Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Steady Hands or Individual Villainy

After reading the first five pages of The Crucible, please select ONE of the two prompts below to respond to:

Steady Hands

"They believed, in short, that they held in their steady hands the candle that would light the world. We have inherited this belief, and it has helped and hurt us" (Miller 5).

What do think this passage means? What is the "candle"? Do you agree that modern Americans have inherited this Puritan attitude?

OR

Individual Villainy

"When one rises above the individual villainy displayed, one can only pity them all, just as we shall be pitied someday. It is still impossible for man to organize his social life without repressions, and the balance has yet to be struck between order and freedom" (Miller 7).

Do you, like Miller, pity the people of late 17th century Salem? Do you think that we will be pitied one day? Do agree that repression is an inherent part of organized social life?

Please remember to read and comment on others' posts as well; the blog should be a conversation rather than a collection of individual responses.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Big Question Brainstorming

Hello, future documentarians! As you start thinking about what question you might like to investigate throughout the course of the year, please post your brainstorming on this blog. If you know exactly what question you'd like to explore, you can just post that one question. If you're debating between several, post them all!

Please post by 10 pm Thursday if possible.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Welcome to American Literature!

Your first mission: Subscribe to this blog by clicking on the link on the right side of this page that says, "Follow." Make sure you are signed into blogger before you do this.