Interesting Tidbits

Puritans

-     Followed  Calvinist theocracy (The belief that God has already chosen the ones that would go to Hell, and it cannot be helped).

-      16^th – 17^th century Puritan = did not believe in what “puritans” today believe in. They were very much like Protestant reformers.

-      Puritans today = People who has strict views on sexual morality, disapproves recreation, and wants people to think this way.

Puritans and Calvinists still exist today. They are part of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Puritans from the past influenced our society to carry on these beliefs, even if they are not as popular. We give Puritans a different definition today, but that is not how true puritans are.

Salem

-      Why the witch hysteria began: Politics, religion, family feuds, economics, and fear

Today, many quarrels happen because of these reasons. False ideas are shared to cover up political inconsistencies. Rumors are spread around because of family feuds and fear or some people. History tends to repeat itself in this case. 

Nathaniel

-      Nathaniel’s family were Puritans

-      His father did a few cases on witchcraft in 1692

-      Nathaniel was ashamed his family took part in the non-sense. He added a “w” to his last name -à Hawthorne

Why the house is “haunted”

-      A young Nathaniel’s ghost is believed to be present at The House of Seven Gables

-      Reason: 1. Nathaniel lost his father at sea when he was only four years old. 2. Upon receiving this news, he was traumatized. The ghost spotted was a young boy.

The Moment I Knew I Was An American

"The moment I knew I was an American...," when I hear that, I don't know what to think. I could say that I don't even think when I hear someone say that. Really, I don't know who is exactly an American and how one acts to fit in the category of being an American.
According to Crevecoeur, and American is a person of European descent and leaves behind all ancient prejudices and manners once they come to America. America is a melting pot in his opinion. But is this really true? I doubt it. I consider myself as an Asian American...but obviously, I have no European blood in me. More importantly, my family still carry on with our lives with Chinese traditions. With this being said, Crevecoeur's ideal definition of Americans is wrong.
Because I fit in neither one of Crevecoeur's description of an American, am I still an American? That's what I wonder all the time. Sometimes I think that understanding English and the history of our literature makes me an American. Other days, I think that eating hot dogs, pizza, and drinking Pepsi makes me American. To me, American or not, I don't really care. "American" is just a label, a name. I already have a name, and I know who I am...I don't need to be "classified" because sometimes I may just fit in multiple groups. (:

"Us" vs. "Them"..."Us" and "Them"

Us versus them. We, as 21st century Americans compared to the Puritans in The Crucible...Yes, we are quite different from each other. But how different? We are still cruel, self-fish, competitive, biased, and sometimes ignorant people just like the many characters in the book. Those characteristics never change (it's almost like human nature, you know?). What changes is the way we or they show those qualities. 

In The Crucible, greed, self-fishness, and cruelty was portrayed extremely well by Abigail. This young lady managed to fool the entire town with her wicked mind and disgusting lies about witches/witchcraft. And what was her motive? Just to get back (or get rid of) at Elizabeth Proctor. Well, Abigail was pretty successful at carrying out her plan. Not only did she cause a ton of trouble and pain for Elizabeth, it also took the lives of INNOCENT people. Revenge is not healthy (obviously...haha), but it seeps into our lives every now and then. In the 21st century, you don't really see an occasion where hatred towards one person would cause the death of 30 others. If we're talking about being extreme and taking this way out today, the most that someone would do to seek revenge would be murdering whoever was giving them problems. That's still cruel, unjust, and self-fish...but in a way, it's less "mind-sickening" than what Abigail did. 

Another example would be us being biased. Over time, we have became more open minded and accepting. Back in the day, because we failed to judge African Americans properly, we mistreated them horribly (slavery, major racism, segregation, etc). People thought that everyone of their kind was the same and should be treated without value. Thankfully, we learned to snap out of that trance and not be afraid to understand what seems to be foreign to us. Biased-ness is present in the book as well since they thought children were pure/innocent (they could never lie, could they?! No, no, of course not...). Because of that thought, it brought down the justice in life. It abused the proper usage of evidence and what could or could not be used as evidence. Lives were taken just because of that one silly thought that children would/could never be so evil. Being biased was a mistake back then, and it still is today...We just evolve and learn.