Assertions and Evidence.
In class on Thursday, we discussed the importance of thesis statements
as bold assertions that are insightful, meaningful, and essential. In
pairs, you developed provisional statements -- or assertions -- in which
you attempted to diagnose the deep social sickness that grips Salem,
and the assertions you came up with were very shrewd and well-phrased.
On Friday, we selected quotes that support your ideas.
In the comment box below, share your quote from Act I and explain how it
supports your assertion and why you think it is unique or significant.
Please have your post in the post box by the end of the day on Monday.
Thanks, Mr. Telles.
While reading the crucible I've noticed a lot of things occurring in act 1. What I've noticed is how selfish and ignorant the people are in the town and how badly they treat other people. It seems like every single person has no clue whats going on around them but the woman and thats another thing I've noticed its mostly the woman that had some what an idea of whats happening to abigail and to the girls that were conjuring the dead. Putnam "a moment, Mr Proctor, what lumber is that you're draggin if i might ask"? This shows how ignorant and selfish the people really are considering while witchcraft and demons are brought into the world by these girls the men are talking about what lumber they sell because they are low on wood. I have also noticed that the town is strictly based on religion so the fact that they are talking about lumber while a demon over throws a little girls soul and body they could care less whats going on other what their needs are.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act One, I made the assertion that most of the characters are jealous of each other, and want to be better than everybody. In a heated discussion with John Proctor, Abigail says, "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!" (23-24). Abigail is trying to undermine Elizabeth Proctor, John's wife's, status, by telling John of how Elizabeth is saying bad things about her without any real proof. Abigail is jealous of Elizabeth, and knows that her and John are going through tough times, which Abigail is partly responsible for due to her affair in the barn with John. Abigail is taking her opportunity to try to convince John that his wife is not worthy of him, and that she is better than his wife. Abigail wants to prove that she is better than Elizabeth in order to get with John Proctor. Also, this quote represents how Abigail, and many other characters, constantly scapegoat. Although she isn't necessarily blaming Elizabeth for any specific thing, she is telling John about an act of Elizabeth, without any actual proof, and she is doing it to change John's opinion of his own wife. This quote stands out and is significant because is sums up many themes and assertions into one, while showing the true character of Abigail.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday in class, I made an assertion or statement to the cause of the rise in hysterics throughout Act 1 in "The Crucible". I said that the cause of the rise in hysterics in the first act of "The Crucible" was the fear and selfishness inside the characters. Every person seen in the book is very selfish or self-centered. They try to give the blame of Betty's sickness to witchcraft because it is not explainable. This leads to people being accused for witchcraft which is where the fear comes in. People are scared to have the blame pointed to them so that is why they point fingers at other people. It is like when little children fight and a grownup comes in asks what is going on, and they both point fingers at the other, saying "he did it!" They are scared of the consequences that will follow their actions so they try to get the fault on to the other person. A good example of this would be when Abigail is being "interrogated" and when Tituba walks in and "instantly Abigail points at Tituba. Abigail: She made me do it! She made Betty do it!" This quote expresses how when Abigail was blamed for Betty being sick, she got scared of what could happen and pushed the fault onto someone else, Tituba, even if she had to lie to get out of it. It also shows how selfish the people in the town are because Tituba was trying to do Abigail a favor, yet Abigail did not care about that, she just wanted to be safe herself. This quote supports my assertion about Act 1 in "The Crucible".
ReplyDeleteIn Act I of The Crucible, I noticed that the people of Salem are extremely paranoid and against each other because of their fear of the Devil. On page 30, Parris says "I cannot offer one proposition but there be a howling riot of argument. I have often wondered if the Devil be in it somewhere, I cannot understand you people otherwise."
ReplyDeleteParris is explaining that he cannot say a word without causing an argument because of the Devil - and that if it weren't for the Devil the people would not be so angry. This also explains Salem's paranoia of witches and the Devil that makes them paranoid of everything that happens. No one knows what to expect, so they take caution of anything.
This fear of the Devil that Salem has is driving people apart because no one can be trusted. Everyone thinks that people are witches or are controlled by the Devil, which prevents them from trusting each other and coming together to solve their problems.
This quote is significant because it shows Salem's fear of the Devil and their mistrust towards one another that is tearing the town apart.
In the play The Crucible, the townspeople are in a frenzy because of their religious intensity. When the word "witches" is mentioned it makes them paranoid and hysterical because of their strong belief in God and the Devil. The quote I chose from Act I that supports this assertion is: "I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" This quote supports my assertion because it shows how close the Puritans were to their religion, and it displays how much hysteria was running through the townspeople. I think this quote is significant because it truly exemplifies how religious and hysterical the accusers were, which directly supports my assertion. It also shows the willingness of the townspeople to scapegoat other citizens in order to save themselves from being accused. Since most people would try to blame someone else before they themselves get in trouble, a snowball effect of blame occurs in this Puritan society which leads to more paranoia and chaos.
ReplyDeleteIn Act One of "The Crucible," Mrs. Putnam asks a simple question supporting my thoughts on the problems with the majority of the citizens of Salem. Upon Mrs. Putnam's first appearance, she asks Parris, "How high did she fly, how high?" (13). This shows the conflict of extreme prejudice within Salem. Mrs. Putnam, rather than showing any form of concern, makes a first impression as a citizen who accuses with little to no evidence, which has the readers expecting this kind of personality in most of the characters in "The Crucible"
ReplyDeleteAlong with prejudice, Mrs. Putnam's quote shows us that some of the citizens of Salem are simply looking for trouble. They are bored of their lives in Salem, and look for excitement through the false accusations of others. People like Mrs. Putnam are gullible, and are easily convinced that something as unlikely as witchcraft is occurring within the town. Rumors spread easily, and along with the citizens failing to look at issues from multiple perspectives, we can be shown what makes Salem seem to be an unpleasant town.
In the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the people of Salem live with so much social pressure and expectations, that they often are too afraid to admit there mistakes. So, they blame it on someone else, in order to stay out of the spotlight.
ReplyDelete“Abigail: She (Tituba) send her spirit on me in church, she make me laugh at prayer!
Parris: She have often laughed at prayer!” In this scene, Abigail comes up with ludicrous evidence for her being out in the woods. Like most of the Salemers, she blames her mistake on someone else, in this case, Tituba. One reason she does this, is to get out of the spotlight. The other reason is to get sympathy from everyone else. If she appears to be the helpless one, people will move her further from the list of suspects. Not only does Abigail try to hide herself from the spotlight, but she also blames Tituba for little problems she has, for example her weakness for laughing during prayer. As well as more evidence for her case, this statement solves some of her former accusations. Abigail, and the rest of the people of Salem, have a problem when it comes to self respect, and taking the blame. They can’t bear to have their reputations soiled, so they blame everything on someone else. Even, on family and friends.
In Act One of “The Crucible” it becomes apparent that the people in Salem suffer from a deep and social sickness that stems from their fear of being responsible for anything bad that happens. This leads to wild accusations of witchcraft and the scapegoating behavior that becomes Salem’s main problem. On page 39 in Act One, Mrs. Putnam says “Let God blame me, not you, not you Rebecca! I’ll not have you judging me anymore. To Hale Is it natural to lose seven children before they live a day?” In this quote, Mrs. Putnam blames the death of her babies on unnatural forces because she needs someone to be responsible for the deaths, so that she can take her anger out on them. She doesn’t know how to deal with this grief in a healthy way and instead of accepting that the children died natural deaths she needs something or someone to have caused this misfortune. This is an example of scapegoating behavior that leads many women to being accused of witchcraft. These accusations do not help Mrs. Putnam come to terms with the death of her children. They just give her a sense of false justice because she wants – needs, to blame someone or something on her tragedy. This behavior is rooted into the community of Salem and is the main complication in “The Crucible.”
ReplyDeleteThere are many problems occurring in Salem. I believe that the main source of these problems, and also of the ongoing conflicts, is the selfish and heartless personalities of the people that reside in Salem. In an attempt to keep the spotlight off themselves, people are blaming others for things that actually never happened. "I never called him! Tituba, Tituba...."(Abigail 42). This quote from the book supports my assertion because it points out that Abigail is blaming Tituba for making her drink brew out of a kettle, but Abigail has no proof of this. Also, Abigail is blaming Tituba for consulting with the devil. Hale's line of questioning pressures Abigail to the point where she doesn't know what to say or do. In turn, this causes Abigail to throw Tituba under the bus. This is all Abigail's effort to prove to others that she is not a witch. This quote taken from Act 1 of "The Crucible" is very significant in supporting my initial assertion. It demonstrates the selfish and heartless personalities of the characters and the lengths that they will go to protect themselves, all of which is the major root of conflict amongst the people of Salem.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading act one, I made the assertion that everyone in the town already hated each other so the girls dancing in the woods just gave them a reason to start fighting. John Proctor and Paris do not like each other due to an old feud over lumber and land. After fighting about what happened with the girls in the woods it was a great time to bring up an old spark. All of the sudden while reading they are arguing on what actually happened with the girls and then Paris comes out and says “Where is my wood? My contract provides I be supplied with all my firewood. I am waiting since November for a stick, and even in November I had to show my frostbitten hands like some London beggar” (Miller 29). This had nothing to do with the girls but yet because they were already fighting Paris might as well just bring the lumber up to since he was obviously still mad about it. Before Paris couldn't bring it up because he didn't want to start drama but because the girls “witchcraft” already caused fighting there was no reason to not start fighting about that too. This quote is unique because it was just out of the blue. One moment they're fighting about the girls and the next they're fighting about a disagreement on lumber for a long time ago. This quote is significant because it shows that the people in the town do not get along and they are not as civil as you think they are. The characters in the crucible have been mad at each other for some time so they made the girls dancing in the woods such a big deal because they weren't only mad about the girls dancing but in reality things they just wanted to get off their chest earlier but never got the chance.
ReplyDeleteDuring Act I of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, I noticed many odd things about the characters. The townspeople are all so ridiculous and childish that they will fight over anything. After digging deeper into the story and reading in between the lines, I made the assertion that there must have been rising conflict among the townspeople, causing much jealousy and hatred among each other. Therefore, having already hated each other about something, they were just looking for something somewhat valid to fight over. So the first thing that stepped out of line, the belief of there being witchcraft among fellow citizens, everyone jumped on to try to get their enemies blamed and killed.
ReplyDeleteOn page 29, Parris says, “Where is my wood? My contract provides I be supplied with all my firewood. I am waiting since November for a stick and even in November I had to show my frostbitten hands like some London beggar.”
When Parris says this, it shows that there is clearly more to this argument then what meets the eye. There are two sick girls and he brings up something that does not seem to be of that much importance that angered him in the past. This quote proves that there must have been quite a rising action before the whole witchcraft paranoia. The girls dancing in the woods just gave everyone a gateway to war.
While reading act one in the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, I made the assertion that the people of the town were bitter and wanted to blow things out of proportion. So far, this has been very noticeable in the book. All the characters are very quick to hop on one another about doing something and start playing the blame game. The quote made by Procter on page 21 of act one is a great example of this. “The road past my house is a pilgrimage to Salem all morning. The town’s mumbling witchcraft.” (Miller 21) This is a great example of my assertion for a couple of reasons. First off it shows Procter throwing that blame of the incident so far onto Abigail, which is who the quote is directed towards. Secondly, this quote illustrates how the entire town is now also blaming Abigail and the other girls for making Betty and Ruth ill. This quote also shows how the townspeople seem to enjoy blowing things out of proportion. This is clear because they jump right to the conclusion of witchcraft before most have them had probably even heard what had happened. Clearly, this is blowing things out of proportion because witchcraft isn't your everyday encounter. All in all, this quote from the play illustrates my assertion very well.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading Act 1 of The Crucible, I realized that almost everyone in the village feels no guilt in blaming others for anything. There are several times in the story where someone is being blamed for something and the person blaming them has little to no evidence that they are the ones to blame. The reason the villagers are doing this may be because they are scared, guilty of something, nervous they will be the ones to be blamed or even maybe getting revenge for something. My quote I chose from the book to give a good example of someone being blamed for something is "No man has ever been blamed for so much. If a cow was missed, the first thought was to look for her around Corey's house." This quote is describing how Giles is blamed for a lot that goes on around the village. It gives proof that the villagers have a tendency to blame other people for things that go wrong in their own life.
ReplyDeleteIn Act One of “The Crucible”, the townsfolk of Salem escalated a small dance in the woods to a complete panic in the same way that a kid rolls a snowball down a hill. With the aid of their previous paranoia, the townspeople exaggerated and grew their superstitions into hysteria. On page 15 of “The Crucible”, Mrs. Putnam speaks to Parris, “Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth.” and on page 16 she says, “I take it upon my soul, but who else may surely tell us what murdered my babies.” These quotes show that in a town full of paranoia, an event that would normally be properly looked into scientifically is just ruled as murder or something unnatural. This is exactly what happens when Betty becomes sick. The townspeople could call for a good doctor that didn’t have the biased, superstitious opinions that the rest of the people do, and the doctor would be able to tell what the causes were of the sickness. Instead of doing this, the townspeople immediately jump to the conclusion of witchcraft, and dismiss the possibility that Betty could just have gotten sick. This quote also shows how the town uses scapegoating to deal with their own problems. If Mrs. Putnam says that someone murdered her children, it means that she couldn’t have done something wrong while pregnant or in labor. She takes the attention off of her, and onto anything else that makes sense, or in Betty’s case, something that people aren’t familiar with. When an individual in the town is faced with any type of accusation, they brush off the blame to somebody else, which is why the dance in the woods was able to grow out of proportion so quickly.
ReplyDeleteABIGAIL, whispering: Not I, sir- Tituba and Ruth. (16)
ReplyDeleteEven with a simple quote like this one, is tells you how the people in the town react when there is a situation happening. It tells you that the townspeople accuse each other when something horrible happens. This was our thesis. Abigail was at the place where the “ritual” was happening and she yet regrets participating in the activities when Parris asks her if she was “conjuring spirits”. During this time, all of the other adults in the scene are worried about going to tell the people of Salem what is happening, and you can tell by the adults’ character traits that they are very nervous as to what the people of the town will say. I think that the quote is unique because it follows the guidelines of our assertion and it is very straightforward about how the townspeople show their emotions about the strange routine that the girls were performing. It is also a great quote, in my opinion, because it is the type of statement that would stir up combustion within the town, if someone was to go and “spill the beans”. This will also tell the town and the reader, that someone is guilty of performing witchcraft, but it does not specify who did exactly. This quote is important to the reader because it will cause them to read further on to see who is actually guilty. It is also important to the town because the people do not know who is right and who is wrong and the townspeople will be paranoid until someone confesses who is wrong and who is right. Salem is a place where if something has been committed where there are other people involved, people, such as Abigail in this case, have someone to blame so they are not found guilty and somebody else is.
While reading act one of Crucible I made an assertion to diagnose the deep social sickness that grips Salem.The quote I selected from act one that supports my assertion is “Martha, My wife. I have waked at night many a time and found her in a corner, readin’ a book. Now what do you make of that?”(Page 40).
ReplyDeleteMy assertion was the reason why all this hysteria stuff is happening from one little thing is because people were self centered and had a bad attitude about each other already, so they had a reason to start fighting. Also they are way too extreme with their religion that they believe in witchcraft, so they blame anything that is weird for them. Lastly some want to fit in that whne someone gets blamed they blame another person.
The reason my quote supports my assertion because someone is being blamed for witchcraft because they like to read so people like to blame alot of innocent people. the reason this quote is unique is that the person who says it is blaming his own wife even though he didn’t mean to because he got so carried away.
While reading Act 1 of the crucible I have seen how the characters seem to be startled by all the events happening at once so all the characters are using anything and everything they have on the others to accuse them.. I chose the quote by Giles "John Procter, I have only last month collected four pound damages for you publicly saying I burned the roof off your house" p. 31. This is showing how Giles is using information that is not only irrelevant to the situation, but also happened the month before that. Giles is trying to make himself look like a victim and John Proctor look bad. So with Giles saying this he is not only trying to accuse John Procter but also make himself look better and less likely to be a witch and do wrong things. This is also happening with many people around so Giles can also be trying to get the money back that he believes John Proctor owes him. One thing that is getting overlooked though is that John tried to accuse Giles and now Giles is getting his payback on John, but Giles could have burned his roof and Giles accusation is coming at a time that could mean death for Proctor. This quote represents what all the citizens of the town are doing to each other and how they are treating their neighbors.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading act one of "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, I noticed that the towns people feel no remorse when it comes to blaming others of witchcraft. They are always pointing fingers at one another to draw the attention away from themselves. Abigail tends to do this a lot. She says to Parris, "My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Procture is a gossiping liar!" (page 12) Abigail says this after she calls Goody a bitter, lying, cold, sniveling women and that she will not work for her. As you can see not all of the character get along with each other and talk behind each others backs.
ReplyDelete