Crucible: Act 2

In Act 2 of the book the Crucible by Arthur Miller, the story really begins to take a turn. There is a lot of ciaos going on in the Virginia area. Abigail and her little clan of brats are pretty much causing all of the trouble. They are publicly claiming and "confessing" that they are witches and freaking everybody out because they were saying how other people were also witches, and how the devil was having an impact on their lives. There are fourteen people in jail. If the accused "witches" who are in jail do not confess to the things they are accused of, they will be sentenced to death by hanging. So many people are getting arrested because Abigail and her band of mean girls tell the people that they are the reason why they girls are acting strange. Th girls go into fits of hysterics, and while they are freaking out, they blame someone else for it. Abigail is making sure all of these weird things are happy so scared people accuse the innocent. At this time, everyone who thought the slightest thing was out of place accused it of the devil or witchcraft. One example is the use of the poppet. Mary Warren had sewn a poppet in the courthouse, and when she came home she gave it to Elizabeth Procter, simply as a nice gesture. There are more people in jail because of Abigail. Apparently, Abigail was in the courtroom at the same time as Mary Warren, and saw her sewing the poppet.  While she was creeping on Mary Warren, she also noticed that she stuck the needle into the doll.  She took advantage of the situation to accuse both Mary Warren and Elizabeth Procter of being witches and dealing with witchcraft, as well as the devil.  As the story goes on, the Virginia area is getting more suspicious of everything going on.  Even things that used to be considered normal are now being assumed of dealing with the devil.  As I have said before, Abigail is the brat that is making all of this up and making life horrible for the whole entire area.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal 10- pursuading

There are many reasons why Mr. Langley should postpone the Vocabulary assignment until Wednesday, September 28. Setting aside all emotional reasons, like purely not wanting to do it because we are teenagers and hate homework, there are a few legitimately logic reasons why the assignment should be postponed. First of all, there are many student athletes in this class. Because of the amount of sports going on right now, there are a lot of practices and games that take place after school. Knowing from personal experience with playing volleyball after school, sometimes we do not get home until nine or ten o'clock at night. There is barely any time to get all of the homework done. The average junior probably has around three to four subjects of homework per night. Depending on the subjects, the students could be spending up to three hours on their homework. Adding the vocabulary assignment would just add the list. The students grade could be jeopardized because of this assignment. One of two things could happen. The student athlete with too much homework might be tempted to not get this particular assignment finished because they are too tired to get everything done. If they fall behind on their homework, their grade will suffer. Usually, if a student gets behind on homework, they are behind for a long time. It takes a lot of effort to get forward and catch up. All of that effort takes a lot of time, which like we have gone over, students athletes do not have a lot of. Mr. Langley should postpone the vocabulary assignment to Wednesday, September 28 because student athletes will not have time to do it. And if they do, it will not be done well.

Journal 9- rational approaches

If I had to think of an emotional situation that was solved by a rational approach, I would have to use the time when my friends and I helped out another friend when she was having problems with her boyfriend. She was at my house with us, and it started out like normal girl hang outs do. We sat around, ate a ton of food, watched a few movies, and talked without fear of running out of things to talk about. In the middle of our endless talking, our friend (we will call her Karen...please look up Dane Cook's "Friend that Nobody Likes" skit) brought up her boyfriend. Being her friend at the time, I only wanted the best for Karen. I had never had very high opinion of her boyfriend. There were too many rumors that I personally knew were true, and they definitely were not in favor of him. Let's call him Kevin. Karen and Kevin were the worst couple in the whole entire world. They were so annoying together. Anyway, at my house, Karen brought up that she and Kevin were having some problems. My friend and I gave each other the "here we go" look. When were they not having problems. Apparently, Kevin had not been texting Karen back when he had told her he would, and he was going to a place where Karen believed he would get himself into trouble. All of a sudden, Karen bursted into tears. She ran into the other room where her phone was plugged into the charger in the wall. My friend and I ran after her, after a moments hesitation where we shared the mutual feeling of several things: being annoyed, and feeling like we have been through this more than a thousand times. She was calling Kevin, balling, and leaving him voicemails and texts. We were just sitting there looking at her, trying to give her our advice. She was so emotional it was ridiculous. You could definitely call it an emotional situation. My friend and I were attempting to bring the rational side with our advice. "Karen, seriously stop calling him. He'll call you back later. He is probably busy." "Okay...Kevin if you do not call me back the next time I call we are DONE." I guess it was a failed attempt, but my friend and I tried to be rational, but we ended up being mad.

Journal 8- autumn

I love autumn. I love everything about autumn. Autumn is my favorite time of year for many reasons. One of the reasons why I love autumn so much is the temperature. It is the perfect temperature because the weather is getting colder, and the humidity goes away. It is not as cold as winter, though. The sun is always bright and shining, which adds just enough warmth for comfort. The skies are clear all day and all night. When it is dark, every single star in the sky is twinkling and dancing in the blackness. Autumn is the best time of the year for bonfires. In the summer, it is too hot and sticky outside to have one. And there are too many bugs too. Autumn is cold enough to want to be near a fire and in a sweatshirt. Another thing that I especially love about autumn is that it brings so many fun things along with it. Homecoming is the in autumn! I can not wait for October 7th or whatever to come around!! I have had my dress since around Christmas time! I am so excited words can not even describe. I think all of my girls are going together. Autumn also brings apple cider. Apple cider and hot chocolate are absolutely PERFECT around this time. Anything that can make you warmer and is sweet and delicious is good at any time during the fall. Another thing autumn brings that I love is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday! So much food! Besides all of the fun things, like Homecoming, Thanksgiving, and different festivals, fall brings, I think that my favorite thing about it is that it brings the season of jeans. I always miss wearing jeans, and there is no better time than fall. They keep you just warm enough, but still let the cool, crisp air surround you.. in a good way :)

Journal 7- bullying

In the act of bullying, there are many effects on the bullier and the one being bullied. I think that bullying definitely effects the one being bullied a lot more than the one doing the bullying. I think that one of the biggest things that effect the person being bullied is the mental aspect. If the person who is getting bullied lets it get to them, it could really upset their head. In my opinion, one example from the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller would be when Mary Warren is in the courthouse with all of the girls, including Abigail, and the other witnesses and people involved. Mary Warren is trying to tell them that the girls were pretending to be involved with witchcraft. It was all just a game, and Abigail was the starter of it. She is the one to blame for the girls making up stories and blaming other innocent people for acts of witchery. Because of the fear Mary Warren had of Abigail, she had kept it a secret that they were pretending and made up stories with the rest of the girls. This took Mary Warren a lot of courage to stand up for what was right. When they did not believe her, the men of the court decided to bring in the other little girls. Abigail was still the prominent one. When the judges asked Abigail to tell the truth, she pretty much freaked out on Mary Warren. She and all the rest of the girls started to pretend that Mary Warren was casting a spell on them. At first, Mary was defending herself and calling them out on making it all up. The girls would not let up and as Mary Warren got more and more upset, she gave in to the pressure the girls would putting on her. Mary told Abigail she would not hurt her anymore, even though she really did not do anything.

Crucible: Act 1

In Act One of the story the Crucible by Arthur Miller, religion plays a huge role in the starting of the plot. The story takes place in the time of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch trials were sparked by the fear of superstitions and anything that had to do with it. They were Puritans, so their entire life was based around their religion and God. The Puritans believed that God controlled every aspect of their lives. The Puritans also believed that you were predestined; that is, God specifically chose who was destined to go to heaven and who was destined to go to hell. This was all predetermined in their eyes, so there was really never any knowing of who was the "select" and who was not. Because of this obsession with wanting to be a "select," the Puritans (which is including the citizens of Salem, Virginia) were extremely afraid of anything that was out of the norm. They felt like being different from the general population indicated that you did not agree with their beliefs; therefore, you belived or were overpowered by the devil. Obviously, no one wanted to deal with the devil if they were trying to buy their ticket to heaven. When the girls are caught dancing in the woods naked, it startles the people of Salem because it is clearly not normal. During this time in history, the punishment for acts of witchcraft or witchery was the death penalty, usually by that of hanging. The only way to get out of the embarrassment of what they were doing was to make up stories that they were witches. One character in particular that causes the most trouble. She is pretty much a brat and forces these girls to tell stories of being witches, and blaming other innocent people of also commiting acts of witchery. To avoid getting in more trouble than what they were already going to, the people were forced to confess. Abigail is also having relations with Mr. Procter. She is a freak. So far in the story, Abigail is starting problems within the community by sparking the massive fear of the supernatural. From here, it was a downward spiral for the colonists. As Act One ended, there are many problems arising within the community and it is easy to see that a resolution may not be in the near future.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal 6- repercussions

I think there should be many repercussions for blaming someone for something they did not do. First of all, lying is a sin. If you are a religious believer, one repercussion would be going to Hell for lying. As is said in the book The Crucible by Arther Miller, "God damns all liars." So, to anyone who believes in God and Hell and Satan and all of that kind of stuff, they do not have anything to look forward to by lying. Their repercussion would be spending an eternity in Hell. In other situations involving lying, there should be different repercussions. School could be one example. If you do something bad in school and lie about it, D'Wayne will be all up on it. You could get punishments such as an awkward meeting with Mr. Peterson, as well as Mr. Ward, an awkward meeting with Mr. Peterson, Mr. Ward, and one or both of your parents, one or more detentions, suspension, or even expulsion.

Journal 5- 21st century punishments

I think that the punishments are very different in the twentieth century than they were in the past. Because there is so much more technology these days, especially things that kids or teenagers have or are involved in, there is a lot more for parents to take away. Knowing from personal experience, this does not just include a cell phone. Parents (or at least mine) can take away the cell phones, the laptop, the iPods, and the TV. My little sister, Lily, is always getting grounded for having a snotty attitude. The first thing my parents go for is her cell phone. That seems to be the worst and the biggest punishment that they give her. It always makes her very upset, and I think that could be used as a generalization for the youth of today. Technology is such a huge role in our lives today, and it seems like sometimes we can not live without it. Our cell phones seem so important. I know that when I do not have my phone with me, I feel one of two things. I am either paranoid about not having it, or I am worried about someone not being able to get a hold of me. I would be worried about not being available to someone who needs me. My little sister, on the other hand, is basically the exact opposite. She has to have her phone with her twenty-four seven because she feels like she has to be talking to her friends. My parents feel like all she does is social network and text her friends, so it is their first instinct to take all of that away from her. Parents want to take away the things that make kids the happiest or most entertained, and in today's society, technology makes up most of that.

Journal 4- traveling and its impact

Over the years, I have traveled to many places and had many experiences. Not only have I gone on vacations with my family, I have also been on many trips for fun or just for the heck of it. Every summer, my family rents a condo in Florida in Tampa Bay. We rent the same one every year, so it is kind of like a home away from home. I think that our yearly family trips makes a huge impact on me, not only short term but also long term. We always drive down to Florida, which usually takes us around twenty-four hours. It is extreme family time. Even though we get on each others nerves, it never fails to bring us together. I think that sometimes it is easy to forget how you love your family, or how much you need them. Our family vacations are like a wake up call to all of us. We are forced together for an extended period of time, so all of us realize that we have to make the best of it. If I ever get upset with my family, I have to remember all of the memories we create on our summer vacations to Florida. Another trip that changed my life was my trip to Indianapolis in April of 2010. I went with my competitive volleyball team for the National Volleyball Tournament. We were there to play against hundreds of volleyball teams for the championship. I had never been so nervous in my life because there were supposed to be college coaches there to scout talent. My dream is to play volleyball in college, so I obviously wanted my team to do our absolute best. As the days went on, the players of my team got more obsessed with doing well for the coaches. It got to the point where we were not playing as a team because we were so focused on personally looking our best. It was probably one of the most disappointing trips of my life. That experience taught me not to be selfish because, in the end, it effects everyone negatively.

Of Plymouth Plantation - reflection

The sections from the book Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford relfect the qualities of the writing of the Puritans in many ways. First of all, it makes many references to God, and how God sent them the things and people that helped them as well as sent the struggles and the hardships to them. The Puritans were very relgious, so God was their entire life. Everything that happened was controlled by God. One example would be when they had just gotten to the New World, and everyone was getting sick. If you were not dead within a few weeks, you were most likely suffereing from the disease another person had died from. This was happening with the excepetion of seven people. The author describes how these very few people were doing everything in their power to help the sick and the suffering. He explains that God put them on this earth so they could help the ones in need. "And yet the Lord so upheld these persons as in this general calamity they were not at all infected either with sickness or lameness..." I think that William Bradford was basically saying that God gave them these people, who seemed invincible to the disease going on, so that there would be hope in the future. There was not hope for everyone since more than half of them died, but they believed that the healthy people were sent from God to assure them that not everything was going to be horrible forever. There is always hope in the future, and their faith in Him kept that going. Without their hope and belief in God, I am sure that most of the people who did survived would not have. The faith they believed raised their spirits enough to keep them alive through the winter. Another person the Puritans believed was sent from God was the Indian named Squanto. The lucky pilgrims who had survived the unimaginable starving time would definitely had not lived for much longer without the help of Squanto. Squanto stayed with the pilgrims for an extremely long time; in fact, he did not leave until he passed away. Besides translating and helping the Puritans communicate with the other Indians, he also helped the white people get to know the land. Since they had never been there before, they had no idea how to grow or obtain food. Squanto showed them how to plant corn and other sources of food, where to fish, how to live properly in conditions, and how to get around in places they had never been to. Without his help, the pilgrims would have been absolutely clueless. They were very aware of how lucky they were to come across such a helpful friend. Because of his kindness, the Puritans were convinced that God sent him to teach the people how to survive. "After these things he returned to his place called Sowams, some 40 miles from this place, but Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond expectation." Without Squanto, the pilgrims would have been hopeless.

Journal 3- being held hostage

If I were being held hostage by an Indian tribe, like the one in the story we read, I feel like I would do something similar to the woman. I would do everything the people told me to do because I would be afraid of the consequences if I acted out against what they said. I would pretend to be content with what was going on, or fine with whatever they were making me do. Deep down, though, I would be very angry. The Indians would be taking me away from my family, my friends, my home, and everything I had ever come to know during my life. If they were nice, maybe it could be like a little adventure. Somewhere back in my line of family history, there is some connection with an Indian tribe. The Sioux tribe, if you want to get as accurate as possible. They would most likely not be the tribe kidnapping me, but it would still be kind of cool to see how they lived. When I was little, I used to be obsessed with the idea of Pocahontas. I thought she was the most beautiful person ever, and I always wanted to know if she ever stepped on anything as she was running through the woods without shoes on. I admired how majestic and free her life appeared to be. I would probably attempt to live like that if I could bored enough in my wigwam camp. I think the only thing that would make me not want to stay in the camp at all would be if sexually assaulted or something like that. Besides that, I could deal with physical labor or taking care of other Indians. I am a creature of adaptation, so I can usually deal with anything that is thrown at me. I honestly would not mind being an Indian for awhile, as long as I was fed properly and did not have to sleep on rocks. Bring it on, Indians.