The Crucible

1
The Crucible

• Warm-Up
• Practice Essay Peer Editing
• Introduction to The Crucible
• Homework

2
WARM-UP

• Essential Question
• How does history shape literature?
• Student Objectives
• Students will understand how a text is shaped by
  the historical context of a time period.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of early
  American Literature including how two or more
  texts from the same period treat similar themes
  or topics.
• Students will understand how the structure of
  text impacts reader understanding.

• What do you already know about the Salem Witch
  Trials and/or Puritan life in early America?

3
Practice Paper Rubric

• Review the rubric and then use it to guide your
  feedback

4
What does crucible mean?

1. a vessel of a very refractory material (as
   porcelain) used for melting and calcining a
   substance that requires a high degree of heat
2. a severe test
3. a place or situation in which concentrated forces
   interact to cause or influence change or
   development

5
Overview

• American play
• Written in the 1950s
• Playwright Arthur Miller
• Focuses on residents of Salem, Massachusetts
• Issues greed, guilt, motivation, morality

6
Overview Salem, Massachusetts

• Located on the coast of Massachusetts
• Settled mainly by Puritans in 1626
• A group of people who left England so they could
  practice religious freedom
• Often let their religious beliefs guide their
  daily lives
• Most known for the Salem Witch Trials of 1692
• Nickname The Witch City

7
Puritans arriving in Massachusetts
8
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
9
Overview Issues

• Greed How do you define greed? Is greed ever a
  good thing?
• Guilt What leads people to feel guilt?
• Motivation What is the biggest motivator in your
  life?
• Morality List your top three moral rules.
• How do these fit into our ideas of America?
  Remember, this class is about American literature
  as much as possible! Be thinking about this
  question every time we read a text.

10
Salem Witch Trials

• Occurred from June through September of 1692 in
  Salem
• Puritan group of people was involved
• Townspeople were in a state of hysteria about
  witches/evil

11
The Facts

• Young girl named Betty Parris became ill
• Fever, extreme pain, running around the house
• More children in Salem became ill
• Ann Putnam, Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott
• Doctors were called in to find the reason for
  this sickness