Much of The Crucible by Arthur Miller was about being part of a group. What is it to belong to a group? Is it really that simple when someone says, "Either you're with us or you're not"? Yes, it is that simple. Belonging and exclusion in any situation are two sides of the same coin - you can't have one without the other. In any organization or group, people are bound together by a community of interest, purpose or function and if you do not believe in these same things, then you are not a part of that group. In an organization or group, you have to ask yourself, "What is it to be a part of this particular group, what does it take to belong?" It takes following the rules of the group, agreeing with their purpose, …show more content…
Traditionally, rules are set out for the members to follow. Generally, explicit rules are made in order for everyone to obviously and without question understand what is expected of them. Ideally, a clear list of what you can and cannot do and what is acceptable and unacceptable in their organization should exist. Unfortunately these requirements are not all written down - implicit standards are always hiding in a group, whether they are talked of or not is up to the group. We usually call these implicit rules actual "norms" which are there to ensure that only the "proper" people are involved in the group. Implicit details often provide secret exclusion for members that don't "belong". "Some details are implicitly implied only because by exploiting these undercover rules, the image of the group is disturbed and the hypocrisy of the rule makers might be uncovered.(Johnson 37)" Without rules people might be able to act as they please which is not the purpose of a group.
Just as in society, with rules must come enforcers. There can be no expectations for people to follow the rules if there is no one to enforce the consequences. This is why authority and leadership are key points in keeping their sense of belonging in a group. It is well known that people tend to lose focus of what is important to them when no one is helping them along, thus the necessity for role expectations. Someone in a group
Hook: Crucible is a book filled with mistakes and the outcomes of those mistakes. Every single action that a person commits leads to either a positive or a negative consequence, and this piece of literature provides readers with an opportunity to analyze some causes and effects.
In Act Ⅱ Scene 2 of The Crucible, a 1953 play by the Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams, the antagonist, meets John Proctor, the protagonist, in the forest at night, where John asks Abigail to free his wife in court the next day, or otherwise he will expose their affair in public to ruin her. This fast-paced short scene portrays Abigail as pious and possessed, which contradicts the impression given by previous scenes. Most importantly, the scene reveals the crucial plan of Proctor which he is planning to use to take down Abigail. By excluding the scene, Miller eliminates the unfavourable danger of jeopardizing the credibility of the characters due to the inconsistency of descriptions, heightens the dramatic effect when Proctor confesses in
In the book The Crucible there is a struggle within to have one have a sense of belonging to society. They want to be loved by that society no matter how much they may seem that they don’t belong. But they do want to show that to everyone, everyone that may not think that.
In 1952 a play was written by Arthur Miller, about events that happened in Salem in 1692. The play was about affairs, accusations, and innocent people being accused of witches. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail and Mary Warren are introduced as two separate people. Although people might see Abigail and Mary Warren as two separate people and nothing alike, they are more alike than meet's the eye. Abigail and Mary Warren have three things in common; they are both are deceitful, they both dishonest, and they are both apprehensive.
Conformity is a belief that has conflicted people since the beginning of time. Conformity is the inner feeling that will make you second guess everything you do: should I go to my friends party or should I resist temptation and stay home and study, should I change my beliefs or stand alone in the crowd. Conformity is all around you and it is up to you to make the right choices. In Arthur Miller’s 1953 drama, The Crucible, Miller uses conformity by forcing the people of Salem to choose between being an outcast or being accepted but forced to live a life not true to themselves. Conformity plays a key role in the play because it shows the reader that everyone is hiding something and it gives a deeper meaning to some of the characters
In the Crucible, Arthur Miller shows us how fear and suspicion can destroy a community. As the play develops, Miller shows us how fear and suspicion increase and destroy the community. Throughout the play it becomes apparent that the community gets more and more divided as time goes on. In the beginning there were arguments about ownership of land between some of the villagers.
‘The Crucible’ is an allegory. An allegory is a story with an obvious meaning but if you look deeper into it, there is another meaning. In this case, the obvious meaning is the Salem witch-hunt and the hidden meaning is McCarthyism. McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s and it was governmental accusations with no evidence. Joseph McCarthy started doing trials on those he thought were communist, but he had no evidence for it. This is the same as the witch trials in The Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote this in response to McCarthyism.
“I decline to make any such statement which I found demeaning; what right had any organization to demand anyones pledge of loyalty?” Those words, were Arthur Miller’s reply to the House of Un-American Activities Commision. In which he was being questioned and then later indicted and found guilty of contempt of congress. Just like the many characters in his book The Crucible, who refused to comply with the unjust questioning and in turn, point to another in order to keep their integrity amongst the court. The story is based on false accusations which lead to the downfall of their town, by the multiple deaths due to the corrupt system of court; which is very much similar to the McCarthyism era. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory considering, the fear of the respective crimes, biased acustations which lead to tainted trials and then the effects on one's life due to those corrupt sentences.
The Crucible was a very emotional book in terms of plot. The plot was about a girl named Abigail who accuses many people of witchcraft. She also accuses Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor. Abigail uses her power of the court to get to her obsession, John Proctor, by trying to eliminate Elizabeth. She is unsuccessful in getting this done and ends up executing over twelve people including John Proctor. It is great to see all the different kinds of characterization and themes. This story really gets you thinking about many things, such as, lying and telling the truth, or most importantly, standing up for your beliefs even if you have to die for them. It also shows how envy, greed, hate, and jealousy can impact
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, we are positioned to see belonging as paradoxical, in that the positive, human quality of belonging inevitably carries with it the negative and dangerous corollary of exclusion. By belonging, we are automatically excluding others and excluding ourselves from other groups. The Crucible achieves this complex presentation of belonging through a variety of interconnected techniques which will be explored in this essay. These techniques may be categorized into four main groups: conflict, characterisation, heightened language and juxtaposition; conflict being the foremost.
To belong is to be, or have the feeling of being accepted or included by a certain group, person, place or community. While initially an individual may belong to a community or group, speaking their opinion can seclude them, and cause them to become an outsider. Belonging to a community or group can be very beneficial, and not belonging can cause an individual to face consequences. Hysteria and fear can be caused throughout a community by outsiders who don’t belong. We are able to view these experiences of belonging and not belonging through the use of characters and events throughout a variety of texts. Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” and Armin Geder’s picture book “The Island” display how an individual can belong and not belong at
Despite the fact that the theme of insiders and outsiders is a commonality worldwide, most people do not think about it enough and how affects so many different communities. In order to obtain balance, there should be both insiders and outsiders. The insiders are there to support the greater public opinion while the outsiders are there to question the rules and laws which helps maintain diversity. Lastly, standards and overall trends greatly regulate what is normal and what is not. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, although the Puritan town of Salem is supposed to be a united community under God, the strict societal norms and harsh expectations creates a major division between insiders and outsiders which ultimately forces many accepted members to become shut out as the culture progressively develops further from normality.
In writing short stories, novels, or plays, there are certain standards the writer comes to meet. He will choose a basic story element to go by; either man versus nature, man versus man, or man versus himself. Then, a setting that is appropriate to the writer is chosen, a place where the writer envisions the story happening. Inevitably the characters are introduced one by one, and the writer tries to convey their personality and instill a mental image for the reader. There have always been the heroes, the villains and the victims. Any story can revolve particularly around any of these, but often they all have roles that create equilibrium in the plot. However, in The Crucible, Arthur Miller did not need to create any such
The sense of belonging humans naturally seek in life reflects the feeling of security and being accepted. They struggle with their identity as they make the choice whether to reject the individuality and belong to a community or group. When individuals seek to belong and rigidly follow society’s norms and practices, they must adhere to the strict rules of their society. In doing do, the desire to belong comes into conflict with the need to be an individual. These ideas are powerfully evident in Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible”, “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger and the Gurinder Chadha film “Bend it like Beckham.” In each of these texts, most desire to belong but need to restore the balance between the need to belong and the
Proctor. For the first and only time in the play we see Abigail as her