Thoughts about Salem Residents

Negative Qualities  <------------------------------Both-------------------------------> Positive Qualities

1. believed others corrupt                      1. forefathers were Puritans               1. hard working

                                                               persecuted in England                    2. strict morals

2. no holidays - only occasional              2. close to wilderness                         3. disciplined

    celebrations                                                                                             4. dedicated

3. plenty who did not conform                                                                        5. communal                             

4. difficult conditions: hard                                                                              

    winters, unfertile soil

5. minded each other's business

6. suspicious

7. told on each other to

    magistrates

8. dangers of starting again in the new 

    world were fading and frustrations 

    and envy emerging

9. close to wilderness

10. afraid of heathens who they thought

     were devilish

11. parochial

12. missionaries who failed to convert 

      native Americans

13. resistant

14. long suffering

15. theocratic - combined state and

      religion

16. repressed

17. long held hatreds of neighbours

18. jealousy

19. Europeans considered US 
     missionaries a barbaric frontierand a 
     sect of fanatics

Creative Writing Piece

"No."

It's funny to think that this one single, simplistic word, that I had uttered no less than thousands of times throughout my life, was to determine my fate. 

I could tell that they didn't believe me. No one did. They just stared at me like predators about to pounce on helpless prey. What was I to do? I was telling the truth, or at least I thought I was. This accusation had begun to play tricks on my mind and I couldn't help but wonder if it might possibly be true......

But no. It couldn't be. I wasn't what they said I was. I knew I wasn't one of 'THEM'. 

As countless thoughts hurtled through my head, I barely realised the two men approaching. They grabbed me by my arms and tugged me up. 

'I'm innocent' I uttered, unheard. How could I prove myself? Here was the problem; I couldn't. 

They were leading me towards the door now. I turned my head to see that not one eye in the crowd had moved. They were all still looking, their icy glares piercing through me, judging me, hating me. 

"Liar!" I could hear them screaming with their eyes. "Dirty Liar!" It hurt to see that the people I once knew and loved as friends had deserted me, distrusting me to the point of disgust. 

Along the dim corridor, my each struggling footstep echoing in the deafening silence, bringing back memories of my first day here.  They thrust me into the cell in the same way they did the first time; shamelessly, as if I were Saton himself. 

What was happening to Salem? It was as if some paranoia had gripped us in its fingers so firmly that we’d lost all sense of compassion. With friend turning on friend, and constant stories of misconceived identity weaving in and out of neighbourhoods, it wasn’t entirely surprising that no one knew what to believe anymore. And yet no one was willing to risk ignoring these rumours, knowing somewhere in the back of their minds that it all could well be true.

I can’t sleep knowing that this could be my last night. I think of all the things I have accomplished in my life. All the things I still want to accomplish. I think of my mother, the little woman with the tired face; yet still so incredibly loving. And my father, who I try so hard to remember but never can. All I know of him is a pocket-sized sketch my mother would always carry with her. She found the subject of him so very hard to talk about and so we simply didn’t.

As morning dawns, the gloomy feeling all around sends a shiver through me. Will this be my last…..last ever………..

The paired footsteps sound along the corridor, causing my heart rate to gain speed. Without a word, the door to my cell is thrust open and I stand up immediately. They enter and one of them goes behind me and chains my hands together.

This is it.

They lead me along the corridor, through the doorway, down the steps and into the broad daylight. I can see the rope with the loop at the end, awaiting me.

What more could I have done? All I can think about is something my mother said to me when I was young. It was Christmas and she had had a little too much to drink, just like every year. Strange that I would think of it now. ‘When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you have plenty to watch” she had said. The mood was jolly when she said that but right now I couldn’t think of a less ‘jolly’ situation. Would I have plenty to watch? I myself didn’t know.

My feet carry me forward, drawing me nearer to my final destination.

I am now in front of the rope, cherishing my last minutes of life. I knew I was still hoping for a miracle but my time was running out. I couldn’t wait forever.

I am not a witch. The words swam through my heard faster and faster, blocking out my other thoughts. I am not a witch. I am not a witch. I am not a witch. I am not a witch. I couldn’t contain it any longer. It was bubbling so violently inside me that I had to release it.

“ I AM NOT A WITCH!! I’M INNOCENT!!”

Silence. Only the morning bird found it’s voice to reply.

My First Thoughts About Tragedy

My first thoughts about tragedy are that it is a broad subject and can be found in many forms. I feel that tragedy can be broken down into three categories; Media, Emotions and Misfortune.

MEDIA
In media, tragedy features in areas such as Greek Theatre and in famous playwrights work such as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet or King Lear. Tragedy was first invented in Greek Theatre, using masks to portray emotions and tragedy was quite prominent throughout Shakespeare's work; he wrote 10 in total, quite a few of which are (very!) famous. Also, books and films can be based around/have the theme of tragedy, however it can be difficult to put such an powerful and sensitive subject into words/ film.

EMOTION
Tragedy, whether it is staged (theatre, filmography etc.) or real-life can cause us to feel a wide range of melancholic emotions and we can not only feel but show these emotions through actions such as crying. There are far to many to name but some examples of emotions that tragedy could evoke are despair, depression, pain, fear, hopelessness and anguish. Additionally, if we watch someone suffer due to tragedy, it can make us feel empathetic towards the subjects of the tragedy and lucky that such things are not happening to us.


Tragedy can also allow us to feel emotions such as universal understanding. This means that we can relate to what others are feeling and feel sympathetic towards them.

MISFORTUNE
I classify misfortune as real life events that can be called tragic. I feel that natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes etc. , happenings such as 9/11 or the attack on pearl harbour, personal disasters such as death of someone close or illness (of someone close or yourself) and world wide issues such as war, poverty, crime (eg. murder, theft etc.), discrimination etc. can all be classified as misfortune. Misfortune means unfortunate occurrences and I feel all the examples I have given above fall into that category.

In conclusion, I feel that tragedy is quite prominent in the world today and can often be found around us. Almost all people experience tragedy some time throughout their lives, whether it be something personal or through some style of media, and this experience comes with emotions attached.

5 Images to Represent Tragedy

As the buildings go up in flames, so does all hope and happiness.

Not everyone can portray tragedy through words.

The tears roll, one by one, each only able to express just one small part of all the emotions inside.

The vast waves cover everything like a blanket of pain and despair.

The spotlight falls on the tragic mask, which lies alone, rejected.

Word Frequency in the Crucible

What can we deduce about the play from the Wordle?

There are quite a few ideas about the Crucible that we can deduce from this wordle. 

Firstly, we can see that the names of characters are quite frequent throughout the wordle. This is clear through the fact that many, if not most of the larger words, such as Proctor, Hale or Danforth are clearly (sur)names. Also, Proctor is the largest word on the wordle,meaning that it is the most frequent word throughout the play. This implies that Proctor is the protagonist in the Crucible, implicating that he features regularly throughout the play.

In this wordle, male characters are addressed by their surnames, whereas female character's are called by their first names. For, example, surname's such as Proctor, Danforth and Hale are all the last names of men and names such as Abigail, Mary and Elizabeth are all first names of females. From this we can tell that men were classed higher in society and were more respected and to show this, they would be called by their last names. 

 The Crucible seems to have a theme related to religion. This is demonstrated by words such as devil, church, pray and god featuring in the wordle. This leads us to think that Salem, at the time in which the play is set, was a very religious society, and it was part of people's nature to be religious and engage in religious activities.

We can also say that this play is very accusative. In a classmates blog, the word 'you' came up as one of the most used words, and using our background knowledge of the storyline behind this Crucible, we know what context 'you' is likely to be used in. Also, words such as confess and judge support this, seeing as they relate to accusative situations.

Witches

Five Core Values

How do the five core values help me to learn in the English classroom?

The five core values show how you should behave in the classroom towards your classmates, teacher and work. This is very important as being able to carry out these values can put you at a great advantage. Having the right mindset is critical to effective learning and the five core values support this. Some values relate more to work than behaviour towards people and vice versa but I think you can, in some way, relate each value back to both behaviour and work/work ethic. For example, responsibility- you can take responsibility in your work by making sure you complete work neatly and on time and you can apply responsibility to your behaviour through and organised and independent approach to learning.

What values do I use to improve my learning from the third form?

I feel that the values that I need to improve on most from third form are courage and responsibility. I feel I need to speak up more in class and I think this all comes down to confidence. I also feel I need to take more responsibility to make sure I complete work/prep on time, focus on applying useful advice to work and coming to class with enthusiasm. Finally I feel that all the core values are incredibly important and should all be applied to not only school work but school life.