John Proctor.. Hero or Stooge

Im my opinion, I think John Proctor in a way was a hero and a good man, not a stooge.  Even though he cheated on his wife with Abigail, all he was trying to do was protect his wife, and protect his name.  The only reason everything ended up bad for him was that he let it slip that he still had some feelings for Abigail, and she found out, so her motives were to kill Elizabeth Proctor to have John all to herself.  All John Proctor was trying to do was to protect his wife and his unborn child from Abigail and all the girls testifying against him.  In the courtroom, He finally confessed to the affair to save his wife's life and his own, but it was in vain as when his wife was asked about the affair, she didn't know that actually telling the truth would be so crucial, and all she was doing was trying to protect her husband and his name.  In the end everything goes wrong, and John ends up being accused of witchcraft, and he didn't have anything to do with the dancing, or the girls, all he did in the beginning was to come to the Parris residence and see what happened to Betty.  His only fault was having an affair with Abigail and then letting that he still had feelings for her slip, to which caused his demise, because the girls then went against his wife.

Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God..... or just one Crazy Dude with a Bleak Outlook on Life

If I was listening to this sermon in the audience of the church, I would have walked out.  This guy was going crazy on how god was in control of everybody's life, and could end it at any second if they commit sins, or don't follow the Puritan laws.  If a child was sitting in the audience, the sermon would probably have scared the bajeezus out of him or her, and would make that kid think that they are going to die, and get all depressed.  I think that this sermon was very harsh and critical on people in general, and that everyone was a sinner, and that god was angry at everyone.  Jonathan Edwards kept on repeating on how god at any moment could sent all the wicked to hell, and make them suffer for their sins, and the sinners should never feel secure and safe from god's wrath.  He also talks about how god never promised to save anyone from hell, he only saves those who don't sin.  The last part is that god will only save those who repent and all others will go to hell.  When I read this, I felt that Jonathan Edwards had a very narrow mind on how people were judged by god, and that everyone was going to go to hell, unless they were perfect religious humans.  Jonathan Edwards expected everyone to believe what he preached, and to be religious, but I think that instead it scared many people, and many might have moved from the city because of the level of consequences were for being wicked in the eyes of the Puritan religion

There Goes the Neighborhood

One instance in history that I have learned about where one type of people have come into a certain area or neighborhood is when the British invaded China in the mid 1800's.  The British Empire and China finally resolved issues, but Britain gained control of many costal Chinese cities  (This can be party seen in the World War II movie Empire of the Sun, which takes place about a century later).  Many British families and companies moved to the eastern seaboard of China, primarily in Shanghai and Hong Kong and set up spice, silk and precious metal companies, becoming extremely wealthy, and causing the British economy to  also improve, as the British citizens transferred their money back to their homeland.  Many Chinese citizens
became miners, laborers, and servants to the British, who had invaded the Chinese's land.  The Chinese also starting becoming second class citizens in their own land, who were treated very poorly, and were exploited by the British.  In the Chinese's point of view, this must have seemed pretty crazy, and probably made no sense at all to them, as they were in their own country, and the British were the immigrants, who then became the first class, rich citizens.  Only a few years ago, in 1997 did the "neighborhood" get transferred back under Chinese sovereignty, when the British gave Hong Kong, the last of Britain's Chinese colonies back to China.

Introductions

Hi, I am Gordon Bentley and I am a sophomore.  I was born in Chicago and lived here ever since.  I live in Old Irving Park with my family, which consists of my parents and my 12 year old sister Claire.  For grade school I attended LaSalle Language Academy, and I had a great experience there.  I consider myself as academic, and I enjoy english, history and science classes the most.  Last year at Whitney I played on the boys softball and volleyball teams and plan on doing it again this year.  I am a fan of music and my favorite types of music are classic rock and old school hip hop, and pretty much anything from the 50's to the 80's.  This year in english class I hope to learn better writing techniques, and look forward to reading new works.