Crucible, House of the Seven Gables, Puritans, and Salem

Im going to start out with the history of Salem.  It was founded in 1626, and Puritans started coming in the Great Puritan Migration of 1629/30.  Puritans were very religious people who thought that all people were to an extant evil and sinners, and the only way to go to heaven was to repent and be very strict, religious people who used the bible as law.  In 1692 the Salem witch trials were started when many people thought that other were witches and many innocent people were killed because of these hangings.  During this time period is when Matthew Maule is executed for witchcraft, and Nathaniel Hawthorne's descendants are influential, his great-great-great- grandfather was a Puritan Judge who was known to give harsh sentences. Nathaniel Hawthorne's cousin owned the actual house for a period of time, as it was real but not built by the Pyncheons (who themselves were a real family and have a living descendant to this day) but built in 1668 by a Captain John Turner.  Hawthorne played in the house as a child, which inspired him to write the book, but he said it was complete fiction and based on no real facts.  This Puritan extremism which caused many people to die, can still be around today.  People that have extreme religious views, such as women having abortions should be unlawful (which is unconstitutional and crazy), or people who think that this country shouldn't have a separation of church and state.  These are very extreme views just like the Puritans, and I think that some of these views are not necessarily good and might not be good for the people of America

The Moment I Knew I was an American

The moment that I first realized I was an American was around the ages 3 or 4.  I learned in preschool about different countries and learned that I was American.  This was a general realization that I was an American.  I think the first time that I realized that I was an American, and that was something important or special, was about 5th or 6th grade when we were learning about illegal immigrants crossing the border in large numbers from Mexico and several other Central American countries.  I realized that if you weren't American and came into this country without legal documents, or the legal way to get here, that it was a federal offense, and you would be deported without a second thought.  I also realized that in America, could could be anything you wanted or aspired to be, and in many other countries you might not have those freedoms, and that being American was something even more special.  Also many people form other countries want to be American, and emigrate here legally, but in a way that is hard to explain they are not really American but technically they are, but they were born in a different country.  I realize that being American is something that I am proud of, and other Americans should be proud of too, and I am lucky to be an American, because many people around the world don't have the same rights and freedoms that I, and everybody else in America has.

Us vs. Them

In the Crucible all the witch trials are, are tools to get revenge or to gain something from somebody or something.  There were never any actual witches and the witchery was just a political tool.  On one "side" so to speak we have John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, and Giles Corey, who in a way are the good guys of this story.  The three of them don't believe in witchery, and Proctor himself isn't even a religious man.  Rebecca Nurse who had a lot of knowledge in dealing with children, said at the beginning that all Betty was doing was fooling around pretending that she couldn't wake up.  Giles Corey was just a man who was trying to defend the commoners who were being accused of witchery because the Putnam's wanted their land.  In the end these three are all executed because the other "faction" so to speak twists and plays with the law to get what they want.  This other faction consists of the Putnams, the girls, Reverend Parris, and in a way the judge.  The Putnams want to aquire more land, the girls are all just doing what Abigail is telling them to do, and her motives are to kill Elizabeth Proctor so she can have John all to herself, and the Judge sort of has a crazy vibe that he likes condemning so many people and that killing the "witches" is the right thing to do.  In all all the accusations of witchcraft are just used by certain people to get what they want, and has nothing to do with actual witches or witch problems.