POSTEROUS
(ONLINE BLOG FOR ENGLISH CLASS)
Student comments on the following question:
In previous posts, some of you noted other texts that are similar to The Crucible. Consider John Proctor in comparison to other heroes or protagonists you have studied in the past. Remember to read the stream of posts (at least 5) that come before you and comment upon at least one of them in your response in addition to offering your own thoughts. PLEASE LIMIT YOUR RESPONSE TO 10 lines.
STUDENT A said...
Antigone can be compared to John Proctor, as they both died for failing to lie and renounce their beliefs.
STUDENT B
said...
Like Student A’s post, where Antigone died for failing to lie, Romeo and Juliet
were like John Proctor in choosing to die, for they could not live a lie.
Although they were both fooled into thinking the other was dead, neither
believed that they could live without the other, as John could not have lived
with himself by lying and having his name blackened. In both Lord of the Flies
and The Crucible, things snowball out of control - for the boys on the island,
it was the so-called 'beast'; the witch suspicions were blown out of proportion
in The Crucible.
STUDENT C said...
I
agree with Student B’s post on how the situation snowballed into a bigger
problem than it really was, in both Lord of the Flies, and The Crucible. Lying
when the snowball is smaller is much easier than lying when the snowball is
huge. John had to decide whether to lie or not when the situation had grown to
such an extent, he had to take matters in his own hands, which cost him his
life.
STUDENT D said
I
can compare John Proctor with Okonkwo, a tragic hero, from the book, Things Fall
Apart. Both John Proctor and Okonkwo have some dignity and important values that
they consider. John Proctor worries about keeping his name; Okonkwo values
manliness. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo realizes that all values are lost in
the village, and the foreigners have extended their power over the villagers.
When Okonkwo cannot garner support to rebel against the Europeans, he commits
suicide, which is very dishonor to his customs.
STUDENT E said
I also agree with Student A that the situation reached a point where the problem was much bigger than it had to be. The characters just made the issue huge and things got way out of control by the end of the stories. I would actually compare John Proctor to Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter. Like Dumbledore died to save Malfoy (Voldemort threatened to kill Malfoy if he didn't kill Dumbledore), John Proctor died to save innocent people (wrongly accused people, as well as his wife, Elizabeth) from a death they didn't deserve.
STUDENT F said...
Student B is right that it is much easier to lie when the snowball is small, but wasn't lying that caused the whole problem in The Crucible? The girls lied to protect themselves from being accused of witchcraft, but the lie caused many to die. Student A made a good connection with Lord of the Flies where in both selections the situation spun out of control. Proctor wanted to save his life, but died refusing to lie. He realized that the girls were lying and tried to bring the truth out. Likewise in Lord of the Flies, Simon was killed as a result of the savagery as he was trying to show the boys the truth of the "beast".
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