"The Crucible" by Arthur Miller was an interesting play to read. I didn't have any trouble with the language because it was similar to The Scarlet Letter. The setting and characters show the hardships going through the Witch Trials in Salem. The symbols as well portray themes of revenge, true compassion, and fear. "The Crucible" is clearly and advanced and trivial read.
The setting and characters in "The Crucible" are extremely important in showing the true mass hysteria surrounding the Salem Witch Trials. I believe Miller chose the setting to revolve around the Salem Witch trials to help create a theme. The hysteria within the characters is almost exactly what happened during that time. People in Salem were so scared that they blamed anyone as a witch without significant proof. It also shows the injustice of the courts when the accused would be hanged if they did not confess as well as give other names. The Characters as well are very important. I liked to analyze the antagonists of the play. Abigail I believe was suppose to show what revenge can lead a women to do. She did all this so she could get a man. She even turned against her helper, Mary Warren. Parris' character was an ignorant man who believed that every one's opinions other than his own was wrong. He still believed that all were guilty of witchcraft instead of hearing reason. Danforth's character was revengeful and wouldn't rest till all the accused either confessed or were hanged. He also doesn't listen to proof about the reasons the accused was accused, and he automatically believed they were guilty. Then, it was nice to analyze characters like Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Giles Corey. Elizabeth was an example of a woman who was hurt badly and not trusting, but she still loves him. She still wants her husband to be alright, even though he betrayed her. John was example of a man that his sins have haunted him til his dying day. This seems similar to Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter. They both felt absorbed by their sins until they both admitted them in public. Mary Warren was example of fear in man's nature. Mary would let an innocent women be condemned for a crime she did not commit because she feared for her life. Then, Mary feared her safety, so she turned on John. This can also be seen in human nature: we do what is in our best interest to survive. Giles Corey represents a good honest man that died bravely. He stood up for his wife which in that time many men did not do. That took guts to do, and I admire him for that. Also when he doesn't give a plea, he realizes that he would be condemned anyway, so he went the route that would best benefit his family. That is a sign of a good man in my opinion. Also he accept he was going to die, so his last words were "More weight" which means he knew that he would die an honest man that would be honored later.
I believe that symbolism like in all the books we have read so far play important role portraying theme. The setting of full blown hysteria naming innocent people of witch craft was a symbol to portray a theme of fear. When men fear something, they do unspeakable things to keep themselves safe. They would even betray their best friends if it meant they would be safe from that fear. Man does the same thing in modern times. Gangs kill everyday because they fear about not living to see another day. In that mind set, If you get in my way of my safety, you're dead. That's why people in gangs shoot other people. They protect not only themselves but their family. The hysteria in the books shows that fear can spin out of control and you will still be affected in the end. When John admits to witch craft, but doesn't give any other names is a theme of honesty and kindness. he didn't want to throw anyone under the bus because he knew that he could not decide their fates just his, so he tells only his sins not theirs. The quote that John tells Elizabeth about not showing tears and a stony heart symbolize a theme of human reactions. Through out time, even today, people do crazy stuff to other people to get a reaction out of them. If they do, they feel contentment. If they don't the victory is empty. When she doesn't show tears about her husband's death, she shows the men that no matter what, they won't get a reaction out of her. Even though I know she is probably dying inside due to her love was going to die, but she need to keep a "stony heart" for the public.
Even though this was a good read, I didn't like it as much as the other books. It was a bit to confusing in the beginning. It took me a while to understand that it was meant to show the fear and revenge in the antagonists. Also, It was very hard to read when the girls went into fits in court. That moment was weird as well as sickening. Although those parts were confusing to me, "The Crucible" overall was an intriguing play that really portrayed the mass hysteria and unfairness surrounding the Salem Witch Trials.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Book #4- The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne was a great book filled with great symbolism, dynamic characters, and engaging storyline. The only problem I encountered while reading was it was written in old English. But like Huck Finn, the accents and writing gave it a more realistic feel of being in a 17Th century Puritan community. I loved Hawthorne's use of symbolism especially the significance and symbolism of the scarlet letter. I also had fun seeing the character develop as the story progressed.
My favorite symbolism's used in The Scarlet Letter all represent the theme of what our choices can lead too. The first symbol I want to address is The prison and the rose bush in the first chapter. The prison represented what could happen to us if we take the road of a criminal. Our lives would be dark and gloomy like the prison. I interpretted tat the rose bush had two meanings. Either that love and kindness can save us from the brink and make us become a better person or it can lead to being pricked by the thorns leaving sorrow due to our bad choices. The other main symbol used in this book that should be addressed is the scarlet letter. At first, it stands for adulteress and is meant to bring sorrow and ridicule for her choice. In later chapters, I still affects Hester, but she sees the joy of the choice that brought her Pearl. Soon, She rises above the scarlet letter and has a new life with a purpose. Once she rips off the Scarlet letter in chapter 18, she finally forgives herself for that sin and wants to begin a new life. At the end of the book, the letter becomes not a burden to her and once she dies, the letter still is "Glowing ...of light gloomier than the shadow: 'On a Field, Sable, The letter A..." This I believes shows that her sin still lives on and is gloomy, so the main theme of the book, I believe, is We are all sinners and our sins will be gloomy unless we chose to forgive them and move on.
I absolutely loved analyzing the characters of this book. First we have Hester Prynne. She is a women who has sinned, but overcame the meaning of the letter and forgave her sin making a life for herself. That I view her as model of true perseverance. She lived with the ridicule and torments the townspeople targeted towards her, but through that she still became a better person. Then we have Chillingworth. He is fueled by revenge, but once he has one he has nothing to live for and dies. Chillingwirth's character can sort of be connected to the feud in Huck Finn. It shows revenge is pointless and can lead to devastating results. After him we have Dimmesdale. He slowly rotted away due to him concealing his sin, and once he revealed his secret, he died. His character shows what can happen if you hold your sin inside yourself and not tell anyone can have devastating results to your mind and your life. We also are presented to Pearl. She is so innocent, and not understanding why people do certain things. This shows the true innocence of a child, and maybe shows how other people are confused by other peoples actions. Finally, we have the townspeople of the Puritan community. They were harsh and cruel to Hester when she first got the Scarlet letter, but once Dimmesdale died, they realized "We are all sinners alike." In my opinion, I viewed their actions were inappropriate towards Hester. They should have let her deal with her sin on her own, not publicly humiliate her and sentence her to a life of ridicule. They should have looked inside themselves to see that they have sinned as well, and ask themselves would they want to be treated like that. This can be related to now a days. Teenagers can publicly humiliate the outcasts of their school, and they may not wonder if they would like to be treated like that, much like the townspeople. Overall these characters gave me an in site on how I should and shouldn't act and how I should and should not live.
The Scarlet Letter was a great book for me to interpret and analyze. It really helped that I have already read this book once, so I got a better in site into theme and symbolism then I did before. The characters development was easier to see as well as some of the events. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne really brought me into a story filled with drama, symbols, and characters to help convey themes of human sin.
My favorite symbolism's used in The Scarlet Letter all represent the theme of what our choices can lead too. The first symbol I want to address is The prison and the rose bush in the first chapter. The prison represented what could happen to us if we take the road of a criminal. Our lives would be dark and gloomy like the prison. I interpretted tat the rose bush had two meanings. Either that love and kindness can save us from the brink and make us become a better person or it can lead to being pricked by the thorns leaving sorrow due to our bad choices. The other main symbol used in this book that should be addressed is the scarlet letter. At first, it stands for adulteress and is meant to bring sorrow and ridicule for her choice. In later chapters, I still affects Hester, but she sees the joy of the choice that brought her Pearl. Soon, She rises above the scarlet letter and has a new life with a purpose. Once she rips off the Scarlet letter in chapter 18, she finally forgives herself for that sin and wants to begin a new life. At the end of the book, the letter becomes not a burden to her and once she dies, the letter still is "Glowing ...of light gloomier than the shadow: 'On a Field, Sable, The letter A..." This I believes shows that her sin still lives on and is gloomy, so the main theme of the book, I believe, is We are all sinners and our sins will be gloomy unless we chose to forgive them and move on.
I absolutely loved analyzing the characters of this book. First we have Hester Prynne. She is a women who has sinned, but overcame the meaning of the letter and forgave her sin making a life for herself. That I view her as model of true perseverance. She lived with the ridicule and torments the townspeople targeted towards her, but through that she still became a better person. Then we have Chillingworth. He is fueled by revenge, but once he has one he has nothing to live for and dies. Chillingwirth's character can sort of be connected to the feud in Huck Finn. It shows revenge is pointless and can lead to devastating results. After him we have Dimmesdale. He slowly rotted away due to him concealing his sin, and once he revealed his secret, he died. His character shows what can happen if you hold your sin inside yourself and not tell anyone can have devastating results to your mind and your life. We also are presented to Pearl. She is so innocent, and not understanding why people do certain things. This shows the true innocence of a child, and maybe shows how other people are confused by other peoples actions. Finally, we have the townspeople of the Puritan community. They were harsh and cruel to Hester when she first got the Scarlet letter, but once Dimmesdale died, they realized "We are all sinners alike." In my opinion, I viewed their actions were inappropriate towards Hester. They should have let her deal with her sin on her own, not publicly humiliate her and sentence her to a life of ridicule. They should have looked inside themselves to see that they have sinned as well, and ask themselves would they want to be treated like that. This can be related to now a days. Teenagers can publicly humiliate the outcasts of their school, and they may not wonder if they would like to be treated like that, much like the townspeople. Overall these characters gave me an in site on how I should and shouldn't act and how I should and should not live.
The Scarlet Letter was a great book for me to interpret and analyze. It really helped that I have already read this book once, so I got a better in site into theme and symbolism then I did before. The characters development was easier to see as well as some of the events. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne really brought me into a story filled with drama, symbols, and characters to help convey themes of human sin.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Book #3- The Great Gatsby
I never had heard of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, so I really didn't know if I would like it or not. After I finished the book, I didn't like it, I loved it. The Great Gatsby is filled with interesting round characters and intertwining plot lines. It seemed to me the way everyone ended up being connected to one anther some way reminded me of a soap opera. I also loved how Fitzgerald made me believe one thing was going to happen, but the surprise me with a twist. I truly believed Daisy and Gastby would run off and live happily ever after, but when Gatsby died, I was surprised as well as upset. I finally loved how Gatsby and all the other characters helped portray the theme of following your dreams and trying to achieve them.
The characters of The Great Gatsby were so well developed, I couldn't help loving or hating the Characters. My favorite character in this book was Gatsby. At first he seemed mysterious and quiet, but showed off his wealth with lavish parties. Then, I saw a whole new side of Gatsby when I learned he earned his money and his undying love for Daisy. I also loved his courage to take the fall for Daisy. When he was killed by Wilson, my heart broke because I wanted to see him reach his poteintial of living the life he wants. The characters I loved to hate were Tom and Daisy. Tom was a character I hated from the beginning because he was a selfish hateful pig because he still wanted to be married, but still had flings with his mistress on the side. He seemed to remind me of the Duke and the Dauphin in HUck Finn because they lied to people to get money like Tom is lying to his wife about having an affair while trying to keep her as well. At first I liked Daisy because she seemed so madly in love with Gatsby, but she showed her true cowardice by staying with Tom and then leaving without a forward address. These main characters as well as Jordan and Nick were meant to symbolize people who search for dreams, but they were either not achieved or hollow goals.
The main theme of The Great Gatsby, in my opinion, is following dreams and struggles man has to go through to make the future he wants. Gatsby wanted to have a life with Daisy, so he became wealthy, but he never did get Daisy and he couldn't accept it. Nick ponders the thought of dreams and its struggles at the end of the book when he looks at the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. On pg. 189 where it says "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us, but that's no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, strech out our arms farther... And one fine morning-- So we deat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." When I read this quote, I interpreted it as people like Gatsby go after their dreams and even though it is beyond their reach, they try everything to achieve it. Then the person is always brought back into their past where the dreams will maybe be or always be out of reach.
After reading this book, it is now oneof my favorites. The inticing plot line with surprises at every corner really brought me into the story. The round characters also made the story seem more real to me and made the story interesting. The theme in my opinion was easy to relate to because I have dreams and I will always try to achieve them even if the end like Gatsbys did. This classic novel has clearly won my heart over!
The characters of The Great Gatsby were so well developed, I couldn't help loving or hating the Characters. My favorite character in this book was Gatsby. At first he seemed mysterious and quiet, but showed off his wealth with lavish parties. Then, I saw a whole new side of Gatsby when I learned he earned his money and his undying love for Daisy. I also loved his courage to take the fall for Daisy. When he was killed by Wilson, my heart broke because I wanted to see him reach his poteintial of living the life he wants. The characters I loved to hate were Tom and Daisy. Tom was a character I hated from the beginning because he was a selfish hateful pig because he still wanted to be married, but still had flings with his mistress on the side. He seemed to remind me of the Duke and the Dauphin in HUck Finn because they lied to people to get money like Tom is lying to his wife about having an affair while trying to keep her as well. At first I liked Daisy because she seemed so madly in love with Gatsby, but she showed her true cowardice by staying with Tom and then leaving without a forward address. These main characters as well as Jordan and Nick were meant to symbolize people who search for dreams, but they were either not achieved or hollow goals.
The main theme of The Great Gatsby, in my opinion, is following dreams and struggles man has to go through to make the future he wants. Gatsby wanted to have a life with Daisy, so he became wealthy, but he never did get Daisy and he couldn't accept it. Nick ponders the thought of dreams and its struggles at the end of the book when he looks at the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. On pg. 189 where it says "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us, but that's no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, strech out our arms farther... And one fine morning-- So we deat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." When I read this quote, I interpreted it as people like Gatsby go after their dreams and even though it is beyond their reach, they try everything to achieve it. Then the person is always brought back into their past where the dreams will maybe be or always be out of reach.
After reading this book, it is now oneof my favorites. The inticing plot line with surprises at every corner really brought me into the story. The round characters also made the story seem more real to me and made the story interesting. The theme in my opinion was easy to relate to because I have dreams and I will always try to achieve them even if the end like Gatsbys did. This classic novel has clearly won my heart over!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Book #2- Grapes of Wrath
I absolutely loved Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I was moved by the touching scenes of the Joads' family especially when the baby was born stillbirth. I also loved how Steinbeck switches point of view from 3rd person limited to 3rd person omniscient. It provides view not just from one families experiences, but every ones experiences. I also loved the symbolism that conveys certain themes of the book. Truly, Grapes of Wrath is a beautiful piece of writing that provides a stunning image of life in the Great Depression.
Steinbeck's choice of changing point of view in chapters truly provide a wonderful images in the Great Depression. I think Steinbeck wanted to convey that the Joads experience in the Depression did not just happen to them. The 3rd person omniscient point of view showed me that everyone suffered during the Depression. I think that Steinbeck wanted to show the Joads' family is only a tiny part of a bigger concept. The omniscient point of view provide the bigger concept that involves every person in the Midwest and California. That point of view could probably could go further and showed how everyone in the United States suffered in the Great Depression.
From my last blog, I really focused on the symbolism in Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck used countless symbolism to convey themes of greed, burdens, self sacrifice and protection. One example of the symbolism of the theme of greed is the crooked car salesmen and the greedy bankers/landowners. These men wanted to receive money even if it meant to hurt others to get it. The salesman switched good parts for bad, then they would say it will run great and sell it for more than its worth. The bankers/landowners want money, so they resort by evicting the family from their land, and if they don't leave they threaten to run them over with a tractor. This shows me that the theme could be greed makes good men do horrible things. Another symbol is Rose of Sharon holding the dying man who starved himself, so his son could eat. This showed me a theme of protection is in human nature and self sacrifice for family is the greatest honor a man can receive. It is in human nature to protect the young or the dying. Rose of Sharon had just lost her child, and showed compassion and offered protection for the dying man. The man also decided to sacrifice himself to protect his son from dying. To protect our family even if it meant to sacrifice our life was honored by Rose of Sharon holding the man while he died. The final example of the wonderful symbolism is probably the most important of all. This is the symbolism in Chapter 25 where it says "In the Souls of people, the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." This shows burdens of men grow heavier and heavier. The theme is when the burdens grow heavier, men can either let them cause problems or try to make it better. Through out the story, The Joads' family try to make better a situation and make a better life for themselves. In conclusion, the moving symbolism clearly conveyed many themes in this story.
Although at first I was skeptical of reading this book, I absolutely fell in love with it. I loved the moving story and wonderful round characters of the Joads' family. Also, Steinbeck's use of changing point of view really showed me the hardships of living in the Great Depression era. Finally the symbolism really made me think of the many themes hidden within the pages of the story. In conclusion, Steinbeck's, Grapes of Wrath, truly was an intriguing book to read, as well as being one of my favorite books.
Steinbeck's choice of changing point of view in chapters truly provide a wonderful images in the Great Depression. I think Steinbeck wanted to convey that the Joads experience in the Depression did not just happen to them. The 3rd person omniscient point of view showed me that everyone suffered during the Depression. I think that Steinbeck wanted to show the Joads' family is only a tiny part of a bigger concept. The omniscient point of view provide the bigger concept that involves every person in the Midwest and California. That point of view could probably could go further and showed how everyone in the United States suffered in the Great Depression.
From my last blog, I really focused on the symbolism in Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck used countless symbolism to convey themes of greed, burdens, self sacrifice and protection. One example of the symbolism of the theme of greed is the crooked car salesmen and the greedy bankers/landowners. These men wanted to receive money even if it meant to hurt others to get it. The salesman switched good parts for bad, then they would say it will run great and sell it for more than its worth. The bankers/landowners want money, so they resort by evicting the family from their land, and if they don't leave they threaten to run them over with a tractor. This shows me that the theme could be greed makes good men do horrible things. Another symbol is Rose of Sharon holding the dying man who starved himself, so his son could eat. This showed me a theme of protection is in human nature and self sacrifice for family is the greatest honor a man can receive. It is in human nature to protect the young or the dying. Rose of Sharon had just lost her child, and showed compassion and offered protection for the dying man. The man also decided to sacrifice himself to protect his son from dying. To protect our family even if it meant to sacrifice our life was honored by Rose of Sharon holding the man while he died. The final example of the wonderful symbolism is probably the most important of all. This is the symbolism in Chapter 25 where it says "In the Souls of people, the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." This shows burdens of men grow heavier and heavier. The theme is when the burdens grow heavier, men can either let them cause problems or try to make it better. Through out the story, The Joads' family try to make better a situation and make a better life for themselves. In conclusion, the moving symbolism clearly conveyed many themes in this story.
Although at first I was skeptical of reading this book, I absolutely fell in love with it. I loved the moving story and wonderful round characters of the Joads' family. Also, Steinbeck's use of changing point of view really showed me the hardships of living in the Great Depression era. Finally the symbolism really made me think of the many themes hidden within the pages of the story. In conclusion, Steinbeck's, Grapes of Wrath, truly was an intriguing book to read, as well as being one of my favorite books.
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