Welcome to English III. This is our blog spot. Here we will share our feelings and ideas about the works we are studying. I encourage you to be honest, but I EXPECT you to be mature and respectful.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
There are wheels within wheels...
Ann Putnam's statement in Act One of
The Crucible that "...there are wheels within wheels and fires within
fires" in Salem village presents one of the major themes of the
play--selfishness/self-directed society. Which character do you feel is most
self-directed and why? How does his/her self-motivation "spin" the wheels of
others?In this blogging, you must read the
responses given by your fellow classmates who posted before you. Not only must
you add to the conversation, you must reply to their responses. I will start
this comments. The person who comments after me cannot write about the same
person I did and must make some comment about what I said.(The deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight
Saturday, September 22, 2011.)
The person I find most self-serving is Rev. Samuel Parris. His desire to protect his professional status and his paranoia that he is being persecuted dominate his thinking. Had he told that he saw his daughter and neice dancing in the forest instead of protecting his name, innocent people like Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor would not have been called out for witchcraft. It greatly troubles me when people put themselves and their personal reputations before the common good and justice.
I feel that Abigail is the most selfish character. She manipulates people to get what she wants and she lies. She, like Rev. Parris as Ms. Palombo said, would much rather blame others than let herself get caught. She named innocent people and this will cause many effects.
I do agree with you, Mrs. Palombo. Reverend Samuel Parris does want to think only about himself. To me, it seems like he want to put words in everyone's mouth so he would keep his stature and reputation upright. Exactly as you have said in your last sentence, he has put his reputations before justice and doing what is right. I think that Abigail seems to be a bit self-directed. She is hiding a relationship that she had with Proctor, and she lied many times to Reverend Parris about her in the woods. Abigail just want to find someone to put the blaim off on. At first, she was blaming Tituba, but then she decided to agree with Tituba when she started saying other people were calling the Devil. She also hates Elizabeth Proctor, and, to me, it seems like she would probably do whatever to get rid of her. Abigail's self-motivation puts others in danger and helps mix up the words of everyone's story. Her story changes also throughout the book.
I completely agree with Mrs. Palombo's last statement; it made me angry when Parris put his own ministry before his daughter and other dying children! Abigail was also selfish for blaming others and for trying to break up John Proctor's marriage. Putnam was another selfish character. He only cared about messing up other people's reputations and protecting his own.
I agree with all of you, Abigail and Paris were both extremely self centered and put their own desires well ahead others.However, I found Goody Putnam to be just as selfish as all of the above mentioned characters in that she insists on relating all events to her dead children. To her, nothing matters but her own flesh and blood and she will not let others forget that she feels superior to them and that they should weep and mourn for her children. C.A. 1st Block
I agree with Mrs. Palombo about Reverend Parris being self-centered, only caring about his reputation. Also, I agree that it is especially sad that he put his reputation over the "bewitched", dying children. When trying to get Abigail to confess, he mentions his reputation several times before he mentions Ruth, his daughter. Even when he does mention her, he refers to her as Abigail's cousin. Additionally, while I do believe Ann Putnam is being selfish, I don't think she is the most selfish or that she does it purposely. Her being described as "death-ridden", I believe, signifies that she has been through so much trauma over losing (not one, not two, but) SEVEN children that she is in a mental haze and unable to escape. I definitely agree that Abigail is the most selfish character because she is manipulative and a liar; everything must go her way. Starting all of the chaos was basically her doing, and she did it all as a ploy to have Elizabeth Proctor killed so that she could fill in Elizabeth’s shoes. She will see innocent people be accused and die because of her just so she could MAYBE be with John. Another character that could be seen as selfish is Reverend Hale. He is just excited to get a case; he has no real care for the children. In order to make sure he can be the hero, he uses the power of suggestion to get answers out. The people in the scene want it to be the doings of witch-craft, so he makes it seem that way so that he can be seen as a brilliant, all-knowing man. Also, a description in the book of him suggests that he does not really believe in all of this nonsense.
I think I agree with everyone on these statements. However, I most agree with Mrs. Palombo and Catherine on Rev. Parris and Goody Putnam being the most self- directed. I think it is completely ridiculous that Reverend Parris only cares about how witchcraft in the town may affect is reputation, while his own DAUGHTER is possibly dying before his own eyes. It seems like he just can not care for anything but himself. He is 'spinning others wheels' by simply not caring about anyone. The same is with Goody Putnam. She is so self centered by only thinking about her life and her grievances of losing children. She relates everything to her own lost babies, even other dying people, which i think is horrible. Matters are already bad enough in the town of Salem, and her always complaining doesnt make things any better- she only spins the wheels more.
I completely agree with everyone's statements, but I still find Abigail the most selfish of them all. Betraying her best friend, of all people, is probably the biggest example of selfishness portrayed in this book. By her throwing her her best friend under the bus, she somewhat sets the mood for everyone to point fingers, "spinning the wheels" of the other characters.
9 comments:
The person I find most self-serving is Rev. Samuel Parris. His desire to protect his professional status and his paranoia that he is being persecuted dominate his thinking. Had he told that he saw his daughter and neice dancing in the forest instead of protecting his name, innocent people like Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor would not have been called out for witchcraft. It greatly troubles me when people put themselves and their personal reputations before the common good and justice.
I feel that Abigail is the most selfish character. She manipulates people to get what she wants and she lies. She, like Rev. Parris as Ms. Palombo said, would much rather blame others than let herself get caught. She named innocent people and this will cause many effects.
I do agree with you, Mrs. Palombo. Reverend Samuel Parris does want to think only about himself. To me, it seems like he want to put words in everyone's mouth so he would keep his stature and reputation upright. Exactly as you have said in your last sentence, he has put his reputations before justice and doing what is right. I think that Abigail seems to be a bit self-directed. She is hiding a relationship that she had with Proctor, and she lied many times to Reverend Parris about her in the woods. Abigail just want to find someone to put the blaim off on. At first, she was blaming Tituba, but then she decided to agree with Tituba when she started saying other people were calling the Devil. She also hates Elizabeth Proctor, and, to me, it seems like she would probably do whatever to get rid of her. Abigail's self-motivation puts others in danger and helps mix up the words of everyone's story. Her story changes also throughout the book.
I completely agree with Mrs. Palombo's last statement; it made me angry when Parris put his own ministry before his daughter and other dying children! Abigail was also selfish for blaming others and for trying to break up John Proctor's marriage. Putnam was another selfish character. He only cared about messing up other people's reputations and protecting his own.
I agree with all of you, Abigail and Paris were both extremely self centered and put their own desires well ahead others.However, I found Goody Putnam to be just as selfish as all of the above mentioned characters in that she insists on relating all events to her dead children. To her, nothing matters but her own flesh and blood and she will not let others forget that she feels superior to them and that they should weep and mourn for her children.
C.A. 1st Block
I agree with Mrs. Palombo about Reverend Parris being self-centered, only caring about his reputation. Also, I agree that it is especially sad that he put his reputation over the "bewitched", dying children. When trying to get Abigail to confess, he mentions his reputation several times before he mentions Ruth, his daughter. Even when he does mention her, he refers to her as Abigail's cousin. Additionally, while I do believe Ann Putnam is being selfish, I don't think she is the most selfish or that she does it purposely. Her being described as "death-ridden", I believe, signifies that she has been through so much trauma over losing (not one, not two, but) SEVEN children that she is in a mental haze and unable to escape. I definitely agree that Abigail is the most selfish character because she is manipulative and a liar; everything must go her way. Starting all of the chaos was basically her doing, and she did it all as a ploy to have Elizabeth Proctor killed so that she could fill in Elizabeth’s shoes. She will see innocent people be accused and die because of her just so she could MAYBE be with John. Another character that could be seen as selfish is Reverend Hale. He is just excited to get a case; he has no real care for the children. In order to make sure he can be the hero, he uses the power of suggestion to get answers out. The people in the scene want it to be the doings of witch-craft, so he makes it seem that way so that he can be seen as a brilliant, all-knowing man. Also, a description in the book of him suggests that he does not really believe in all of this nonsense.
I think I agree with everyone on these statements. However, I most agree with Mrs. Palombo and Catherine on Rev. Parris and Goody Putnam being the most self- directed. I think it is completely ridiculous that Reverend Parris only cares about how witchcraft in the town may affect is reputation, while his own DAUGHTER is possibly dying before his own eyes. It seems like he just can not care for anything but himself. He is 'spinning others wheels' by simply not caring about anyone. The same is with Goody Putnam. She is so self centered by only thinking about her life and her grievances of losing children. She relates everything to her own lost babies, even other dying people, which i think is horrible. Matters are already bad enough in the town of Salem, and her always complaining doesnt make things any better- she only spins the wheels more.
I completely agree with everyone's statements, but I still find Abigail the most selfish of them all. Betraying her best friend, of all people, is probably the biggest example of selfishness portrayed in this book. By her throwing her her best friend under the bus, she somewhat sets the mood for everyone to point fingers, "spinning the wheels" of the other characters.
I just realized that I put second block instead of first block...
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