Reflection of The Crucible Essay

When I was first researching my essay, I was a little bit nervous. I felt like I wasn't going to be able to find enough information to support the topics I wanted to use, or even find enough topics to discuss throughout the essay. But after a lot of researching, I realized I had more information than I thought. So my confidence began to go up a little bit, but it wasn't completely there. One of the hardest parts for me was writing the thesis statement. There is so much information that needs to be put into it, and everything I tried seemed to sound extremely awkward. Other issues I had were equally supporting my topics, finding out how to explain my topics in a way that made sense, and citing. To be honest, I just completely skipped the citing for my first couple drafts. I felt success with the points or examples of my paper. They were all big points of the Salem Witch Trials, and I felt like I would have enough detail to back them up.

I felt like the outline of the essay was extremely useful. It made my writing easier in a few different ways. The outline showed me what my essay needed to consist of, or how many different topics and examples I would need. It also gave me a pretty good idea of where I needed more information and research. The only thing I would change with my pre-writing activite in any future essays is to used more detail.

I feel like my peer-editing experience was a pretty good experience. It showed how important transtions are, and how the flow of the essay really impacts the ability of the reader to understand what it is saying. The feedback that I was given helped a little bit with my revision. I definitely needed a lot more transisitons. I feel like if we maybe had to answer questions about the essay, we would see if someone else really could understand it. We did that a little, but there wasn't much time for it.

I think the strengths of my essay are the topics and examples I have decided to discuss. I have quite a bit of detail, but some of it is a little confusing. I definitely need to work on adding transtitions, citing, and some explainaitons. There are some random grammar errors that I made, because I didn't pay enough attention to it and overlooked it. Parts of my essay are a little foggy and confusing, but that is just something that I will fix during my next revision.

Those Who Have Influened Me

There have been quite a few people that have influenced my life in many different ways. Some may have been little things, and some may have been big things. But they all have done a part to change my life. Two main people come to my mind when I think of this, though.

My middle school Physical Education teacher, Mrs. Weller, has influenced me in many ways. I am a junior in high school now, and I can still go to her about anything. She will always be there for me. She supports  the team and I in volleyball, always puts my family in her prayers, and is just someone I can talk to. Mrs. Weller is one of those people who will always be kind to you. This has showed me that you shouldn't judge people, and you should always give someone a chance. To get respect you have to earn it. Another thing that is actually kind of silly to think about is that she has given me hope with my sports. I remember when she told us that she had played volleyball in college as an outside hitter. I got so excited because that is my position, and I always thought that I was too short to go any further than high school. But she isn't much taller than I am! So she showed me that with hard work and determination, you can achieve many goals that you hadn't even dreamed of.

The person who has influenced my life the most is my dad. He is one of the most hard working people I know. He always does his best to do everything he can for my family. My dad is one of the reasons that my brothers and I have pretty good success with sports. He will research all he can to find out ways for us to get better. I mean sometimes I do complain, because I tend to get a bit lazy sometimes. But it has all worked out in the end. Recently, we were informed that he had a tumor in his brain. And of course instead of having us sit in the hospital with him, he made us go to school and all of our sporting events. His favorite thing to hear us talk about when we came to visit were our sports. He would get the biggest smile on his face when we would say something good. If it was something bad, he would just say something about how it happens and we just need to fix it. I remember that I came into the hospital room fuming because we had just lost to Moline, and we totally should have won. I freaked out and just laughed at me. I was so upset. I yelled "Why are you laughing?! It's not funny!" But I realize now that this taught me a huge lesson in life. There will always be ups and downs in life, but you just have to go with it. If you live your life in sadness, anger, or fear, then you aren't getting much out of it. So even though my dad is going through this, he always looks for the positive things. This has taught me the biggest lesson of my life. There are always people who have it worse out there. So embrace what you have, and make the most of it.

Nature Around Me

As I step outside, sunlight floods over my body and into my eyes. The chirping of black birds flows through my ears. Every step I take brown leaves that have fallen off from the trees above crunch beneath my shoes. A lot of the trees around have close to no leaves left at all. Although, some are full of orange, red, and even yellow leaves. A light wind blows my hair and rustles the leaves across the dry, green grass. The crisp, fresh air fills my nose. It is much nicer than the stuffy, old school building I was in just before this. A few cars go by, but not many. One car honks its loud horn as it passes. Big gusts of wind have started to blow through the space outside. The leaves are uncontrollable and fly everywhere. My hair and even my paper soar in the direction of the wind. I notice that not many people are out, and it is such a beautiful day. No rain is falling down, and the sky is very clear. But this does not surprise me considering the way society is. We don't just sit out side these days and embrace the marvelous nature. I am guilty of this, too. I usually don't come out to sit and write like I am doing now, but if I may say so, it is quite nice.

When I breath in the fresh air, I begin to feel calm and relaxed. My mind always begins to wonder, but I keep calm. Some of my thoughts are happy and make me smile to myself. But I also have anger and sadness spinning through my head at times. Even with all these emotions, I stay calm. The relaxing features of the nature keep me this way. Normally when I get thinking in a way like this, I get upset. It is hard for me to relax. It is strange for me to be able to relax for a long moment like this, it is actually very nice. I am amazed at what this relaxing atmosphere has the ability to do with my emotions. I sit here and think, but I always stay calm.

Character Analysis of John Proctor

We are in Act II of the Crucible, and I see John Proctor as a major character in this play. He is the reason Elizabeth Proctor has been accused of witchcraft. Now obviously he wasn't the one to accuse her, but it is caused by an affair that he had. John and Abby Williams had an affair, and Abby wants him. This has and will cause some major problems to this play. He is also very opinionated, and with this he will say what he wants. John will interfere with the trials, and this will cause some big problems. Because of this, I definitely see him as a major character. I also see John Proctor as a static character. So far I havn't seen much change in him at all. He has consistantly been one to say how he feels throughout the play. From what I know now, he still isn't always completely honest. But when something comes up he seems to admit it.

I see John Proctor as a determined man. He seems to be a hard working man who truely cares about his children and wife Elizabeth. He had an affair, but I can see that he does truely care about his wife. So far he hasn't come off as the most honest man in Salem. But at the same time he does come off as honest. As you can see, he has me stumped. John will lie about something, but later on he will tell the truth. He also comes off as a leader to me. He seems to be known by everyone. If something comes up that he believes in, he will say what he wants and when he wants. He doesn't care if it's not what the people of Salem think or not. I feel like he acts this way because of his beliefs. He feels that it is wrong to be accused of something with no actual proof. Because of this, he will do whatever he can to help those who have been accused of witchcraft.

If you have read or seen The Crucible, you would know that John Proctor has quite the external conflict. He had an affair with Abbigail Williams seven months ago. He told his wife Elizabeth about it, and there have been trust issues ever since. But that isn't the only problem he is dealing with about this situation. Abbigail is still madly in love with him, and she will do absolutely anything to be with John. He has told her multiple times that he does not love her at all anymore. One time he had said that "he would rather cut off his hand before he loves her again." But does that convince Abbigail? Of course not. So she has decided to take matters into her own hands. She thinks that if Elizabeth is gone, John will automatically want to be with her for good. And now because of Abbigail's accusation, Elizabeth has been taken away from her house and family and is being tried for witchery.

From Sinners In the Hands of God (young girl)

I do not like to go to church. It scares me. I want to tell Mama that I don't want to go anymore, but I think she will get mad at me. Her and Papa always talk about how everything is for God. God always comes first before anything. Like Reverend said to day in church, "nothing but the mere pleasure of God..." But I don't understand why we have to be so nice to God when he hates us so much. He thinks all of us are bad people. Today in church Reverend kept saying, "anger and wrath of god..." He even said, "It is everlasting wrath." That means that God will always be mad and hate us. He will never forgive us for not being the way he wants us to be. I don't know what I did to make God so mad at me.

Today at church Reverend said something that made me so scared that my body felt cold and tingley. He said, "The God that holds you over the pit of hell..." Why am I supposed to love and do everything for someone who is like this? I don't want to go to hell, but God will make all of us go. He won't let us go to Heaven with him. We have all sinned too much. Sometimes I wonder if I just don't believe in God, will I be safe? Would something like that work? I decided to ask Mama.

When I asked Mama about my way to stay out of hell she got mad at me. She started yelling, and she even slapped me across the face. She said, "If you every say anything like that again you will not be allowed in this family. I don't know where you will go. No one will want you in their house. Even if you don't believe in God, you will go to hell. Especially since you said such a horrific thing like that!" Mama was so mad at me. I didn't know it was a bad thing to ask. She sounded just like Reverend. I guess I have to believe in God even though he hates us all. I just don't understand.

Writing has always been something that I would consider myself good at. It's nothing spectacular, but I get really good grades on all my writing papers. If I am writing about something I want to write about then I usually like it a lot. But when I find out that we have to write a paper that involves research and statistics I tend to want to jump off a cliff. Not literally speaking, I just don't really like that type of writing at all. There are so many statistics out there that I can use, but I just think it is so boring. I have nevery really been consistent with how I handle big writing assignments. Sometimes I will be on top of things and start early and even have a few different drafts before my final copy. Other times I have just waited and waited and crammed it in at last minute and have one draft. It's not the best I can do, but I have always managed to get an A. Other times I just have a rough draft, edit it once, and turn it in. I am pretty confident in my own writing. My teachers have been telling me that I'm a good ever since I was in grade school. But I personally feel like it is just okay, and know I can do way better. I just havn't quite figured out how to do that yet. My strenghts with writing are writing about stuff that I can take from my own mind. When I write about my life, how I feel about something based on my own opinions, or just something that interests me I can write a long and meaningful paper. But if I have to write using facts and statistics that I got from different references I am really boring and don't enjoy it at all. I will usually do the minimum and it won't be anything special. That is definitely a weakness of mine. Also when I am supposed to write about something that I dont really care about it is really hard for me to figure out what to say. I'm sure you have firgured out that I would like to improve on writing about statistics, facts, and just stuff I can't get myself to write about.

I would say that I am most excited for the fifth unit. Realism, naturalism, and racial issues in America stood out to me. I have always enjoyed learning about wars and what goes on with different races. Learning about how people deal with racism is interesting. The unit I am least looking forward to is definitely the poetry unit. I hate talking in front of people. When everyone looks at me my face turns red, my knees shake, and my mouth gets extremely dry. I hate it! I should do good on all of the units. English is my strongest subject and I just get it. I understand writing and reading.  I am a little worried about the poetry unit for the same reasons I mentioned before.