Declaration of Independence

As students of the Grosse Pointe public school districts, we the students have certain rights. These rights have been repeatedly infringed upon, and we have deemed it necessary to form an alliance together to stand up against the oppressors once and for all to declare our independence. This document will ensure that the students and teachers alike can work in harmony to produce a healthy and fun atmosphere for learning.  Whether the matter is health conditions or pertaining to the respect of the administrators, all of the items listed below have been deemed as basic rights that every student in the Grosse Pointe districts should hold

Teachers should respect students. This goes the same for students respecting teachers of course, but as long as the students are paying due amount of reverence towards the teacher, he or she should receive the same. Stupid questions do not exist. Teachers should not be able to disregard a question ever, even if has already been asked. Students can’t be expected to be listening 100% of the time.  On a related note, students should be allowed to have extra help as needed. Teachers should be willing to give up there lunch hour to assist students, or, at the very least, direct them to another student for help. Another basic right is the right to choose your schedule. Choosing classes is a key right, as this allows students more freedom in choices and helps decide what career path to go down. Having the best technology possible is a clear basic right for students. The school district should be doing everything in their power to provide students with technology that allows them to learn better and faster. A commonly overlooked, but essential, right is the right to have good, clean water. The water fountains at South are completely disgusting and are probably violating some sort of health code. They taste like metal and blood and should be fixed immediately.  As well as all of these other examples, the most important one by far is the right to feel safe in the school environment. Whether it be from internal or external forces, no student should have to go to school feeling like they are in danger there. The administration should always be doing everything in their power not only to keep the students safe, but to also make them feel safe. 

I.                    Instead of thirty six minute lunches, South has to provide an hour and fifteen minutes.  This is students’ only free time of the day, and thirty-six minutes is barely sufficient to eat.  Lunch should be a time to relax, and rushing to finish eating is not exactly relaxing.  It is the only break in the long seven hour school day.  This time should be spent doing whatever students’ wish, whether it’s walking to Farms Market and getting some fresh air, or just relaxing in the commons and socializing with friends.  Whatever kids chose, lunch should be a complete mental break.  A full seventy-five minute period would allow students to return to class rejuvenated and ready to focus, which would increase productivity.  Grosse Pointe South students demand a longer lunch period. 

II.                  Grosse Pointe South must supply laptops to each student for use in school and at home.  In almost every class, note taking is used by teaches.   This is a very effective method of teaching, yet can be time consuming.  Note taking would be a great deal faster if students had access to laptops, and could type their notes on a Word document.  Laptops that students could carry from class to class would also allow internet research to be done in class.   This would undoubtedly increase the efficiency of students in class. Also, because most assignments that require computers are completed at home, the access to them in class could reduce the amount of homework.   And for those students who don’t always have a computer available to them at their house, because of financial issues or having to share with siblings, the ability to take a laptop home would be greatly beneficial.  Students at Grosse Pointe South need to have laptops both in and outside the classroom to increase overall productivity. 

III.               There needs to be one full hour designated for nap taking.  In classes, countless students are always falling asleep because of exhaustion.  Research shows that teenagers need 9-11 hours of sleep to be fully rested, but that number is rarely reached because of many factors.  A demanding schedule, caused by loads of homework, sports, and other activities, leads to many students getting less than the adequate amount of sleep.  Since school contributes to the large quantity of homework that keeps students up late at night, it is only fair they provide an hour to let kids catch up.  An extra hour of sleep every day would lead to increased productivity, mood, and energy of the students at Grosse Pointe South.  This would make for an improved learning environment. 

IV.               Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays, and for the most part is loved by all. Many families put a lot of time and preparation into its celebration. Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays of the year to have long periods of family time, and some wish that this did not have to last for only one day. Considering this, it is our suggestion that an entire week of school be given off for its celebration.

V.                  Being as far north as it is, our home state of Michigan can often have very extreme winter weather conditions. The snow can often pile high enough to make even walking on the sidewalk a hassle, and temperatures can easily drop to the point that frostbite is something to worry about. Our district’s reason for having so few snow days is that Grosse Pointe is a walking district, but the majority of South’s students either get a ride from their parents or drive themselves to school. Even the kids that walk often have to deal with extremely low temperatures and very deep snow. Therefore, it is our belief that South should have more days off because of extreme winter weather conditions.

VI.               One of the things that South’s students look forward to the most is holidays. They are an excellent time to relax and take a nice break from school. Because of this, one of the most disappointing things is when there is a holiday but students still have to go to school. Sadly, there are a few holidays out of the year that South does not give even one day off school for. We have the opinion that this should be changed, and that for every holiday, no matter how obscure, at least one day of school should be given off for its celebration.

VII.             The purpose of a school is to provide a child with the best education possible.  Each individual varies from his or her peers.   The option of block scheduling can allow for a more personalized schedule focused on each student’s individual needs.  It allows students to select classes and times that will better stimulate their learning process.  Block scheduling allows for breaks between classes for instance you might have math on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, this allows for breaks which helps students alleviate stress and keeps grades high.  This would also to give students assignments spanning over the break, which can help the student’s time management skills.  Those who have had block scheduling have remarked that the change in scheduling keeps your days from being boring so you tend to be more alert in class. Block scheduling allows for students to be more alert and have classes and schedules that fit their needs thus improving the Childs educations, which is after all, the main goal of the school system.

VIII.          Good grades and an attentive attitude is important to ones high school career.  To maintain grades and stay alert it is important that students come to school with their best mindset, which is why it is important to have breaks on holidays.  Students should have a half-day on Halloween and the day after off.  This will allow students to have a short break to alleviate stress and to enjoy the holiday.   Halloween is a national holiday that should be recognized by the Grosse Pointe Public School System with a day and a half off for the students and staff.  Many students in all three stages of school are out late on the night of October 31, Halloween, and would not be attentive at school the next day.  Giving students a short Halloween break will keep them on track and attentive during school.

IX.                High School is a very important segment of ones school career. It is also one of the more stressful and demanding.  For this reason High School students should not have homework on weekends.  The abolishing of weekend homework will allow for students to rejuvenate over the break and to recharge for the coming school week.  Without homework encumbering the student’s weekend, students will have more time to study for test or review materials covered in class.  This will raise students grades exponentially, students will be more relaxed, attentive, and better prepared for class which will result in higher test scores and grades; which will drastically improve students resumes come time to apply for collegiate study. Abolishing weekend homework will help Grosse Pointe students drastically. 

X.                  School should be adjusted to 4 days a week; the weekend spanning Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  2 days for weekends simply does not suffice for the amount of homework and rest students need.  The week of a typical high school student is extremely stressful and exhausting. The weekend is needed to recover.  Teachers tend to assign more homework on the weekends, though, knowing students will have more time.  This leads to the whole weekend being spent completing schoolwork.  Weekends are needed to relax and rejuvinate, and doing homework all weekend is neither of those things.  The weekends are also a sacred time to be spent with family or friends, seeing as though during the week, students are simply too busy.  Three days for a weekend would allow time for schoolwork, as well as friends, family, and rest. 

We, the students of Grosse Pointe South High School, hereby declare our independence from the Grosse Pointe Public School System. We only asked that we receive the treatment that we by our rights deserved, the treatment that we were neglected when a part of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. If we don’t receive our independence, there will be severe consequences. We may be peaceful and civil; we may boycott classes or organize a sit out on the lawn. Protest what we believe to be a corrupt establishment.  Hold strong to what we want and receive it in a peaceful manner. Or, we may be violent, vandalize the school. Rip doors off their hinges and graffiti the hallways. Break the windows of every educational institution, and yell blood curdling battle cries of freedom that even the bravest soul could not bear to hear. Though we are only students, we will crash board meetings. We will disrupt the very foundation that this educational system is based upon and wreak havoc among the board members, never faltering in doing so until our demands are met. Planting fear in every adult’s heart, because independence is a basic right; all students are naturally born with freedom in their blood. The students’ actions to take control of their independence are unpredictable yet organized, extreme yet understandable. It is best that the students receive independence and no other actions are put in place to stop the progression. By this time, there are no measures that can be taken to reconcile both the students and educational program. In no way can the ties between the two be bonded back together, and form a united assembly once again. Independence has spread to the very heart of the matter and no act can be taken to stop it. Independence will rise, and the Grosse Pointe School System should be prepared to fall.

Crucible Epilogue

            The room was dark and cold, like every other home in Boston. There were candles placed sporadically around the room, but not so many as too create the perfect lighting. Parts of the room were hidden in the dark, such places as every corner of the room. The room was barren except for the fireplace on the left side of the room, a table near the center of the room, and the one bed near the back on which a raggedly girl lay. From a distance she looked like any Boston women, dressed in a long black skirt, an off white blouse, and an apron wrapped around her waist, but up close her face revealed otherwise. Her face sagged, but not in the way faces do when a person gets old. It sagged like the face of a person who had known much regret. Her eyes were blue, but not the beautiful blue that they had possibly been in early times. They were a piercing blue that showed times of hardship and pain. A nurse enters the room and the girl on the bed wakes, frightened by the entrance of the woman. The nurse starts walking over to the girl and stares at her. “Abigail? Abigail, it is time for your supper. Are you awake?” The nurse’s voice was assertive, but the way she spoke made it seem like she cared about Abigail.

Abigail’s voice was weak and her body was frail, but her tone was sharp. “Of course I am listening. I wouldn’t be breathing if I were dead! Have you talked to the doctor? What does he say?” She waited, anticipating an answer. The answer never came. The nurse just stood there looking at Abigail, then looking at her feet. “Nurse, I am waiting!”

“The doctor says he will not be comin’ tonight. He says that there is nothin’ more he can do for ya,” she said as she walked towards the kitchen. “Ma’am would you like me to-”

Abigail was slowly getting out of her bed, but she moved as if her body weighed her down. “What do you mean there is no more he can do? He is a doctor! He should know what is wrong with me and know how to fix it!”

Abigail was now out of her bed and slowly began to shuffle over to the table at the center of the room. She gradually lowered herself into a chair and sighed.

“He says he knows no cure and that we should just wait, and hope, for the best. Now ma’am,” the nurse said as she walked around the cupboards. “It is late and you have not eaten a thing. What would you like? I will make you some supper, but where is the bread? You need food in your stomach and bread is easy to eat.” The nurse was searching hopelessly for the right cupboard.

“Nurse, you have been in my home 2 months now. If you know not where the bread is than it is your stupidity that must be cured, not my illness.” Abigail’s voice was bland, her words were blunt but they were enough to stab the nurse.

“Now Ms. Williams, I will not allow you to talk to me in such a manner. I am an in home nurse, not a slave!”

“Well you do your job so poorly I would think you were a slave.” Abigail’s voice was still monotone, but her temper was rising. “You are also useless to any person but me, so I expect you keep your tone in check as well. Now, the bread is in the pantry not the cupboards. Anyone could have guessed that. Go and fetch some and then we shall-”

“What makes you so bitter?” she yelled. “I have done nothing but serve you and pretend I am your servant, yet all I receive is your hatred. I have done nothing to earn it and you shall not give it to me anymore! Remember that you have no one but me in life, and the day your illness turns for the worst I will be the only one at your bedside. When you are dead and your gravestone lay cold in the winter chill, who do you think will come and lay flowers by the stone to brighten the grass around it? Surely no one but me! I do nothing but please you, so do not treat me as if I were your slave!”

Silence filled the room. Abigail looked shocked, her face contorted into a mixture of pain and sorrow. “I am so sorry Ms. Williams, I did not mean a word of it. I was just upset and-” Abigail’s hand rose to stop the nurse.

“It is I who should be sorry. Do you know what I have been through in my life? The baggage I must carry? The road to death is a bumpy road, you are forced to reminisce on all the things you have done in the past. It is most difficult when you are forced to remember the things I must recollect.”

The nurse seemed interested in what Abigail had to say. “Ma’am, may I ask…What did you do that was so horrendous? You have not but the flaws all women have.”

“I have done much worse.” Her face grew serious. “It all started when I left Salem."

           It was a cold, crisp morning. The sun was just starting to rise, and below the hills there was a quiet little town. The water was lapping onto the shore peacefully, and in the dim morning light you could just make out the silhouettes of two girls standing on the top of one of the hills.

            “Come on Abby, we must leave. Soon the village will wake and learn we have left. They may come looking for us. It’s not like you to be so sentimental. Abby! We have to go!”

            “I’m coming Mercy, hush up.” Abby turned around and started walking. Mercy’s feet were crunching on fallen leaves behind her, trying to catch up. Mercy couldn’t see it, but Abby was silently crying. It hurt her in an odd way to leave Salem knowing that John Proctor would die; the love of her life was sentenced to death due to her games.

            “Do we know where we’re going? I hear there is a boat that leads from a town not too far to Boston. If we hurry, I betcha we can hop on the next boat in two days.” Mercy seemed excited, the thought of a new life made her ecstatic. Her large body swayed side to side as she walked, her arms dangled like socks filled with flour. She waited for the ok from Abby, but she never received it. The rest of the day’s walk was only filled with the noise of the girls’ footsteps and the periodic sniffles coming from Abigail’s direction.

            Many hours later, the light seemed to be fading as they reached a town. The lights below were dim, but they were lit. As the girls descended the hill, they saw a sign that read Inn. The girls quickly hurried over to the door and went inside. The place was dark except for one candle sitting on the desk where a man, the owner of the inn, sat.

            “Can I help you ladies?” he asked in a gruff voice. He was a broad shouldered man with a deep voice and a dark beard. His hair was shaggy and dark like his beard. The girls weren’t afraid, but their faces made them seem frightened.

            “We would like a room please.” Mercy’s voice didn’t falter. She dropped the bag of money that she and Abby had stolen from Parris on the counter. “How much?”

            “Now listen here. If this money wasn’t earned honestly-”

            “The next person to question my morals is dead in my eyes. Do you know what we have been through? All we ask is a room, we will pay double. If you don’t want our money, we can, and will, go elsewhere!” Abby’s voice was strong, but she was on the brink of tears.

            “Ok,” said the man taking the bag. “Lemme show you where your room is.” He grabbed a lamp and led the girls down a hallway. It was dark except for the light coming from the lamp. They reached a door on the left and the man grabbed the handle and shoved it open. “Here ya go, this is your room. If you need anything don’t be afraid to call for me.” He winked at Mercy, and a shudder went up Abigail’s spine.

            “We only stay for one night, and then we take the next boat out to Boston. You understand me?” Abby was frightened but she would not let Mercy see it. She was firm and direct and Mercy took the hint.

            “Whatever you say Abby, I’m exhausted though. We will wake early tomorrow to catch the earliest boat I assume?”

            Abby was already in bed, she looked the most awkward and uncomfortable Mercy had ever seen her in her life. “Yes Mercy, now please…Go to bed.” Mercy climbed under her blanket and drifted to sleep. Abby lay awake for half the night, tossing and turning. She was thinking of John all day long. Today was his day of death, August 19, 1692. “God, I know you may be angry, but I was only trying to help you in your quest to rid the world of evil. Please, send him to heaven. I love him God, I love him and you must save him or I can never forgive myself my sins.” She slowly drifted off still thinking of her love, John Proctor.

            The sun rose, and with it the girls rose. Both had their bags, with the few things they had, packed and were ready to go. They walked out of the inn and never looked back. Abby and Mercy made their way to the water, but right before the entrance to the port Mercy paused. “I can’t do this.”

            Abby slowly turned around. A look of disbelief planted on her face, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You can’t do this? What is that supposed to mean? Mercy we are getting on this boat and we are going to Boston!”

            “No Abby, you are. There is nothing for me in Boston. I-”

            “There is nothing for you here! There is nothing for you anywhere near Salem! Mercy I am getting on this boat and if you’re not with me, so be it.”

            “Abby, I am not getting on that boat. I will find something to do with my life, but by God I will find it here. Near home, they won’t find me.”

            Abby gave Mercy an ultimatum, the only thing she could give her at that point. “Mercy I am leaving, if you don’t come now, don’t come ever.”

            “I am not coming Abby, and don’t expect me any time soon.” Mercy turned her back on Abby. Abby turned around and walked, never looking back at Mercy. She knew this would be the last time they saw each other, but she didn’t care. She was going to get as far away from Salem as she could.

            Abby paid her fair and boarded the boat. She went straight to the front of the open deck and looked towards the open sea. “Here I come Boston, here I come.” Little did Abby know that her road wasn’t going to be that simple. The waters to Boston were rough, but not as rough as Boston itself.

            It was late the day she docked in Boston. She was finally there, the place she had been thinking of since the day she left Salem. As she walked to the nearest inn a man came up to her and grabbed her arm. “Get off me, I don’t know you!”

            “Aw, come on gorgeous.” His voice was rough and the stench of a pub lingered on his clothing.

            Abby managed to pry his fingers off her arm and pushed him away. “I am not what you think I am. Leave me be.”

            “You’re all the same,” the man swore. “Too much damn pride!” He stumbled away and left Abby terrified and scarred. Abby walked to the inn, jumping every time she heard a noise behind her and trying to cover up her jumping when she got frightened. She finally reached the inn and went inside to the counter where another heavy set, scruffy man sat.

            “Can I help you missy?” he asked in a deep and hard voice.

            “I need a room. I just arrived from the boat and I need a room.”

            “Do you have money?’

            “Of course I have money! I am not stupid.” Abby reached inside her pockets, only to learn that with the vanishing of Mercy there was a vanishing of the money. She had left the money in Mercy’s hands and now Mercy was gone. She had left and taken the money with her. “I-I seem to have lost my money, but-”

            “No money, no room. That’s the way it is.”

            “Please, I need a room. I have already been harassed tonight; I will do anything, I just can’t sleep on the streets.”

            “Oh you will? That dress looks pretty.” Abby knew where this was going and she started to back up, but the man behind the counter was quick for his size. He grabbed her by her arm. “Do you want a room or not?”

            “I-I…” Abby couldn’t get out the words she needed to stop what she knew was going to happen. She had lost all will to fight, and he walked her to the door behind the counter.

            It was early morning and Abigail was walking away from the inn. She had no money, and very few clothes. She needed a place to work and a place to stay but she had no money to find or do either one. Then, by some kind act of God, she saw a sign on the door of a bakery. They were looking for a baker’s assistant and board above the shop was included with the job if the job was done well. Abby rushed to the door and ran inside to ask for the job. She told the woman who owned the shop that she would be the best assistant they ever had, and that she had nowhere else to go. By the end of the hour Abigail was learning how to mold bread in the back room. At night she had a place to go, a place to sleep and not worry about strangers coming and seeing her. One year passed by and she moved up in the bakery, before she knew it she was an actual baker and helped the owner sell when things got busy. She managed to earn enough money to buy her own home near the bakery where she could live by herself. But over the next few months she started to come down with many illnesses. She was always sick, and finally her boss told her she needed to have a doctor come and see her.

            When the doctor first visited, he said it may just be a chain of illness due to the air or change in environment, but the more he was called in to see her the more he realized he didn’t know what to diagnose her with. The only thing he could do is have her pay for an in home nurse to help her and hope that she would get better. The nurse came and fall changed to winter, but Abby never got better. Soon enough it was evident that she was never going to get better, Abby just wouldn’t give up hope.

            ***************************************************************

            The room was silent; the nurse didn’t know what to say. Abigail just sat there; she felt no need to fill the silence. “I’m ready nurse. Please help me to my bed.”

            “Oh goodness, I didn’t realize how late it had gotten. Let’s go Ms. Williams.” She helped Abigail up and walked her to the bed. Abigail let the nurse help her under the blankets, and she watched as the nurse walked towards the kitchen area.

            “I really did love him you know,” Abby managed to say.

            “Excuse me?”

            “I loved him, I really did. I don’t care what anyone says, I loved him.”

            “I know you did Ms. Williams,” the nurse said, but Abby never heard her. Abby had finally made her peace with the world, and peace had never looked so good on a person. The nurse covered Abby’s shoulders with the blanket and started to walk towards the door. It was time for her to get the doctor, but she stopped just short of the door. The nurse looked at the ceiling and spoke; she spoke so quietly that no one could hear her. “Bring them together God, bring them together.”

Crucible Essay

Christina Koehler

Honors American Literature

Mr. Provenzano 5^th hour

10 October 2011

Most Responsible for the Salem Witch Trials

            In modern day society, it is easy for children, even adults, to point the finger of blame on those they know are innocent. In Puritan society, this would be unthought-of considering God damns all liars. The Crucible is based around the theme of power, a common theme in many novels and plays. Who holds it, and why they hold are taken into consideration as Arthur Miller writes a play based on Puritan religious hysteria. Power is a dirty thing; it brings out envy and the worst in people. Many will go to great extents to have hold of it and some people go to the extent of death. This is what happens in The Crucible as the power shifts repeatedly and ends up in the hands of the children, the most unlikely to ever hold power. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, many are involved in the witch trials but Abigail, Parris, and Mary Warren should be held primarily responsible.

            No reader can talk about the predominant factors in the witch trials without mentioning Abigail Williams. As a reader, Abigail is the reader that everyone loves to hate but still loves because they have such strong emotions about her. Without Abigail, none of the rumors would have started in the first place. She only started accusing others to save herself and become the center of attention, which then grew into going after people for personal gain. The worst part about what Abigail does is that she knows what she is doing is wrong. In the first act, she even confesses to John Proctor “We were dancin’ in the woods last night, and my uncle leaped in on us. She took fright, is all” (Miller 22). Abigail knows that there is no witchcraft taking place in Salem and she knows that innocent people will die if accused, but she uses the people’s hysteria to increase her power. Worst of all, she is forcing others to hurt innocent people with her, she even tells the other girls, “We danced… And that is all…Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you…I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” (Miller 20)! Abigail uses threats and intimidation to persuade people to join her cause, to join “the winning team.”

            There are some people that she does not have to convince though, and Parris is one of those people. Parris seems so minor when looking at the novel as a whole, but when personally investigating him readers realize just how big a part he played in the innocent deaths of many. Initially we know Parris as a leader, he is the leader of the church, but as the story evolves we realize just how little he is suited for the position. He is not a true leader, just a man who wants power and is in a leadership position. In truth, Parris gives all his power away when he calls in Hale to tell the people there is no witch in Salem, and ever since then he hands away his power in little increments. Readers can see just how useless and pathetic he is when he asks the judges if he may interrogate Mary Warren, and the judges give him a firm and abrupt answer that implies how insignificant he is in their eyes. The judges answer was a no, a mocking of course not. In the judges’ minds, Parris is not powerful or smart enough to get anything of value out of Mary Warren. Parris is only a man who power and is willing to do anything to receive it, but in striving to gain power he gives away the little that he had.

            On the other hand, there is Mary Warren who never dreamt of having power because power means having to make decisions of her own. If there is one character to pity it is Mary Warren, but only because she is so senseless. Mary Warren cannot stand up for herself on any occasion, and even when she tries to show a semblance of self-respect it is crushed by her cowardly nature. She is the epitome of pathetic and is a follower down to the core. Not only is she a follower, but she is indecisive as to who she should follower. Abigail is her first leader, but by the end of the second act she is forced to follow John Proctor and help him save his wife. The only decision that Mary ever makes in the book is when she rips herself away from team John and decides she is on team Abby, but only to save herself from narrowly being accused by the girls. On many occasion, if Mary had just stepped up and answered directly both the readers and Salem would have been spared a longer, more painful, drawn out process. When Cheever showed up to take away Elizabeth Proctor for stabbing Abigail and found a poppet, if Mary had just stood up and said “Yes that was mine, I put the needle in the side for safe keeping and forgot I had put it there,” then Salem would have been saved a whole lot of trouble. Instead when Proctor asks her if the needle was hers and if she put it there she replies “I-I believe I did, sir, I-“(Miller 72). If Mary Warren had been just the slightest bit smarter, than a good fraction of the people who had died for their silence would have lived.

            Although many people could be held accountable for the Salem witch trials, Abigail, Parris, and Mary Warren are the biggest factors in the deaths of so many innocent people. Each of them had reasons for committing such a terrible crime, some reasons even being semi-understandable, but that does not compensate for taking an innocent human life away. Abigail used her power in vain so that she could “win” the man she loved. Parris gave away his power so that he could keep what little order he had left in the church, and Mary Warren had never had power so she did what she knew best and followed the strongest power pulling on her at the time. Every one of them had understandable but poor reasons for letting the witch trials go on for so long, and they will be the ones who rot in Hell, not those that they accused. Those that they accused and hanged, hanged for silence, were the true instruments of God. They were God’s instrument in helping the world walk out of its darker days of ignorance and into the new days of light and truth.

Crucible Post 2

There is a standard that every person holds for themselves. Depending on the person, the standard can range. The standard is actually the image and behavior of themselves in a pure and perfect form. In The Crucible, we as readers see many people in their raw forms. We see Elizabeth and her manipulative ways of holding John by his heart, and we see victims of Abigail falsely confessing to witchcraft. This brings up the question, would you lie to save yourself? Whether from death or ridicule, would I as a person be willing to lower my morals to protect myself? Sadly, the answer is yes. I would like to believe that I am the type of women that would rise above all obstacles and create jealousy among my peers, but I am not. That doesn’t mean I don’t wish I were that person, it just means that I cannot find it in me to be that person. Obviously the consequences of admitting the truth would influence my choice to lie or not, but the fact that I would falter at all is what makes me not so proud of myself. In any case, if I were faced with a situation that could possibly end in death of course I would do anything to save myself. The only time I wouldn’t incriminate myself would be if it meant that I must convict someone else. I would hold strong to my beliefs that no one should suffer or pay the consequences for another person’s actions. Act two has only one great example of this belief, and it is shockingly John Procter who shows it. At the end of act two as his wife Elizabeth is taken away and Mary Warren stands there helpless, he tells Mary Warren that he will not allow his wife to die for him. This very much so differs from the morale of Goody Osbourn who in confessing her “sins” throws Goody Good under the bus. There are many things in life that I could choose to be ashamed of, but strangely enough my choice of standard is not one. Although I am not perfect, I do not walk around pretending I am. I am who I am and the choices I make are not in the least bit fraud. I do what I think is right, and hopefully the characters in The Crucible will do the same.