5: An Author's Legacy

Watch the following video:

Arthur Miller states that a great play must inform the people of their societies' problems.  It is true that authors--after death--leave their legacies behind, specifically what infuriated them about their societies.  Considering this philosohpy, decide upon the most powerful point Arthur Miller conveyed to people.  Argue your point by supporting it with evidence from the text.

4: The Importance of a Title

        The word “crucible” is used once in the play but for an important reason; it is its title.  With that point made, the word "crucible"  has two definitions: (1) “severe test” and (2) "a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures." Discuss the meaning of the title and its connection to the play.  You must support your claims with thorough evidence from the text.  How is it an effective title?  You may also discuss the importance and connotation of “heat” in the play.

Notes from Today

VOCABULARY WORDS FOR 5/9

72. supercilious (adj)—excessively proud; arrogant

SAMPLE SENTENCE:

73.  cajole (v)—coax; wheedle; flatter; sweet talk

SAMPLE SENTENCE:

Then, copy down this quote at the top of a blank sheet of paper:

It was an extraordinary gift of hope…such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.  No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily close out my interest in the abortive (fruitless/without a product) sorrows and short-winded (short-lived/not lasting) elations (ecstasy) of men (HUMANS).

1. Extraordinary—amazing—positive connotation (other words with positive connotations from passage: hope, gift, dreams, elations)—GATSBY—From these words, Gatsby is characterized as a good man.
2. Prey—hunted (Animals that are hunted: rabbits, mice, deer—animals of innocence/purity)  This word choice illuminates Gatsby’s vulnerability, innocence, and purity.  He is the prey.  It also emphasizes Gatsby’s helplessness in the situation.
3. It—The thing/the person—The story, although titled The Great Gatsby, is really about the “it” that preyed upon Jay Gatsby.  The narrator chooses to tell this story because he is truly bothered by what preyed upon Gatsby.  Thus, the focus of the story is the “it” and not GATSBY himself.  The “it” is what changes our narrator.  The “it” closes our narrator off from society.
4. IT—FOUL DUST—PREDATOR—Right from the start, our narrator indicates to us that it is a battle between GOOD (GATSBY) AND BAD (IT).
5. wake—funeral—The word “wake hints at/provides us with the image of death. It also brings to mind the image of water (waves).  It highlights the concept of the rippling effects of water.
6. From the last section of this passage, we can see that this experience had a traumatizing effect on our narrator.  He feels that sorrows are useless and that happiness is always short-lived.

3: Arthur Miller's Intention

        Read the following excerpt from an interview with Arthur Miller.  Throughout the year, we have discussed that an author writes to expose the injustices he/she sees in the world.  With this in mind, were Miller's intentions  SUCCESSFULLY AND EFFECTIVELY conveyed through The Crucible.  Use one (1) THOROUGH EXAMPLE in your response to support your claim. 

Miller’s response to why he wrote the play:

…I wished for a play that would show the sin of public terror as it divests man of conscience, of himself. I had known of the Salem witch hunt for many years before “McCarthyism” had arrived and it had always remained in inexplicable darkness to me. When I looked into it now, however, it was with the contemporary situation at my back, particularly the mystery of the handing over of conscience, which seemed to me the central and informing fact of the time. The central impulse for writing was not the social, but the interior psychological question of that guilt rising in Salem which the hysteria merely unleashed, but did not create. Consequently, the structure reflects that understanding, and it centers on John, Elizabeth, and Abigail.

NOTE: You may have to look up some of the vocabulary to truly understand Miller's point.

2: Elizabeth Proctor's Dilemma

Watch the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Y_MeLaZuKYs&feature=endscreen


In a well-developed paragraph, discuss your interpretation of Elizabeth Proctor.  How do you see her dilemma?  What does it say about her if she willingly lied in court about John?  Remind yourself of Act 2 because in that scene she will not let him forget his sin.

REMEMBER:  The quote worksheet...

1: John Proctor's Confession

In lieu of a formal class test on The Crucible, you will be responding to 5 posts, Monday through Friday of this week.  Each post will be worth 20 points.  Here is today's question.  Watch the film clip below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Eel02K-WPo

In a well-structured paragraph, discuss and evaluate this man's analysis of John Proctor's confession.  He calls John Proctor a savior.  Are Proctor's actions at the end of the play as valiant as this man claims them to be?  Why or why not?

NOTE: The quote worksheet must be handed in by FRIDAY, without exception.

SAT

Answers to Reading Section #9:

7. D (easy)
8. E (medium)
9. D (medium)
10. D (medium)
11. B (medium)
12. C (easy)
13. A (medium)
14. E (medium)
15. C (medium)
16. B (medium)
17. E (medium)
18. A (medium)
19. D (medium)

Strategies for the SAT:

VOCABULARY—

• Define A-E before reading the sentence.
• Read the sentence, paying close attention to the KEY word(s) that hint at the definition(s) that you are looking for.
• Try to fill in the blank(s) on your own.
• Re-examine the choices (A-E), and select the BEST answer.

GRAMMAR—

• Bracket all prepositional phrases to avoid confusion.  This strategy will help you highlight the subject and verb.
• Mark the subject and verb. Make sure that they agree (e.g., if the subject is singular, then the verb should be singular)
• If there is more than one verb in the sentence, make sure that they are all in the same tense.
• Check the comma usage by running through the comma rules we’ve been studying (e.g., prepositional phrase, transition, subordinating conjunction, coordinating conjunction)
• Check the semi-colon usage.
• If you still cannot locate the error, check for the following concepts:
• parallelism (if there is a list in the sentence, this could be the answer)
• pronoun-antecedent agreement
• modifiers (make sure that the modifier matches the subject of the sentence)

READING—

• Look at the questions to see the line numbers that you are supposed to examine.  Mark those line numbers on your passage.
• Read the italicized print before the passage.  It will help to set up the context of the passage.  It will also help give you an overview of what the passage is about.
• Read the passage in its entirety.  Annotate as you read.
• Answer the questions, rereading not just the singular line numbers but the paragraph or line before and after.

GOOD LUCK! :)