John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

    If you ask me, the character of John Proctor is neither a hero, nor a stooge in The Crucible. However, I feel that he had the potential of being an aspiring hero in the play. Obviously Proctor is no saint. Some reasons that cause me to believe so is the fact that he does not go to church every Sunday, he can not name the Ten Commandments, and only two of his three children are baptized. He even committed lechery by "getting to know" Abigail. So why, then, do I think he could in fact be a hero? Well, despite the fact that he has made lots of errors and proved unfaithful more than once, he was the one who began to suspect that Abigail and the other girls were lying about the witchcraft just so they could get attention. Also, he was the one who wanted to take the matter to the court and try to free his wife, along with hundreds of others accused. He even admitted to his lechery in an attempt to make the judges believe his evidence. In fact, Proctor could have been the hero at this point, had Elizabeth not lied about why she fired Abigail from being their servant. Although John Proctor's evidence and claims were overlooked by the court officials, it was the thought that counted. Just the fact that he tried to help and tried to free the accused rather than just sitting around and watching it happen, not caring about anyone other than himself shows that he is most definitely not a stooge. While these claims may not prove that he is also not a hero physically, he had the mentality of a hero throughout most of the witchcraft nonsense, and this is why I believe that he could be a hero if more people had believed his claims and worked with him rather than against him.

There Goes the Neighborhood

     

When two or more groups settle into the same area, anything can come of it. Some people will get along better than others; however, if it is anything like the European settlers and the Native Americans, there may be some serious conflicts between the groups. A more modern day connection I can make to this is when you start living somewhere and you have to live with a roommate.

Some benefits of two or more groups sharing the same living space is trade and/or collaboration. At first, the Natives and Europeans lived together in harmony and traded goods and lived normal lives. Also, In my opinion, if they would have been able to look past their differences, they could have worked together in building our nation.

Sometimes, however, settling together can cause major discomfort, especially if you are nothing like the other group of people. In the case of the Europeans and the Natives, they lived very different lives and had different beliefs. At first, they lived together in harmony and traded goods and lived normal lives. After some time the Europeans wanted to expand and they took lots of the Native Americans' land. This led to many feuds and they resented each other for most years. Another reason the two could not get along was because the Puritans could not convert the Natives to their religion, and they ultimately declared them to be demonic. Since the Puritans had such strong beliefs, there was no way they could live with each other in peace.

        These points can both connect to living with a roommate because if you get along great with the person you live with, everything in life will occur smoothly. On the other hand, still going along with my modern day connection, if you can't stand the person you live with and there is just constant fighting among the two of you, everyone's lives are going to be just that much harder and someone might even end up leaving the area. So overall I think sharing the same living space can have its pros and cons.

Me

My name is Sara Woods. I live on the far southwest side of Chicago in Mt. Greenwood with both of my parents and my three younger siblings; a sister named Nora and two brothers named John and Joey. I also have three pets; a dog, a cat, and a turtle. Outside of school, I like to play sports, read, and spend times with friends. When it comes to sports, I would say I am a pretty good athlete, but the sports I'm best at are soccer and volleyball. I played volleyball for six years for my former elementary schools and one year in high school, but last year was my last year because I decided I would rather play soccer. I have been playing soccer since kindergarten, so after this season it will have been about eleven years since I started. Besides playing for our school's team, I also play for an Under-18 travel team. My favorite book is called Looking for Alaska by John Green. I enjoy reading any books that he has written. I also usually like mystery books. When it comes to school, I would have to say that my favorite subject is math because it comes pretty easy to me. My least favorite subject is probably history because I find it kind of boring and it is hard for me to focus in class.