Let me start by saying I know it has been a long summer with a lot of reading, thinking, and writing; but I am very proud of all of you for taking the time and energy while making the effort to communicate with one another on each book electronically. I am also very pleased with you for speaking your minds with your peers and with me; always know that I appreciate honesty and courage. We are almost finished, with one book left A Separate Peace. These last three books seemed to have run together concerning characters, plots, themes, and ideas. With that said, The Crucible is a book that, again, can be applied to our world today.
First of all, I don't know if you know much about the McCarthy era in the United States. I will try to summarize it for you as best as I can. During the 1940's and 1950's, the United States and its citizens were obsessed and overwhelmed with the threat of Communism growing world wide. Senator Joseph McCarthy took advantage of this situation and stated that Communists were infiltrating the country accusing many people in the U.S. of Communism. McCarthyism, as it was known, created greater political tensions in the country. A Blacklist was generated by Sen. McCarthy with names of people who were Communists spying in the U.S. Many of these people were famous, Arthur Miller being one of them. To make a long story short, McCarthy's accusations were untrue and he eventually faced consequences for his actions. If you really want to know more about this era, you can research it at pbs.org, American Masters, Arthur Miller, McCarthyism at www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/mccarthyism/484/
Some people say Arthur Miller wrote this play as a reaction to McCarthyism because Sen. McCarthy was on a modern day witch hunt and included Miller in that hunt. We all know that the Salem Witch Trials happened; therefore, Miller decided to make the comparison and the play was the result. Now, I really don't know where to go from here because I love the history behind the stories we read, but I also know how important it is to read the text for the text's sake. History and literature are bedfellows and sometimes need to be presented together in order to understand what the author might have been thinking and experiencing during his or her time period. Because, really, I often wonder where authors get their ideas for their novels. Since I have already given a little bit of history, I better go to the text.
The Crucible is definitely a text that will live on throughout the past, present and future. We are always on a witch hunt whether it be in politics, with friends, colleagues, or family members. We accuse people without fully understanding the circumstances because 1)we don't want to get into trouble, much like the girls; or 2)we fear what we don't completely understand, much like the townspeople. I am disgusted with Abigail and I feel for Elizabeth. The other girls are just pawns in the story because they fear Abigail. However, this book shows us how powerful the power of suggestion really is. Abigail was able to control so much through her suggestions just so she would not get caught in the lies she told. This also brings me to the notion that there is a snowball affect when one lies. You have to keep telling more lies to keep up with the ones you have already told.
One thing that struck me most was the idea that good cannot exist without evil and heaven without hell. In my text, Miller offers narratives within the acts explaining why things are the way they are in the play. On page 31 he states "Like Reverend Hale and the others... we conceive the Devil as a necessary part of a respectable view of cosmology...certain ideas and emotions and actions are of God, and their opposites are of Lucifer." This offers us explanations for the things we have difficulty understanding or the things we fear. "It was meant to happen" is something many people say when they cannot figure out why it happened - blind faith? Then would Abigail be the representation of Lucifer and her counterpart Elizabeth? But how does Proctor fit into this? He might be the representation of man on earth torn between what is wrong and what is right - the old morality conflict.
Either way, this play definitely strikes a chord with many people - much like The Great Gatsby and The Scarlet Letter have - about morality, more so than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Grapes of Wrath. This possibly may be because of the scandalous content each book addresses. We thrive on gossip and scandal, why else does reality T.V. Extra!, and Entertainment Tonight exist and succeed? It is easy to blame others for our actions, but it is much more difficult to be honest not only with others but with ourselves. The relationship Elizabeth and John have shows how important honesty is to keep the relationship strong; unfortunately, it was too late for them when they realized this.
Overall, this play is a great representation of not only American ideals, beliefs and 'historical' events, but of humanity and the struggles it causes for all of us.
It's interesting to me that you had the idea that good cannot exist without evil and heaven without hell. I think that you can get this idea from any real-life situation, and any novel. I like how you explained it with the quote on page 31. It took me awhile to understand what it meant, but after awile, I realized they related to each other.
ReplyDeleteBy reading this post, I got that your main point you got out of the play is that honesty is basically what makes character. Am I close or right? I think I was thinking this when I read about some of the things Abigail had done. This was not my main focus, nor did I realize how deep analysis could go into this. Good points!
ReplyDeleteReading your post gave me more thought on some of the topics i sort of went into on my blog. I also like your idea that good cannot exist without evil and heaven without hell. I didnt really think of that. it is a very good point though.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you mentioned the Mahcarthy era. I can see the similarities that happend during that era to the events in the Crucible. I like your ideas about John Proctor. I also believe that he represented a man torn between good and evil. I find that happens in a lot of other books where the protagonist is torn between good and evil. The main characters I can compare from the books we have read are: Huck Finn, when he is with the Duke and Dauphin and Dimmesdale when he is deciding whether to stay quiet or speak up. Another book with a protagonist like John Proctor is The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll is in constant battle of choosing good over evil. Do you think these are good comparisions? Did you find any other similarities to other main characters in the books we've read so far?
ReplyDeleteI always learn something new reading your blog! In this instance, about the "McCarthy era". Anyways I agree that this book is similar to the last three books we've read, that is a big part of my blog this week. I am confused though, did all of this really happen? Or was it just history manipulated for American Entertainment?
ReplyDeleteman some of these books are depressing though it just saddens me pretty good though
ReplyDeleteI think the history about the McCarthy Era gave me a better understanding of why Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible and why he depicted the characters/actual people as they were depicted in the play. Although I don't think Miller tried to sway our opinion about who was right or wrong during the trials, I think that the accusers were made out to be slightly worse people than the accused, which now makes sense because Miller related to the accused rather than the accusers. I think that the idea of good not existing without evil and heaven without hell is completely relatable in this play and also to Puritan morals and rules of the society.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the background on the "McCarthy era," I didn't know much about that and once you cleared that up I now have a better understanding of the base of the story. Most everyone had commented on the "good cannot exist without evil and heaven without hell" and my thoughts on that would be expected. I do agree with that completely. If we didn't have anything bad then we'd be living in a utopia kind of state and that wouldn’t make sense. I also have to praise you about your comparison to how we rely on gossip and how we always assume things and I made that connection also when I was reading the story.
ReplyDeleteI think the good exists with evil and Heaven exists with Hell because of how we live. I feel that a lot of the time we right away start finding the bad in people instead of trying to find the good. I think Proctor also dug himself a hole, but it wasn't just with lies. He had the affair with Abigail, and then had Mary Warren go to court to change her testiment which ulitmatley backfired.
ReplyDeleteMs. Jesik,
ReplyDeleteYour information on the McCarthy era really helped me obtain a better and more clear understanding of the novel as a whole. I loved when you said that we can relate to the story since we thrive on drama today as well. Much like The Scarlet Letter, the accused were judged right off the bat because of what people heard they did without really understanding the character or the situation. I think a lot of us are guilty of that today, and I think that that is what makes The Crucible so entertaining for a modern audience as well. Thanks for your insight!
Always,
-Brandd.
Mrs. Jesik,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you wrote on the McCarthy era because it was able to give me a better representation of how the book can truly relate to real life. As one person and as well as yourself, you feel that Abigail was all about power, yet I dare to diasgree. As you said above she had the power to manipulate everyone into lying and keeping shut about all that happened, so I think she was satisfied with the power she had. Yet, I think that she cared for the attention more that she was getting. When Proctor did not give her the attention that he had before, she started to coaxing ways for others to notice her more. This is what she based everything on. On top of that she based everything she did on vengenance or hatred. I love reading your thoughts and can't wait to read your next blog.
-Angie:)
I too love the history behind this play! I completely agree with you on how today we still thrive on gossip, because sometimes the truth just isn't as appealing as a huge, juicy lie. What you said about Abigail being hell, and Elizabeth being Heaven, is very true. Abigail was the tempting serphant that tricked him into eating her poison apple.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really know a whole lot about the McCarthy era, let alone the fact that Arthur Miller himself was involved and wrote The Crucible during it. I agree, story backgrounds are just fascinating, especially this one. You know, you would have thought the people would have learned from the witch hunts that the whole "McCarthyism" thing would fail. I liked your thoughts of good and evil, and how Abigail and Elizabeth are at opposite ends of that spectrum, with John Proctor struggling in between. That really summarized his life and troubles, and compared with a well-known idea. Oh, I hated Abigail too.
ReplyDeleteI believe you are right in saying that witch hunts have happened, are happening right now, and will happen in the future. Look at the situation in Arizona. I guess you could really not call it a witch hunt, but you could certainly call it a man hunt for that matter for illegal immigrants. Our military is in another hunt searching for Osama Bin Ladin. This hunt has developed so far that anyone who looks suspicious or even goes through an airport with a tourbon on will definately be checked. Even the search of Big Foot is a witch hunt because people claimed to have seen him, but there is no evidence that he is real. There are a lot of witch hunts happening in the world now, but I do not think they are as big as the Salem Witch Trials because of the fact that the Salem Witch Trials were involving religion. The government was made up by high people in the community which were most of the time religious icons like a preacher, etc. Well, I guess it would be the town/village/city/whatever you wanted to call it government because their was no real form of national government yet. The hysteria from the Witch Trials made innocent people go to prison and not even have a fair trial because the judges were so scared of anybody that could be a witch. I do not believe there will ever be a witch hunt like the Salem Witch Trials because of the fact that our government has separated government from religion.
ReplyDeleteI like your opposites need each other observation. Its very Yin-Yang. The communism accusation fact was interesting. It is interesting that the author's life had such a close scenario to the play.
ReplyDeleteI never knew the author had his own experience with this book in the future. Anyway, this book does show us one of humanity's many struggles. But i like how you can always look back in history and see how far we have come. Even though people have made more mistakes than anyone can count, you can never forget the good things we have done.
ReplyDeleteI also haad a strong reaction to the characters in this book. I felt that many of them were trying to control their own little worlds. Combine this wish to have power with superstition and a lier, and you get anarchy. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you said that we will always be on a witch hunt. Talking about the McCarthy era really proved that. The Salem witch trials occurred in the 1600's. Then, hundreds of years later, the same thing happened with McCarthyism and the 'communists'.
ReplyDeleteI was very interested in the part about the McCarthy Era, much like everyone else. I also liked how you stated you can't have good without evil and heaven without hell. This concept was very interesting. I agree about the last three books. They all seem to tie in to each other. I found that very interesting. I enjoyed reading your blog. Your blogs always help me to see other parts of the book and understand better some of the events.
ReplyDelete-kristen :)
So true how you brought up the snowball affect of lies. It is shown so well in this play but this doesnt start with a small lie it starts with adultery and thats no small thing. I like how you brought up McCarthy era, i didnt know about that but interesting to know a little bit of history of this author.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a book that can relate to any time period, no matter the situation. Like all these books we have read, their settings are from the past and outdated, but their messages are timeless. The past two books have been quite similar with a strong woman. In this book there are two different women. Elizabeth was pure, and Abby was cruel, their opinions and suggestions were strong, making them strong.?? Thanks
ReplyDelete-Cool Beans:)
I definitely agree there is a connection between the events in the play and what's what in our world today. Most people have some degree of a desire for attention, some more than others, but it's there. Celebrities today will commit scandalous acts just to get their names in the headlines. I feel Abigail did this in a way, creating an unnecessary scene (not to mention it cost people their lives). Can our hunger for attention go too far? Absolutely.
ReplyDeleteMs. Jesik,
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that the author was trying to make a comparison between those two issues. Now that you've explained it, it makes perfect sense. I love the way that you see witch hunts, how basically, it can apply to anything. That's exactly right. I didn't like Abigail at all throughout the story either. She seemed very manipulative and simply just not a good person. I'm able to agree with you on most everything you said in this blog.
;morgan.
Your blog really helped clear things up with the McCarthy Era and it made things even more understandable. The part in your blog that I found interesting was the good cannot exist without evil and heaven without hell. I didn't think of this but now that I do it makes alot of sense and gets me thinking.
ReplyDelete