Modern Day Puritan

A modern day Puritan group are the Amish. Members of the Amish must listen to the rules of the church, and live their daily lives by those rules too. Like Puritans, the Amish focus their lives on church and religion. The Amish and the Puritans have the same feelings towards those of the community who don't follow the rules. They shun them and then the person is excommunicated. While reading The Scarlet Letter, we saw how they shunned Hester for going against the church and committing adultery. 
There are also similarities in the technology and clothing of the Amish and Puritan communities. As transportation the Amish use horse and buggies instead of cars. Both the Amish and Puritans have dress plainly and uniformly.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

After finishing reading The Crucible, I have made up my mind about the character John Proctor. I think that John Proctor was the hero of the story. He knew that something was wrong in that town as soon as everyone was turning on each other, crying witchery. John tried to stick to the truth when he was being interrogated, unlike most all of the others who lied from the start. Although he ended up lying in the end, he didn't run away from his problems, like Abigail did. When John "confessed", he didn't lie about anyone else in the town being associated with the devil like some of the others who were accused. It's understandable that he didn't want to sign the confession that was going to be hung on the church door fro everyone in the town to see. He already knew that he was being hanged for something that he didn't even do, so the only thing he had left as his own was his name. By signing the paper he felt as if he was giving away his name, along with his life.

To me, Abigail was the villain in this story. She started lying just to cover up her tracks, and that one lie spiraled into many more lies. Due her lies, many people unnecessarily died. Basically she is a murderer. If John had told Hale about his affair with Abigail earlier, then maybe  there would have been a different turnout. Also if Elizabeth would have told the truth about John's affair with Abigail then the play would have ended differently. Either way, I think that John Proctor would be the hero in this play. 

Arrivals...There Goes the Neighborhood

Many times throughout history, and even not that long ago (about 50+ years ago), people have been uninviting of newcomers in their neighborhoods. This disapproval may be because of religion, race, or due to having different cultures. People may not want these new arrivals in the neighborhood, because they feel that they don't belong. An example of this happening was in America in the 60's and 70's. When Blacks tried to move into certain neighborhoods or cities, they were either forced out, or Whites would flee to somewhere else. In The Crucible, which we are reading in class, we sort of see this happening. At this time in Salem, Massachusetts basically everyone in the town was a Puritan, and anyone who didn't follow that religion was looked down on or probably kicked out.