The Modern Day Puritan

Comparing the Puritans we read about in class to people nowadays, I would have to say that there is a big difference. Puritans in the society we are discussing and reading about differ from us modern citizens in the following ways: the punishments, the laws, and the ways of the people.

From what we read in The Crucible, I would say that the way people are convicted and sentenced time in jail is quite strange and unreliable compared to how it is done in modern days. For example, the way the Puritans got out of the punishment of being accused for associating themselves with the Devil is by admitting to it-- whether telling the truth or not--, accusing somebody else for the same crime, and signing a paper proving you admitted to it. We now go by the “innocent until proven guilty” way.

As for the laws, the Puritans were very led by the Bible-- specifically the Ten Commandments. Several of the laws that we have now are from the Ten Commandments, however we do not follow all of the Ten like how the Puritans had to.

Finally, for the ways of the people, the Puritans were very religious and were looked down upon if they did not go to church, know the Commandments, or were baptized. We now have freedom of religion and beliefs, which allows us to have the choice of going to church or even believing in a god at all.

Therefore, when looking at the Puritans from many years ago and the modern people now, in some ways we are similar, but I think in more ways we are different.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

In my opinion, John Proctor would be somewhat of a hero. Although he made foolish mistakes, like having that affair with Abigail, for example, he did other things that made him heroic in a sense. As we all know, John ended up admitting to the court that he had this affair with Abigail, which was most likely a very difficult thing to come clean with. However he did this to try and save his wife, Elizabeth. By telling the court that he had an affair with Abigail, it shows why Abigail would try to get Elizabeth killed-- because she wants to take Elizabeth's spot as John Proctor's wife.

At the end of Act 4, we also read how Proctor was not satisfied with only saving his wife-- he also felt the need to save the wives of his friends. The fact he would try and do this for his friends shows courage, compassion, and heroism.

So, did John Proctor act as a stooge? Yes, I would say he did earlier in the text. However, he did seem to take more ownership of his previous mistakes and become more honest and open with things to save the people he cared for.  But everybody makes mistakes, right? Therefore overall, I would have to say that John Proctor is a hero.

Arrivals...There goes the neighborhood

When colonists arrived and, in my opinion, invaded America in 1492, they were not the only ones here. These "neighborhoods" belonged to the Native Americans. Little did the natives know, these new arrivals in their neighborhoods would be trying to convert their beliefs and essentially removing them from their own land.

As the newcomers were moving into the Native American's land, they observed and made assumptions about the natives. They said that the natives were primitive, uncivilized, and that it would be easy to convert the natives' beliefs to what the colonists believed.

The new neighbors looked at themselves as if they were at a much higher rank or position than the Native Americans were at. However, I do not think some of the colonists would have been able to survive without the help from Native Americans. To elaborate, the Americas were new land being introduced to these Europeans. They may or may not have known what kinds of food were safe to eat, how to catch wild animals, or how to prepare their food. I think it is safe to assume that the Americas were definitely not the same as how the colonists' homelands were at that time, therefore they may have needed help to survive. It is possible that they also did not know how to speak the language of the Native Americans or how to travel throughout the lands of America. However there were some Native Americans that served as translators and guides for the newcomers, who, I assume, served as great help.

Whether the change of the neighborhood was for better or for worse, it affected the way we live today.