Richard Warren Sears

The book and/or play, The Crucible, is set in the 17th century back in Salem, Massachusetts where the witch hunts took place. One character, Mary Warren, is seen differently throughout the play. She’s the servant of John and Elizabeth Proctor, and is also a part of Abigail’s group of girls, to whom accuse innocent people of being witches. Mary Warren is a morally ambiguous character who is manipulated easily especially by Abigail Williams. She’s stuck between doing what’s right and what’s wrong.…

In Indian Captivity Narratives, typically a white woman, who is of European descent, is kidnapped and held captive by American Indians who consider her to be uncivilized and of the wrong beliefs. These narratives, which typically are autobiographical, capture the interest of readers and create reactions of shock, empathy, and inspiration. Narratives as such anticipate popular fiction, especially romance, and prefigure gothic literature with the “depictions of Indian as dark, hellish, cunning,…

Evil in Salem Abigail Williams is the true witch in Salem. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abby manages to take advantage of the entire town. She fools her uncle Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale, John Proctor, even Judge Danforth and Judge Hathorne. Abby and her army of lying little girls have the town wrapped around their fingers. All it takes is a false accusation to take down their enemies. To make matters even worse, other people in the town start to accuse each other of witchcraft as well,…

The Crucible, the famous and passionate play about the Salem Witch Trials during the 1690s, written by Arthur Miller is an allegory to to the McCarthy Trials of the 1950s. An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning - literal and symbolical. In an allegory, the characters, events and instances all relate to real people, events, and instances (“Definition of Allegory” R104). Characters like Abigail Williams, John Proctor and Judge Hathorne represent the historical figures: Senator Joseph…

The Salem witch trials all started with Tituba who was a slave of Samuel Parris. Several other girls joined Tituba in the kitchen in early 1692. People thought that Tituba and her group had a black magic dance in the woods. The girls would fall to the floor and start screaming and this behavior started to spread all over Salem. Soon after the Puritans believed that the girls would never put themselves under such a spell. They started asking the girls who did this to them and who tortured them,…

Who is the Mockingbird? What thoughts or emotions did Atticus have when he was appointed to defend Thomas Robison of his rape charges against Mayella Ewell? The title of the book is To Kill a Mockingbird and the author of the book is Harper Lee. In the novel Atticus was appointed by the court of Maycomb to defend Thomas Robinson from the crime that he was accused of committing. My Character is Atticus Finch, and he is a lawyer from Maycomb County. He has two children, Jem Finch, and Scout Finch…

Psychology behind the Afflicted Girls Even though The Crucible is fictional, psychology can explain why the girls were acting and accusing the townspeople of the unspeakable act of witchcraft. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a piece of literature that explains, in a fictional way uses a nonfictional event, what went on during the Salem witch trials. Miller’s purpose for writing this novel was to resemble his own problems of communism in his town. Miller himself was accused communism and…

Guilt, Denial and Consequences in God and the Indian Although this play is fiction, it is very likely that many ministers that worked for Residential Schools were haunted by Indian ghost children from their past, much like Lucy for George. God and the Indian by Drew Hayden Taylor is about an Anglican Bishop named George King, who is visited in his office in early 2000’s by Johnny Indian who is determined to make George acknowledge what he did to her 40 years earlier. . George has lived with…

On November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Kennedy had planned to fight a war on poverty. The Vice-president, Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed the role as president and carried on with Kennedy’s figurative war, addressing the nation in his speech Let us Continue. Within this speech, Johnson addresses Congress and the American people. On November 27, five days after the assassination, Johnson read Let Us Continue. He used rhetorical devices to uplift the audience. Johnson…

In The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History, Peter C. Hoffer closely examines the many complexities of the bizarre Salem Witchcraft Trials and offers explanations as to what led up to and caused the terrible event. In the book, Hoffer uses analogies and insight to village life to support his explanations. This paper will review Hoffer’s re accounting of the trials, his theories on the trails, and the way in which he presents his arguments. Summary This section contains a summary of The…