The Crucible Pre-Writing Groups Discussion

Ford~Quinn English 11 www.quinnenglish.blogspot.com, @quinnenglish200

Objectives: Common Core # 1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.    Common Core # 2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.

GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDELINES

1.     Get into groups of 3 or 4.

2.     Read through the possible topics.  Choose one to present as a group to the class.

3.     Discuss each question with the group and possibly come to a consensus.

4.     Create a poster and bullet the answers.  USE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES FROM THE TEXT TO SUPPORT YOUR THINKING

5.     Every student listens, Every Student writes something onto the poster, Every student says something during the presentation

Possible Topics for your Literary Analysis

• SOCIAL DRAMA
1. Compare the 1692 Salem witch-hunt with the Communist "witch hunt" of the 1950s in America. Were the investigations and trials conducted differently? Was a particular type of person singled out for persecution?
2. What social conditions made such a thing as the Salem witchcraft possible? Do any of these conditions exist today? If so, is there a chance that this might happen again?
3. The Crucible had little effect in stopping the "Red-baiting" it was written against. Why do you think it failed? Was there anything Arthur Miller could have done differently in writing the play to make more people listen to him?
4. Find and record two quotes from the play to support your thinking. Include the quote and the page number on the poster.
• PERSONAL TRAGEDY
1. Discuss the love triangle of Elizabeth-John-Abigail. What effect does this tense relationship have on each character? What effect would it have on the community if it were made public?
2. Compare Elizabeth Proctor with Abigail Williams. How well do they understand each other? What does John see in each of them? What makes John reject Abigail and confess to Elizabeth?
3. Discuss Proctor's "nihilism," (a philosophy- an extreme form of skepticism.  That denies all existence.  desire for destruction. Where does it come from? How does he escape from it and find his "goodness" in the end?
4. In Act IV, Elizabeth tells John Proctor that "whatever you will do, it is a good man does it." What does she mean? What is the "shred of goodness" that he finds in himself when he tears up his confession?
• SUPERSTITION
1. What is the religious background of the Salem witchcraft? Were these people fanatics who were half-crazy anyway? Or were they noble visionaries who somehow went astray?
2. Find and record two quotes from the play to support your thinking. Include the quote and the page number on the poster.
• GREED AND VENGEANCE
1. How much of what happened in Salem can be blamed on cold-blooded manipulation of events for the purpose of profit or revenge? Is it possible today that a few greedy and/or vengeful people could instigate another witch-hunt?
2. Find and record two quotes from the play to support your thinking. Include the quote and the page number on the poster.
• AUTHORITY
1. Discuss the concept of authority under the Puritan theocracy. Who were the powerful? And how did they get their power?
2. Part of what went wrong in Salem came from a dispute over who had the authority to decide whether or not witchcraft was being practiced in a particular instance. How did this dispute arise? How was it resolved? How is authority presented in The Crucible?
3. Is Proctor's downfall ultimately caused by what the judges see as his rebellion against authority?
4. Find and record two quotes from the play to support your thinking. Include the quote and the page number on the poster.
• THEOCRACY
1. Compare the theocracy of the Puritans with the looser form of government in Virginia at the same time. Which was better? Which was more successful?
2. Find and record two quotes from the play to support your thinking. Include the quote and the page number on the poster.
3. What are the problems inherent in a theocracy? Whose interpretations of God's law are right and whose are wrong? Is it possible to govern people's spiritual lives as well as their physical lives?
• JUSTICE
1. Nearly all of Arthur Miller's plays have one character who is connected with the law- a policeman, a judge, a lawyer. Compare these characters. Taking them in order, is it possible to see a pattern or development in Arthur Miller's thinking about justice?
2. Hale says in Act IV: "Life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it." Do you agree?
3. Is there no justice in what happened in Salem, even in the long run? Did any good come of it?
4. Find and record two quotes from the play to support your thinking. Include the quote and the page number on the poster.