The Crucible Essay Example for Free

The Crucible Essay The setting of Salem, Massachusetts in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a setting that is accessible and relevant to the reader, as it is grounded in realism. Although it is different from our society, it did once exist, and therefore helps us understand what can happen in a fear based society. The theocratic setting is grounded in realism and Miller uses this to warn us that history repeats it’s self, and may do so again, as similar events happened in America in the 1950’s. Miller uses Salem 1692 to show us some of the implications of living in a fear based society, like having a good name. In a fear based society, nobody is automatically trusted, everyone is judged by their name. John Proctor has had a good name his whole life in the village of Salem. However when he has information that could prove Abigail is not as good as she appears, he is conflicted between confessing that he had an affair with her and ruining his good name, or watching people he knows are innocent be convicted and keeping quiet. He does not want to â€Å"blacken† his name in the village. So he keeps the information to himself about the affair until it is too late, and nobody will believe him because his name is no longer good. This shows that having a good name was so important in this society that you would risk your friends being convicted of witchcraft to keep your name ‘white’. Toward the end, when Proctor is about to confess to witchcraft, he refuses to sign away his name â€Å"you have taken my soul, leave me my name! † He yells, and from this we see there is nothing more important to him. Similarly, Judge Danforth is fixated on having a good name. We see this when he is not willing to postpone John Proctor’s hanging. He knows that John could be innocent, but if he postpones the hanging, the village could question Danforth’s judgement. So Danforth would rather innocent people die, than the court’s, or his reputation be put on the line. From these two characters, we get a sense of how much value a name can hold. The setting is vital in helping us understand this theme. Miller wants us to understand that in the close, fear-based village of Salem your name has so much value and holds your entire reputation. It must be kept ‘white’ as people make every decision about you based on your name. It s ridiculous events like this that happen in a fear based society. However Salem 1692 is grounded in realism, so we are forced to consider our own society, and what actions take place currently as a result of fear. Take the Boston Marathon bombings for example. The USA lives in constant threat of terrorist attacks so when a bombing takes place, most American’s and the rest of th e world are quick to assume it was the doing of the Middle East, when in fact there is no evidence at all to suggest that. Miller is encouraging us not to jump to conclusions in times of panic or unrest. In fear based societies, things often happen that we would now consider ludicrous, like suspicion being accepted as proof, Miller uses a setting that is grounded in realism to show us this. In Salem, 1692 people lived in constant fear of the devil, witchcraft and spending the afterlife in hell. Villagers were so scared of the power of the devil, and the horrors of witchcraft, that anyone who was behaving with the slightest suspicion, or was in any way different, could be accused of being a witch. This is because they had no other explanation for the behaviour. This meant that people like Tituba (a black slave) and Goody Good (homeless woman) were easily targeted and convicted by power hungry Abigail. We saw this conviction with a lack of evidence with goody Osborne. The evidence used to condemn her was that she did things like cause â€Å"a black coldness† to climb up Mary’s back, and for her to have a stomach ache, and she mumbled. As â€Å"Witchcraft is ipsofacto an invisible crime. Therefore who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other. † The accused witch’s word cannot be trusted; therefore Mary’s word is accepted as fact in the court. Another seemingly ludicrous result of living in a fear based society is when Abigail and the girls’ hysteric reactions to people are seen as proof. Mr. Hale even admits that he has â€Å"Seen too many frightful proofs in court† showing that he takes these reactions as solid evidence and reason enough to hang. By using this setting with such rigorous moral code, expectations and fear of the devil, Miller shows us how desperation can cloud judgement, and when fear and â€Å"common vengeance writes the law† suspicion can be accepted as proof. We are more willing to accept what Miller is telling us here because it is set in a realistic society that we view critically. Miller creates parallels to other events in history, and even now, to this real society from history to show us that history repeats. The Crucible takes place in a theocratic society, meaning that the bible is fact and law, people make every decision in life to please god and go to heaven after death. This of course means that witches are real as the bible states â€Å"thou shalt not suffer a witch to live† thus the people of Salem genuinely believe â€Å"the devil is loose in Salem†, and witches must be sought after and killed. The Crucible was written in the 1950’s, as an allegory for the events that were happening in regards to communists in America. In the 1950’s people lived in constant fear of communists – America was at war with the Soviet Union, so if someone was seen supporting communism, they were accused of supporting the Soviet Union. The trials to convict communists needed very little evidence and were very unfair, it is only because people lived in constant fear that these events could happen. Miller intentionally created direct parallels to the 1950’s with 1692 Salem. Having the drama set in 1692 allows us to view the text more critically. We are personally removed from it, and can therefore more willingly accept the ideas that Miller is trying to convince us of. The text is a warning of the irrational things that come out of fear. By using this real event in history, and creating parallels with America in the 1950’s, Miller wants us to acknowledge that we are not above these people, history just repeats it’s self. We should be able to lean from the Salem witch hunt, and even 1950’s USA, but even today we still jump to conclusions in tense situations. The setting of this play is grounded in realism, it did actually happen and the characters just represent human nature. Once we recognise this, we see that all humans are capable of behaving in this ludicrous way. In fact we still see this in today’s society in Guantanamo bay. As a result of terrorist acts against the country, and the fear of more attacks the U. S military will interrogate, prosecute, act as the defence council, be the judges in trials of people who are suspected to be terrorist (often by racist stereotypes, Muslim/Islamic men). This gives possibly innocent people a hideously unfair trial and further validates Miller’s point – That suspicion and accusation can be accepted as proof in fearful situations. We also see from this that the setting must be grounded in realism, by creating links in events that happened in that setting, to other events in history, we are forced to accept these ideas as true. Miller warns us through the setting of theocratic Salem in 1692, an allegory for America in the 1950’s of the irrational actions that come from fearful situations and extreme societies. These ideas are accessible and relevant to the reader because the setting is grounded in realism.

Calories Burned, Dollars Earned, Lessons Learned :: Personal Narrative Writing

Calories Burned, Dollars Earned, Lessons Learned "Ben, I'm going to be frank with you. You're not the strongest mudboy I've ever had. In fact, you're about the weakest." And thus my boss concisely summarized the last month of my work as his laborer. A mudboy, by definition, is a mason's bitch, whose sole purpose during the workday is to supply the masons with a constant flow of bricks and mud so they can build without slowing down. This poses a challenging task for a young, fairly weak 17 year old who must constantly (for a nine-hour day with one 15-minute break) mix mud to the right consistency, wheelbarrow the mixture over to the ladder, haul it up to the second story in buckets, heave the mud into mudpans, scale down the ladder, grab a tong of bricks (a metal clamp that holds about 11 bricks), run up and down the ladder several more times to refill the brick supply, only to climb back down to make some more mud because the mudpans are about empty. While I was doing all of this running and hauling each weekday during the August of 1999, my boss Richard and his brother Phil loudly and eagerly spewed their wisdom upon me. Their continuous verbalized insight included explanations of how evil Democrats are, how I should base my future career on money instead of personal interest, how great their last mudboy was, how I should praise U.S. foreign policy, and why I should never ever become a mason. After waking up at five each morning and driving to my job site in the next county, my first priority as a mudboy was making mud. I broke the bag of mortar mix and inhaled the stinging scent of brick mortar as the acidic powder flew into my nostrils. Nine shovelfuls of sand, five gallons of water, and one fifty-pound bag of mortar mix later, I had the day's initial batch of mud brewing in the large steel mixer. Making my very first mud mixture on the first day of work was not a pleasant experience since, as a naà ¯ve, amateur mudboy, I had not put on good gloves that morning. This foolish decision brought me the unique, intense pain created when masonry mud is combined with brick scuffs and scratches. I distinctly remember the raw burning sensation of rough Tudor bricks scraping against fingertips that had already lost sections of skin because the chemical-filled mud had burned through the upper layers of the epidermis.

Invention Essay

Invention Essay Close your eyes and imagine yourself standing in the middle of a huge parking lot with a handful of heavy groceries and the pouring rain splashing down onto your face. You’ve been standing there for at least five minutes and you have been looking for your car the whole time. By this time your bags are filling up with water and are twice as heavy as when you left the store, your clothes are soaked and you still have no idea where your car is parked.Standing soaked, out in the rain with a bag full of groceries does not sound like the ideal way to spend your day, but now there is a solution to this problem. This solution is called â€Å"The Apollo Beam. † The Apollo Beam is a remote controlled high powered beam of light that can be seen from over 150 yards away. The beam of light is produced by â€Å"Light-Emitting-Diodes† or better known as LED’s. The Apollo, for short, has a circular base which is eight inches in diameter and mounts on to th e top of your car with a high powered suction cup feature.Centered in the middle of that base is another six inch in diameter circular dial which comes standard with three settings. The Apollo comes in any color you want, so long as it is black, however you can choose from a wide variety of colors when it comes to the LED’s. An interesting feature about The Apollo is that the LED’s are aligned in three rows of three and conveniently placed within the dial. You can pick the color that matches your car, your favorite color, or you can even mix and match to create your very own rainbow of colors.This brand new invention only weighs about ten pounds, so it is light weight and easy to install. The Apollo is made of a high quality polypropylene which is perfect for any type weather because it is resistant towards extreme heats, extreme colds, and even wet weather so you never have to worry about it slipping off the top of your car as you drive down the highway. The Apollo is very useful for many annoying situations. Like you visualized earlier one great use for The Apollo is when you forget where you parked when you go to the grocery store, mall, or even to pay a quick bill.The Apollo can even be a time saver when you have those fun nights out at your favorite theme park or ball game and it is incredibly hard to find you car in the huge parking lot, well not anymore with the Apollo on your side. Another great use for The Apollo is for those college students who work during the day and have to take night classes, in case they forget where they parked or if it is too dark and they are frightened to walk all the way back alone. Amazingly enough the range for the remote on the Apollo is quite impressive, it can reach up to 100 yards and the beam of light can be seen from over 200 yards away.Now you might think well what if you push the button on the remote and you set off every Apollo in the parking lot, but that problem has already been solved. Similar to the way garage door openers work each and every Apollo is specifically programmed to your remote only, so there is never any interference with any other electrical devices in the area. The Apollo has many benefits that other inventions do not have. The car alarm and panic button have commonly been used to help find a lost car, but now with the Apollo you have a much less obnoxious way of finding where you parked.Along with the silence of the Apollo, it is also light weight and easy to transfer from car to car. The most amazing benefit of the Apollo is that it is solar powered so there is no expensive equipment or extra hassle or expense of buying batteries over and over again. With solar power there is no energy sucked from your car battery and no recharge station needed to power The Apollo. Whenever The Apollo is not being used it has solar panels that work exactly like camera lens’s work on your digital cameras and because of this the solar panels are called solar lenses.T he super thin and sleek design of the solar panels fit neatly into the base of the Apollo, directly above the battery pack. So when you are not using The Apollo it closes up and the solar lenses are exposed to the sun light so that it can continuously charge itself. The energy from the sun is absorbed by the solar lenses, then transferred and stored in a battery pack located inside the base of the Apollo. When fully charged the Apollo stores enough energy to last an entire week, and The Apollo only takes about 24 hours of direct sunlight to completely charge.The Apollo is very convenient when you have been shopping all day and come out lugging around those heavy shopping bags and you realize you have totally forgotten where you parked. There are countless benefits to The Apollo and do to its lightweight and versatility it will make finding your car a walk in the park. No longer will you have to wait countless hours searching for you car, thanks to The Apollo you can spot your car an d start walking in the right direction before you even step foot off the curb.The Apollo is small and easy to install, you can share it with the whole family no matter what car you drive. The Apollo’s nine super bright LED’s give for an extremely luminous spotlight of colors no matter what the weather is like outside. With three settings and your choice of what colors you want, you can personal your Apollo to be as colorful as you would like. Never again will you walk to the wrong side of the parking lot looking for your car, let the Apollo remember for you. Make looking for your car less of a hassle and more of a joy.With the long distance of the remote and the brightness of the Apollo your lightshow can be seen by all. Let the sun do the work for you with The Apollo’s special micro solar panels or better known as the unique solar lenses. The Apollo is the classic example of American ingenuity, using what is already right in front of us and improving it. Using the power of the sun to power the Apollo saves time, money, and energy for all. Let The Apollo Beam be the light that guides you†¦to your car.

The Disadvantages Of Being A Single Parent - 1061 Words

Argument Essay Final Draft The Disadvantages of Being a Single Parent Sylvia M. Greene English 111 July 30 /2014 The Disadvantages of Being a Single Parent. You may never have been married or divorced, maybe a widow or a widower, may have planned to have children or didn’t either way you have a lot to deal with as a single parent. In a two parent house hold both parents make the decisions as society believes, but for a single parent household there is just one parent who carries the weight of the family he or she is responsible for caring for him or herself and the children. A single parent is the sole provider of the home. He or she is responsible for providing food, clothing, shelter, and any other needs that relate to the well-being of the home. Some may argue that government assistance is accessible to single parents. Even though it’s true, there are other needs the government cannot provide like discipline, overnight childcare, doctor appointments and games or social life for the single parent. I believe â€Å"Tt takes a village to raise a child†. No matter where that village is located on the globe. There is the feeling of loneness in single parent families, based on my observations. There is no one to share the care and the worries of the family with. Though family members may sometimes assist, but it is still hard for one person because, in most cases families are not consistent. A parent needs someone to share the disciplinary aspects of the family, someone to helpShow MoreRelatedAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Single Parenting879 Words   |  4 Pagesonly a single parent are often seen as children who are at a disadvantage. Some of these disadvantages can include the childs’ education and emotions. 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