The Crucible :: English Literature

The Crucible Explore how Miller dramatises the conflicts within John Proctor and presents him as a good man, despite his failings. How does Miller make him dramatically effective for an audience? Refer to Act two and Act four. Miller's purpose through writing 'The Crucible' was to express his own views on what was happening in America at the time in 1953 - McCarthyism, a period of intense anticommunism. Miller uses the character of John Proctor to put across his views. He is interested in the character who does not allow himself to be caught up in hysteria, but thinks for himself and stands up for his values. Miller wants to teach us, his audience, about social awareness with deep insights into personal weaknesses through his characters. Miller also wants to teach us the important moral lessons about human nature of the notion of goodness. Miller's play deals with difficult and controversial issues making the audience think about the pleasant and unpleasant experiences of humans and relating them to today's modern world. When writing 'The Crucible' Miller was influenced partly by witchcraft. For many hundreds of years there was a belief in witchcraft throughout Europe. This belief in witchcraft persisted among the English colonists in America. In 1692 there was an outbreak of accusations of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, which lead to twenty innocent people executed. In the play John Proctor was one of the twenty innocent people executed. Of those women accused many were old women with knowledge of herbal medicine or other folk remedies, an example of a character with this description would be Rebecca Nurse, who was hanged with John Proctor in the dramatic last scene. The English colonists were Puritans and they felt surrounded by ungodly people and associated the forest with savages and evil. Miller uses this belief in the play at the beginning, when Betty, Abigail and ten or twelve other girls were seen dancing in the forest; this event was greatly frowned upon in the village and led to many accusations. Miller also links his characters to the Salem witchcrafts as during the witchcrafts one man was pressed to death by stones; this links to the character Giles Corey. This trumped-up witch hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts deteriorated the rational and emotional stability of its citizens. This exploited the population's weakest qualities, and insecurities. The obvious breakdown in Salem's social order led to this tragedy. McCarthyism also influenced Miller when writing 'The Crucible'. In the early 1950s Joseph McCarthy, a senator, exploited his fear of communism and managed to create a national campaign against Communists, ex-Communists and anyone associated with them. The play was produced when McCarthy's anti-Communist campaign was at its height

The Lumberjack :: essays research papers

'Timber!'; and with a crash the mighty oak hit the ground. There was never a tree too big or a job too tough for Woody. He enjoyed his job as a lumberjack and with good reason. The pay was good, he had always liked the outdoors and he was good at what he did. In fact, some say he was the best. His friends in the city however said he was crazy for moving away. They said there are so many opportunities in the city, but Woody never wanted opportunities, he just wanted to be a lumberjack. So far this job was running smoothly. They were on schedule and there was an abundance of trees in British Columbia to keep them busy for the next while. It seemed so simple at first. Woody and his crew would cut down the trees and they would be shipped to a nearby river where they would be floated downstream to the new lumber mill. At least this was what was supposed to happen. After the first couple loads, there came reports that the logs weren't reaching their destination. Some of the men started talking about how they were logging on uncharted territory and this was a bad omen. Woody just laughed and said, 'Uncharted territory or not, we have a job to do and I'm not going to let some little thing like this ruin my reputation. I'll go see what the problem is.'; And so Woody packed a bag with supplies and sailed off down the river to find the missing logs. It wasn't long before the lush green landscape of trees he saw around him became a bare region of stumps and small brush. It was almost as if another logging crew had been here before him. He was amazed at the number of trees that had been cut down. It would have taken his entire crew at least a week and yet all of the stumps looked freshly cut. Woody had to find out what was happening. A bit further down the river he found his answer. There in front of him were all of the missing logs. They had became jammed at the base of the biggest beaver dam he had ever seen. He gazed up at it in awe of it's shear size. The river itself was quite wide and this dam covered it from shore to shore.

Disavantage and avantage of parliamentary system

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Parliamentary System A parliamentary system is a system of democratic governance of a state in which the executive branch derives its democratic legitimacy from, and is held accountable to the legislature. The executive and legislative branches are thus interconnected. In parliamentary system, the head of state is normally different from the head of government.However, parliamentary system had its own advantages and disadvantages. One of the common advantages parliamentary system had is that it's faster and easier to pass legislation. This is because that the executive branch is dependent upon the direct or indirect support from the legislative branch. The executive branch is often includes members of the legislature. As the executive branch is made of the majority party or coalition of parties in the legislature, they possess more votes in order to pass legislation. Usually a bill becomes law within a single session of parliament.Besides, in a parli amentary system, with a collegial executive, power is more divided. It can also be argues that power in parliamentary ystem is more evenly spread out in the power structure of parliamentary system. If comparing the prime minister from the parliamentary system and the president from the presidential system, prime minister seldom tends to have as high importance as a ruling president. Parliamentary system tends to be focus more on voting for parties and its political ideas rather than focusing on voting for an actual person.There is also a body of scholarship, associated with Juan Linz, Fred Riggs, Bruce Ackerman, and Robert Dahl that claims that the parliamentary system is likely to or liable to suffer from authoritarian collapse. These scholars point out that World War II, two- thirds of Third World countries establishing parliamentary governments successfully made the transition to democracy. By contrast, no Third World presidential system successfully made the transition to democr acy without experiencing coups and other constitutional breakdowns.One main criticism and benefits of many parliamentary systems is that the head of government is in almost all cases not the electorate, or by a set of electors directly chosen by the people, separate from the legislature. However, in a parliamentary system the prime minister is elected by he legislature, often under the strong influence of the party leadership. Thus, a party's candidate for the head of government is usually known before the election, possibly making the election as much about the person as the party behind him or her.Another major criticism of the parliamentary system lies precisely in its purported advantage which is no truly independent body to oppose and veto legislation passed by the parliament, and therefore no substantial check on legislative power. Conversely, because of the lack of inherent separation of powers, some believe that a parliamentary system can place too much power in the xecutive entity, leading to the feeling that the legislature or Judiciary have little scope to administer checks or balances on the executive.However, parliamentary systems may be bicameral, with an upper house designed to check the power of the lower. Although parliamentarianism has been praised for allowing an election to take place at any time, the lack of a definite election calendar can be abused. In some parliamentary systems, such as the British, a ruling party can schedule elections when it feels that it is likely to do well, and so avoid elections at times of unpopularity. Thus, by wise timing of elections, in a parliamentary system a party can extend its rule for longer than is feasible in a functioning presidential system.This problem can be alleviated somewhat by setting fixed dates for parliamentary elections, as is the case in several of Australia's state parliaments. In other systems, such as the Dutch and the Belgian, the ruling party or coalition has some flexibility in det ermining the election date. Conversely, flexibility in the timing of parliamentary elections avoids having periods of legislative gridlock that can occur in a fixed period presidential system.

The Lady and the Tiger Reading Response

Emma Olmstead Period 4 3-3-12 Class number 14 The Lady or the Tiger By: Frank Stockton This story leaves the reader filled with curiosity. The author doesn’t make the conclusion, or ending, very clear, and instead, leaves the reader to decide how they perceive, or want the story to end. â€Å"And so I leave it with all of you! Which came out of the opened door-the lady, or the tiger? (page ) If I had to make a prediction to guess the result, I would think it was the tiger that came out by the clues/hints throughout the storyline. The ruler of the village has a very interesting way of punishing criminals, and people from the town can even choose to watch- if they are brave enough to watch a horrendous scene or watch a hilarious event that is unexpected to happen, unless they may already know what will happen-of course.The king’s lover stood in the audience knowing which was behind the two doors. She also knew who the lady was-the most fairest and loveliest of the damsel s of who could have been selected as the reward of the accused youth, and she hated this lady. So the most probable or reasonable outcome would be that she wanted him to suffer rather than for him to marry and fall in love with a women whom she despised. I still wonder why the author made the ending the way it was.I think this story shows how your actions could possibly cost you your life. After reading this story, I will always think carefully about what I do- what is right and what is wrong. Although this story is described as in a semi-barbaric village, it still shows a very meaningful message. I really enjoyed this story and it can really teach someone an important lesson to make their decisions in life wisely. Word Count: 317 words The Lady and the Tiger Reading Response Emma Olmstead Period 4 3-3-12 Class number 14 The Lady or the Tiger By: Frank Stockton This story leaves the reader filled with curiosity. The author doesn’t make the conclusion, or ending, very clear, and instead, leaves the reader to decide how they perceive, or want the story to end. â€Å"And so I leave it with all of you! Which came out of the opened door-the lady, or the tiger? (page ) If I had to make a prediction to guess the result, I would think it was the tiger that came out by the clues/hints throughout the storyline. The ruler of the village has a very interesting way of punishing criminals, and people from the town can even choose to watch- if they are brave enough to watch a horrendous scene or watch a hilarious event that is unexpected to happen, unless they may already know what will happen-of course.The king’s lover stood in the audience knowing which was behind the two doors. She also knew who the lady was-the most fairest and loveliest of the damsel s of who could have been selected as the reward of the accused youth, and she hated this lady. So the most probable or reasonable outcome would be that she wanted him to suffer rather than for him to marry and fall in love with a women whom she despised. I still wonder why the author made the ending the way it was.I think this story shows how your actions could possibly cost you your life. After reading this story, I will always think carefully about what I do- what is right and what is wrong. Although this story is described as in a semi-barbaric village, it still shows a very meaningful message. I really enjoyed this story and it can really teach someone an important lesson to make their decisions in life wisely. Word Count: 317 words

Personal statment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal statment - Essay Example It was when I was contemplating about this that I fully realized how much I wanted to assist people develop their personality from an early stage of their life. When I completed my undergraduate studies, I realized that I wanted to pursue my masters in a career related to my passion and that is when I decided that the most appropriate field was in childhood development. To mention something about myself, I am Summah Alsuleman from Capital Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Since I was young I have been taught by numerous teacher but when I think about my learning experience, I appreciate the role that the teachers who taught me when I was below ten years played. They instilled in me a desire to learn and help others learn, which I believe has made me who I am. I have always wanted to understand how the mind of a child works and I believe that spending time with children would be one of the best ways to do so. Additionally, I understand children tend to accumulate a lot of information. It is thus the most appropriate time to impart good learning skills since this would help shape the future of such children. I believe that the childhood stage is very important and it is at this stage that good learning strategies should be cultivated. I tend to be excited by watching children learn and I believe I would be more contented to participate in their learning proces s. I have always valued the role of an educator and often found myself coaching my younger siblings. As I coached them, I recognized how easy it is to instill a positive or a negative attitude towards education on a child at this stage. I often came up with different strategies to make learning easy and fun, which made my siblings develop excellent attitude towards education. I believe that is what early childhood teachers should have, the desire to teach the young children to learn and love doing so. It is so thrilling to watch a child learn a new concept each day and

The after life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The after life - Essay Example The following paper uses scholarly articles, e-books, and authentic articles available online, to explain the concept of life after death in the religion of Islam. It will also enlighten the reader about the factors that if performed in the world can lead to happier times in the life hereafter. Many people are scared to die perhaps because they are not aware of the fact that what will happen next. However, Islam is one religion that explains thoroughly as to what awaits an individual in life hereafter. It also lays down the principles that are of benefit in this life as well as the hereafter. Therefore, it is these principles or in the nonprofessional terms the deeds that will describe the quality of life beyond this tangible world. Nevertheless, before unfurling the concept of life after death it is important be familiar with the concept of Islam and its teachings in general. Islam: As a Religion Islam is a religion based on the oneness of God named Allah and in the believe that Muh ammad is his last prophet. Muhammad was born in the Arab world which was back then lead an ignorant life. Rights were denied to females, female child was buried alive and there was law that could protect people. Thus, Prophet Muhammad was sent as a mercy to the people of Arab and the entire humanity. It is believed that the prophet received revelations from God through angel Gibereal, the revelations were conserved on different mediums in the life of the prophet and after his demise the revelation were compiled in the form of a book which was called Quran. All the verses in the Quran are as authentic as they were revealed to the prophet Muhammad, i.e. not even a single word has been changed since then. The teachings of Islam stand erect on the five pillars and the 7 articles of faith that include the following: Articles of Faith 1. Oneness of Allah (no one is worthy of worship except one God) 2. Predestination 3. In the angels of Allah 4. In the messengers of Allah (The Prophets) 5. In the day of Judgment 6. In life hereafter. Pillars of Islam 1. Witness (Islamic Creed) 2. 5 daily prayers 3. Fasting in the prescribed month 4. Alms giving (Zakat) 5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj: At least once in a life time) However, the Articles of Faith can be grouped in to three broader categories: 1. Oneness of Allah 2. Prophet hood 3. The day of judgment A Muslim is required to believe in the above-mentioned categories. It is the category i.e. the Day of Judgment that sheds light upon the life after death. The evidence in the Holy book of Muslims, the Quran provides evidence in the following verse: â€Å" Did you not think that We had created you in play and that you would not be brought back to us?† (Quran, chapter number: 23, Verse number: 115). â€Å"And those who disbelieve say ‘when we have become dust we and our fathers, shall we really be brought forth again?’† (Quran chapter number 27, Verse Number: 67) The above-mentioned verses make it inc umbent upon the Muslims to believe in life after death. In addition, in the Holy Quran Allah has promised a glorious life that will be for the believers alone. Moreover, it will be a reward for those believers who spent their life in remembrance of God, fearing him, and following the teachings of his beloved prophet Muhammad who is also considered the seal of prophets (Egan 10-11). The

East Asian Community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

East Asian Community - Essay Example During the ASEAN summit held in Tokyo, Japan, the member nations of the ASEAN made an official proclamation declaring East Asian Community to be a major goal of ASEAN nations including China, Japan, and Korea. And on December 2005, the first East Asian summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. The EAC will comprise China, Japan, Korea, ASEAN nations, additionally India, Australia and New Zealand are also invited to join. The agenda for the first East Asian Summit have to establish yet, so far the parties involved have limited themselves to hoping that EAS will create the basis for an East Asian Community based on "common values" and a "common identity." However, they have yet to define exactly what values and identity they have in mind. Such an approach does not give much reason to believe that East Asia is on the brink of some radical new master plan (Berkofsky 2005). But how will the emergence of East Asian Community mean to U.S. interest in the region How will it affect the U.S.-Asian relationship Is this an anti-American movement The Issues and Insights vol. 5 no.9 "The Emerging East Asian Community: Should Washington be concerned" by Ralph Cossa, Simon Ta, and Lee Chung-min discusses key issues relating to the emerging East Asian Community. Ralph Cossa wrote in the first chapter his argument from an American perspective. He believed that it is still too early to measure U.S. attitude towards East Asian Community since it is not yet properly defined. Even governance within the Asian communities has barely evolved. It is not even clear what East Asia is composed of. Cossa also believes that East Asian Community will have a long way to go, considering the Asian track record in APEC, ASEAN plus 3, and ARF. The ASEAN since 1967, historically been reluctant to delve into security maters, even among its own members, much less with it's extended dialogue partners. The U.S. sees ARF as ineffective also, Taiwan has not been permitted to join and China insertion that internal affairs is not to be an agenda despite their obvious regional implication. The Asian avoidance of internal affair issues also placed some important topics off limits. However, APEC provided the U.S. a good venue for promotion of free trade and fight for terr orism, but ARF remains inserted to talk rather than actually helping. U.S. attitude will depend on how EAC will evolve and how it will interact with Washington. The U.S. will welcome a pro-active ASEAN that emphasize on security cooperation and joint approaches to security challenges. Washington is also wary of China to gain control in shaping the agenda, the role which is played by ASEAN today. Another issue is whether EAC will support or supplement advance broader dialogue or will it used as excused for inaction and any effort to diminish U.S. influence in the region. Will EAC reinforce or dilute counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation is another agenda for the Washington. Moreover, U.S. is interested in the EAC criteria for membership, mission, objectives, and priorities. Cossa also assert that it will be difficult for China, Japan and Korea to sit on one table and no one is sure what to do with North Korea.Simon Tay's argument on the other hand, analyzes the matter from an A sian point of view. His main assertion is that the regionalism sentiment in East Asia is neither an Anit-American movement nor a move to