taken me and molded me into the man I am today. They took my brain out of my head and they washed it, they washed it of all those nasty civilian values.” He went on to talk about how in the process the Marines washed his mind and body clean of being a liar, cheater, and a thief. He called those three things the “Civilian values”. All of these things were then replaced with the “Core Values” of the Marine Corps Honor, Courage, and Commitment. These are the three basic things instilled into a Recruit for him or her to become a basically trained Marine. He ended his comment to the man with, “So yes you’re right, I’m brainwashed.” Not much was said after that. Let me ask you this, can you brainwash a willing person? Every applicant has to make a conscious effort and decide to sign their name on that contract. At no point and time was there someone holding a gun to them saying you will join the Marines. If we are all brainwashed, what’s so bad about it? We are the ones who fight for the freedoms of the American people. We leave our families for months at a time never knowing if today is the day that I never get to see them again...
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...Church was considered the cornerstone of the 17th century. Most people in Massachusetts were known as Puritans. These were colonists who left England seeking religious tolerance. Puritans had many views on life that may be thought of as aggressive towards themselves. These views included not attending church was against the law and during the service men and women had to sit on opposite sides. Puritans were expected to work hard and not speak emotions or opinions as well as believed all sin should be punished. Whenever anybody suffered misfortune, it was believed to be Gods’ will and nobody helped during the time. The people Satan chose to do his work for him were considered the weakest which includes women children and the insane. These people chosen were known as witches. Being a witch was the greatest crime and could be punished by...
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...witches in the town. An investigation began and quickly, three women became suspects. Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good and Tituba were women with reputations, or cultural differences that caused them to be outcasts. Those traits could have arguably been the only reason they were accused of witchcraft. Four others, including a child, were arrested when they doubted the credibility of the girls’ claims. The child was arrested because she was the daughter of one of the women and the magistrates used her statements to implicate her mother. The community became very troubled by charges against the women because all 3 were members of the church and they began to realize that they were not protected by anything, even being upstanding people in the community. Many accusations were made, warrants were issued and people all throughout the town were arrested and put on trial for witchcraft. Many trials resulted in executions and others ended up in prison. While researching “The Crucible”, I found that the biggest inconsistency between the movie and history were the reasons why people were being accused of witchcraft. The movie didn’t take into account any of the social aspects that were going on. To grasp the understanding of why people were actually being accused, you have to dig deeper into their lives prior to and during the time of the Salem witch trials. It wasn’t just as simple as fitting the characteristics of a witch. According to common assumptions and laws of the era, witchcraft was the cooperation...
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...walking down the street on your way to a lunch date at a Panera. You pass 3 homeless people. One was older, probably in his early 50’s, had no shoes, a worn sleeping bag, and sunken eyes. You pass by quickly, averting your gaze. The second looks to be college aged, she has a young child with her and seems to be pregnant with a second. Again, you walk by, hesitating only slightly, deciding you do not have time to stop. Many of the corrupt parts of society have become the norm. Everyone is trying to get ahead without stopping to think, why? Why is it that we as a species have found that the best way to survive is to get ahead of others? Can we not work together to bring everyone up? This idea that survival is based on winning has been ingrained into our minds. Society has forced the individual to act alone and do whatever it takes to win the game of life. People tend to have a sense of superiority or self righteousness. They act as though they are...
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