jan 13

Today we starting talking about some extra credit opportunities. One is "Speak Up" tomorrow night and the assumed assignment would be a paper about it. Another opportunity is on Martin Luther King Day on Monday. Interact is holding this event and admission is five dollars. There will be a blood drive in the cafeteria and in the library there will be readings from students, teachers, and members of the community. Extra credit will be rewarded for just showing up and additional points will be given to those you read their own, or another writer's work. We were requested one simple thing: If we do go and chose to read something, do not read Shel Silverstein.

Today we talked about the question we had from act four of The Crucible. The question was: Why does Proctor bawk to signing a confession that will br made public? How does this resolve one of the major conflicts of the play? And how does that make us feel?

First we discussed that Proctor was going to sign the confession but then refused when he was told it was going to be made public. This can be explained by Proctor's concern for the legacy of his name and his public image. Then the question posed was: is it better to die for telling the truth or lying for your life? Proctor shows he has a great sense of pride in himself. Pride and the unwillingness to do something based on one's pride is the root of tragedy. Proctor revels in his pride and wants it to carry on through his name to his children. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins however and leads to the undoing of a tragic hero. This posed the question to whether Proctor suffers from his pride or is pride is a good thing and we should celebrate that he dies from his pride?
Our discussion then branched off to Proctor's reasoning behind choosing to die rather than lying. A point brought up was that, had he signed the confession, he would never be looked at the same and he would have to be punished anyway for committing adultery and he wouldn't want essentially two punishments. The witch trials also collapse with the death of Proctor and he could be seen as sacrificing himself for a greater good which makes us ask the question: is Proctor seen as a Christ figure? The temptation of signing the document could be related to the temptation of Satan. Also, could Proctor be considered an inverted Christ figure, or the exact opposite of a Christ figure?Proctor seemed to have many motivations for not signing the confession because of his multi dimensional character.
The point that Miller wants to make is that it is wrong to accuse people of something they're not. The question that was brought up was: Would you be willing to lie for a greater good? Under what circumstances? The answer to this question is based on personal priorities. Mr. Lazarow then told us a story about the rise in infidelity among spouses. How and when should one tell their spouse that they have been unfaithful? One man suggested to simply not tell her. (Assuming he had chosen to remain faithful from then on and break off whatever he was doing with the other woman) He referred to it as transferring the burden and I think there is some logic in it. Is it better to carry the guilt around to save your spouse from the hardship it would cause him/her? Or should one tell his/her spouse about being unfaithful to get it off your chest only to upset someone else? And this leads us to the question: Can we ever really trust anyone? Perhaps Proctor chose not to sign the document because he was sacrificing himself for a greater cause and thus chosing to not transfer the burden to anyone else.

-Melissa