Modern Puritans

 Ahh, Puritans. Can’t live with em, can't live without em. Or can we...? In our modern society, we haven't seen many groups that are really up to speed for Puritan standards. A few groups come to mind, such as the Amish, although their only similarity with the Puritans is how cut off from society they are. The Puritans are pretty harsh and strict with their beliefs, and anyone with a toe out of line will be called out for their sins, and punished.

                Sometimes school feels like a Puritan society, with there being some unfair punishments and strange rules. But for the most part, school rules are justified, and there is a good amount of leniency. During my trip to Pakistan this summer, there were a few things that could connect to Puritan society. Religion is a huge part of people’s lives in Pakistan. It’s mandatory to celebrate certain holidays (An example being a holiday where you cannot eat during the day. You could get arrested if you didn’t follow their customs).  

                Puritan ways have not fully died out; as we see sprinkles of their ways around out world, but unless there is an underground Puritan group plotting their up-rise, I have a feeling we won’t be seeing any modern puritan societies any time soon.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge? (Spoiler: Stooge)

                     "The Crucible" Shows a very interesting explanation for the Salem Witch Trials. This event showed a lot about human nature, and out of all of the characters in this story, the most intriguing one was John Proctor. For Puritan standards, John wasn’t exactly a role model. He cheated on his wife, and didn’t come to church too often. He even dared to plow on Sunday! I guess you could call him different, as in the beginning his actions show neither heroism or stooge-ness .  To decide whether or not John became a hero, we really need to know what a hero truly is.

             
                   In my eyes, a hero is someone that fights for truth, justice, and someone that has morals and values cannot be easily broken. Of course, heroes have flaws, and Proctor had his fair share of those. Anyways, later in the story, John was defending the supposed witches, saying that Abigail was lying about these accusations. Try as he might, his words didn’t affect the outcome of those who were hanged. By the time John himself was up for being hanged, Hale and Danforth knew him to be innocent, but they wouldn’t free him and the others just like that, as it would cause doubt as to whether the other hangings were actually justified.  If John just “confessed” that he was a witch, he would have lived.      Was it because lying is sinful? I'm not so sure. he was the last person to die because of his devotion to god; he instead died to spite those that sentenced him to death, knowing full well that he was innocent.When John says "I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man. My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before."  he's basically saying that he can't pretend that he won't lie because lying is a sin, as he exclaims that his honesty is broke. His only benefit would be that those that accused him and the judge would know that he was innocent, but was still killed.

                
                Does Dying make someone a Hero? While it does make for a flashy exit to this world, it’s not heroic. He’s not the first to deny performing witchcraft, and his reasoning behind it is definitely not heroic. While someone could make the argument that sacrificing yourself is heroic, John Proctor did not need to sacrifice himself for anything, he just added to the death toll. In short, John Proctor is a stooge, or at least closer to a stooge than to a hero. He makes rash decisions which don’t benefit himself or anyone for that matter. If I was put in a situation like his, I would without a doubt “confess” so that I may keep my life. Does that make me a stooge? No. It doesn’t make me a hero either. I’d just be a person trying to get by, and live to see another day.

There Goes the Neighborhood

                         Since humans have been on this planet, we have all developed our own opinions, ways of doing things, and while we all have a tendency to stick together in civilizations and familiar areas, we also have the interesting tendency to spread out, explore new lands, and find out what our world is truly capable of. Columbus was one of the many that set out to find whats out there, beyond the horizon. A land of mythical beasts? A city in the clouds? A galaxy far far away? Well in Columbus' case, it was the good ol' Americas. After months of treacherous sailing, they reached their destination, and without a hitch they conquered this land as their own, and lived happily ever after.

                But wait, aren't we forgetting someone? Oh that's right, there were some Indians (Native Americans) around there, but they all shared the land equally and lived in harmony? Right? Well no, not at all. Columbus and his crew should have walked the plank (or at least swabbed the poop deck) for how they treated the Native Americans. The Native Americans were pretty accepting of  the English ways, they were probably intrigued by their technology. On the other hand, the colonists were grabbing at anything valuable, not having an ounce of respect for the Native American ways. Both of these differing groups clashed, with the Colonists eventually dragging the Native Americans out of their land. Those groups did have their good times, like Thanksgiving (Easily in my top 5 holidays). But no matter how you look at it, the Colonists were in the wrong, and nothing can reverse what happened then, so lets try not to make history repeat itself.