Directions: What to Do

This blog includes three posts (in addition to this one) that I want you to explore. The goal of these activities is to push us to a deeper understanding of the literary relevance of The Crucible and its themes. Here is what you will need to do know in order to successfully complete these activities:

1. Please complete the tasks in order. For example, the next post is the next activity I want you do complete. Just continue down the posts in the order they appear.
2. Click on the title of the post to be directed to the full post. Each post has its own set of directions. Make sure you read them carefully and complete the full task.
3. Each post will ask you to create a comment to respond to questions or tasks. Be sure you follow the directions of the comment expectations and also make sure you write your full name in each comment. There is no way for me to know who has commented if you don't do this.
4. Please do your own work. Any comment that seems to be worded very closely (or doesn't represent its own thoughts) will be scrutinized. It's okay to look at what other people are saying, but it is not okay to mimic their thoughts. Let your thoughts come naturally. If your own thoughts are similar to the thoughts of others, that's fine; however, your thoughts should not conform to the thoughts of others.
5. If you do not finish all of the activities in this blog, please work on this outside of class. You can access this blog from any computer with internet access. The web address is www.exploringthecrucible.blogspot.com
6. If you finish all of the tasks early, please be sure you are finished with the reading of Act II. You could also work on the green sheet which is due on Friday. If you are done with both of those things, go ahead and start reading Act III.

If you have questions while you work on this, feel free to email me at sampsome@wauwatosa.k12.wi.us

Why Keep Reading The Crucible?

Please read the following excerpt from a New York Times article. Then, respond to the question below the excerpt.

Teaching The Crucible in Today's Classrooms

"Though often considered second best to his “Death of a Salesman” and opening to lukewarm, if not downright hostile, reviews, Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” continues to be mounted and taught worldwide because it speaks to universal fears of social isolation and the unknown – fears especially present in a rapidly changing world, not to mention in the topsy-turvy social order of school.

Considering the myriad productions and cross-cultural power of “The Crucible,” Miller wrote:

I have wondered if one of the reasons the play continues like this is its symbolic unleashing of the specter of order’s fragility. When certainties evaporate with each dawn, the unknowable is always around the corner. We know how much depends on mere trust and good faith and a certain respect for the human person, and how easily breached these are. And we know as well how close to the edge we live and how weak we really are and how quickly swept by fear the mass of us can become when our panic button is pushed. It is also, I suppose, that the play reaffirms the ultimate power of courage and clarity of mind whose ultimate fruit is liberty.

Now, in a comment to this post, please respond to the following questions in thoughtful sentences. Make sure you include your full name in your comment so I know who posted. I have included an example comment so you know what I'm expecting.

1. Why do you think teachers continue to see the value of teaching The Crucible in today's English classes?
2. What do you think Arthur Miller means in his comment (the block quote that finishes the article)? Do you believe he says anything that supports why teachers still use this book in their classrooms?

Responding to a Review of the Play

For this activity, I need you to do the following things:

• First, read the article I have adapted/modified from Mel Gussow's review of a 1990 play performance of The Crucible. This article is included in this post below.
• As you read, make note of the things I have bolded. 
• Then, create a comment that answers the tasks at the bottom of this post. (Look below the article).

Relearning the Lesson of Miller's 'Crucible'

By MEL GUSSOW (March 30, 1990)

he Crucible'' is not only Arthur Miller's most-produced play; it has also become his most continually relevant work of political theater. By focusing on the Salem witch hunts of the 17th century, the playwright placed the outrage of McCarthyism in historical perspective and created a drama that has remained meaningful to succeeding generations...

In the hands of different directors and actors, and with slight alteration in emphasis, each of the three revivals [of Miller's original drama] illustrates the consequential themes of the play: the epidemic of evil, the perversion of religion and civil order and the way that decency can outlive even the most disquieting events. For the playwright, justice and jurisprudence will always triumph over the immediate inequities of the legal system.

The law in various guises permeates Mr. Miller's work. Plays from ''All My Sons'' through ''After the Fall'' and his recent one-acts operate in a courtroom of ideas. In this sense, Salem, at the time of the witch hunt, becomes the crucible for tyranny, as the innocent are considered guilty even in the light of evidence to the contrary.''Black mischief'' and fear are loose, and neighbor deserts neighbor. For the time of the play, all reason has absented itself. To be ''somewhat mentioned'' in a preliminary hearing is tantamount to being condemned to death...

In Mr. Miller's apt words, the play deals with ''one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history.'' Though the basic events are true, one always greets them with incredulity. Even today, with formerly repressive nations promoting individual liberty, the scourge that the playwright first identified in the 1950's remains a lingering global presence. In revival, ''The Crucible'' leaves disturbing reverberations.


Now, I want you to create a comment that addresses the following:

1. Of the concepts (ethos, pathos, logos, irony, allegory, theme, symbolism, foreshadowing, etc.) we have gone over in class, which one best describes what the author is describing about The Crucible in the first paragraph of this article? Please explain.
2. In paragraph two, I have bolded the themes this article mentions. Please select one of these three themes mentioned and connect it to one (or more) of our topic words (intolerance, reputation, deceit, hysteria, misogyny, superstition, and integrity). Don't just mention the theme and the word(s), please explain why that theme is connected/related to that topic word.

Make sure you include your full name in your comment. If you don't, I won't know who posted and who didn't. I have included an example comment so you know what my expectations are.

Current Issues

Please spend about 10 minutes on this activity. Start out by browsing the ideas in the following articles. What you'll need to do is click on each link and skim the information in each article. (To make efficient use of your time, focus more on the articles that interest you; you will only be required to critically discuss one of these articles, so browse the other ones much faster than the one you select).

After you've skimmed each article, select one of the articles and create a comment to this post that includes the following:

1. The title of the article you selected.
2. A brief explanation of the issue discussed in that article.
3. An explanation of how you see this issue being tied to one of the themes or issues in The Crucible.
4. A brief discussion about your feelings regarding this real-life issue.

Remember to include your name in your comment! I have included an example comment so you can see what I am expecting. 

Here are the articles:

The Birther Myth

Tuscan Witch Hunt

Don't Fear Islamic Law in America

AIDS Bias Grows Faster Than Disease

Women's Equity Not Quite There Yet