"The Crucible" Post #4

          Going through the play, chaos gradually breaks out as people are being accused of being witches and consorting with the devil. Out of control, citizens are being hung in Salem for witchcraft. People begin confessing to witchcraft even when they are not guilty of it to try to fix the situation in the community, but this ends up not working out quite right. Citizens of the town are being executed for crimes they did not commit.
          This aspect of the play reminded me of what happened in Billy Budd. In Billy Budd, Billy starts out being accused of something that he did not do. Claggart was accusing him of leading conspiracy among the other foretopman of the ship. This was a crime that Billy was not guilty of, yet Claggart kept pursuing Billy. One day, Billy was called into a meeting with Claggart and Captain Vere, where Claggart was intensely interrogating Billy. Suddenly, Billy takes out his knife and stabs Claggart. This incident connects to "The Crucible" because Billy began by being accused of a crime that he was innocent of, but still wound up being executed for something that he did because of his false acusation.

"The Crucible" Post #3

          The Christians in The Crucible are very religious. They have no doubt that God is the inly one to be worshipped, and if anybody worshipped any other way, they were evil. These Christians live in Salem, with Indians living in the woods near them who they have tried to convert to Christianity. The success rate of these conversions was very low.
          Since these woods are inhabited by these Indians who won't convert to Christianity, the Christians from Salem say that this forest "was the Devil's last preserve, his home base and the citadel of his final stand." The text also says that "to the best of their knowledge the American forest was the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God." This part of the book portrays how indulged these people of Salem were in their religion.they thought that if there were people who did not worship God, the Devil was making that happen.
           

"The Crucible" Post #2

          Through reading more of The Crucible, I have found that it is a rather strange book. It is centered around the idea that there are people that are possessed by the Devil. These people are called witches. Though this piece fits in to the category of Puritanism, it is unique in that it does not talk about the classic idea of honoring God through daily life, but it talks about Christianity in a different way by talking about how it is the duty of the people to eradicate anything that would be evil or that would defy God.
          So far in my reading of this book, I can already see that it has a different type of topic to it than most other Puritan pieces. This made me realize that uniqueness exists not only between the different time periods of American literature, but also between individual works that make up a time period. I may include this idea in the next revision of my definition of American literature.

"The Crucible" Post #1

          In the beginning of the play, Arthur Miller introduces a character by the name of Parris. He explains that Parris is always trying to be a good person and to be liked by other people. It is also explained that Parris tries to get God to like him along with the people. This particular aspect of this character connects to Puritanism, where the mission of most people was to live an honorable life and to glorify God.

          Going through some more of the play, talk of God, heaven, and the Devil are common. These all connect to Puritanism. Of course, there was the want to glorify God in all that a person did in life. However, there is also talk of suspicions of evil in some people, which plays in another part of Puritanism that I haven't read very much about.

Outside Reading Digital Journal #3

         At one point in the book, Huck begins to question religion. Miss Watson continues to tell Huck about how he should believe, and tells him that if he prays every day, God will give him anything he asks for. Huck says that he tried asking God for things, but they were never given to him. Miss Watson calls Huck a fool when he asks her about why God didn't give him what he asked for, and Huck doesn't know why.

          I made a connection to both Puritanism and Rationalism through this, but mostly to Rationalism. The only reason it connects to Puritanism is really just because of the idea of God. There is a deeper connection to Rationalism, though. Although most questions and reasoning of rationalism usually wasn't focused around religion, the kinds of questions that Huck asks connect to rationalism in general. He wonders that if anyone get get anything they pray for, then why can't "Deacon Winn get the money back he lost on pork? Why can't the widow get back her silver snuff-box that was stole?" These questions are completely logical. Why doesn't everybody have all that they want if it is that easy to get? This is a significant connection to rationalism because he keeps searching for answers to what he doesn't clearly understand.

Outside Reading Digital Journal #2

          At one point in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one of the widows is talking again to Huck about the "bad place." She tells him about how she would never do or say the things that Huck was, particularly when Huck said he didn't care if he went to the "bad place." Huck says that he just wants to go somewhere, and that he doesn't care where.
          Huck says that he does not like Miss Watson the widow at all. Since Miss Watson says that she is going to the good place, Huck says that he wants to go to bad place so he can get away from Miss Watson forever. This idea connects to rationalism because it is simple reasoning. If Miss Watson tries to be good to get to the good place, the if Huck tries to be bad, then he will go to the bad place and not have to be around her anymore. It involves a simple plan of reason, which can be found in rationalist works.

Outside Reading Digital Journal #1

          This quarter, I have been reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I have found some connections to what we have been studying in this book about Puritanism. One thing I found that connects to Puritanism is that the women who took care of Huck were constantly telling him that he should have good manners and be respectful. This connects to Puritanism because a big concept of Puritanism was the importance of living a proper lifestyle. Puritans focused all the time on trying to live perfectly.

          I was able to make another connection with Puritanism in this book when it talked about religion. One aspect of religion found in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was simply when the widow would say a blessing before meals. Something else I noticed in the book involving religion was when the widows were telling Huck about how he should do good things on Earth so he could go to the "good place" and stay away from the "bad place." This must be referring to Heaven and Hell, which ties in with the idea of predestination in Puritanism. However, there is a difference between the Puritan idea of predestination and the idea of the "good place" and "bad place" in this book. According to Puritan belief, predestination is thought to be determined before life on Earth, while in the book, it is thought that how you act on Earth reflects on where you go after death.

Life Symbols Essay

          Symbols of a person’s life can take various forms. It may be something that the person enjoys doing, a special place to them, where they come from, or an object that is special to their life or impacted them in some way. These things can play a big part in someone’s life and can shape how they live.

One symbol of my life is the Superdome in New Orleans. One reason this is a symbol of my life because I am a big fan of the New Orleans Saints football team. I watch every game of the season. My favorite player on the team is Drew Brees and I love watching him lead the team and make great throws.

            Being a Saints fan is not the only reason that the Superdome is a symbol of my life. Another reason that I chose the Superdome to be one of my symbols is because I was born in New Orleans and moved to Baton Rouge when I was about eight years old after Hurricane Katrina. The city of New Orleans played a big part in my life. The Superdome is a big part of the city of New Orleans, so it can serve as a symbol of my life to tell where I am from.

            Another symbol of my life would have to be my first shotgun that I ever got. It was given to me by my dad on my sixth birthday. That .410 crack barrel shotgun was the best present I had ever opened at that point in my life. To this day, my favorite place to be is in the outdoors, whether it be in the woods, duck hunting in the marsh, or fishing on a lake or in the ocean. That shotgun symbolizes the introduction of the outdoors, particularly hunting, to me.

            There are two main reasons that the outdoors is a special place to me. One of those reasons is simply because I love to hunt and fish. A different reason is that most of the times I go hunt or fish, it is with my dad and my little brother. We all love it and it is a great time for us to be together and talk while we do what we all enjoy doing. Our passion for the outdoors is one of the biggest things we have in common. Most of the best memories and best times I can think of are being in the outdoors with my dad and brother.

            I guess a third symbol of my life could be a hammock. It is a comfortable place to rest and relax on a good day. This could symbolize my life because I like a generally laid-back lifestyle. I like being free for most of the time and doing things that I enjoy doing.

            The symbols I chose tell about the biggest parts of my life. They picked out the main aspects of my life so far and who I am - where I am from, what I like to do, and how I like to live my life. These little pieces of my life help portray and sum up who I am.

Life Symbols

Symbols of my Life

            There are many things and places that could act as a symbol of my life. I think the best symbols I could chose to explain my life and who I am involve what I like to do and where I come from.

One symbol of my life is the Superdome in New Orleans. This is a symbol of my life because I am a big fan of the New Orleans Saints football team. I watch every game of the season. My favorite player on the team is Drew Brees and I love watching him lead the team and make great throws.

            Being a Saints fan is not the only reason that this is a symbol of my life. Another reason that I chose the Superdome to be one of my symbols is because I was born in New Orleans and moved to Baton Rouge when I was about eight years old after Hurricane Katrina. The city of New Orleans played a big part in my life. Since the Superdome is one of the most well known places in the city, I feel like it is a good symbol of my life.

            Another symbol of my life would have to be my first shotgun that I ever got. It was given to me by my dad on my sixth birthday. That .410 crack barrel shotgun was the best present I had ever opened at that point in my life. To this day, my favorite place to be is in the outdoors: in the woods, duck hunting in the marsh, or fishing on a lake or in the ocean. That shotgun symbolizes the introduction of the outdoors, particularly hunting, to me.

            There are two main reasons that the outdoors is a special place to me. One of those reasons is simply because I really love to hunt and fish. A different reason is that most of the times I go hunt or fish, it is with my dad and my little brother. We all love it and it is a great time for us to be together and talk and do what we enjoy doing. Most of the best memories and best times I can think of are being in the outdoors with my dad and brother.

            I guess a third symbol of my life could be a hammock. It is a comfortable place to rest and relax on a good day. This could symbolize my life because I really like a generally laid-back lifestyle. I like being free for most of the time and doing things that I love doing.

            I feel like the most significant things in my life are where I come from and what I like doing. I have a fairly simple and pretty well rounded life at this point.