The Modern Day Puritan

      Who is the Modern Day Puritan? Is there one? Well, while reading the scarlet letter I couldn't help thinking about my favorite movie "Easy A". That movie just shows how WE are the Modern Day Puritan, we judge people just as harshly as the town judged Hester. We might think as we read the book "How can these people behave this way?" But come on! I bet if one of us walked around with a scarlet A on our chest, people would react the same way they did years ago.

        I actually hoped I could find someone else to portray as the Modern Day Puritan, but everyone around the world, will behave the way the townspeople behaved when they found out about Hester. I know it is bad but even when I get the news about someone being pregnant without being married, deep down I have that feeling of disappointment. We all judge people harshly, maybe not always for the same reasons the Puritans judged back then but we do form our little cliques and whoever steps a little out of line are looked down upon, "bullied" as we call it today.

       For those of you thinking "Oh no! We are not like that!", if you say that you are being hypocritical- we have all felt that way although maybe we fake liking the person and offer our support but deep down we are all the same judgmental, malevolent people.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

         As I began reading The Crucible I thought John Proctor was just an adulterous old man but later when I saw how he defended Elizabeth and how he yelled at Abigail I started liking him, so I thought he was a hero.
     But right before starting this blog I googled the word "stooge" and got this: "A person who serves mainly to support and assist others"(dictionary.com)

     So I got to thinking and I came up with the conclusion that John Proctor was indeed a stooge. He had the opportunity of having his wife back with him and being able to see his children grow up, HE HAD A BABY ON THE WAY FOR GOD'S SAKE! But this man decided to stay and continue fighting he knew that this would only end badly, and it did, and who did he help by staying and fighting? No one! Giles Corey was tortured and killed and so were all those innocent people that he was trying to help when he decided to continue fighting.

     Another part in which John Proctor presents himself as a stooge is when he had the opportunity to sign the paper and confess to being a witch but he decided not to when he saw Rebecca Nurse, he was set to being able to stay with his family and live his life but when he saw her he immediately said "NO!" and he went to the hanging tree. He didn't do anything to help himself, these people were insane, the killings would've continued and the people whom he loved (his family) stayed behind having to deal with the hardships of not having someone to sustain the family.

    John Proctor was a stooge, he served mainly to support others, never thinking about his family and what they would have to deal with if he was condemned.

Arrivals... There Goes The Neighborhood

           
          Columbus' arrival to North America is a huge controversy, for one it gave us the life we have today but on the other hand, it ruined the Native American's lives.

         I'm surprised that I feel anger towards Columbus and what he did to the Native Americans, taking everything from them and forcing them to believe in things that didn't make sense to them. On the contrary, I know that if it weren't for this happening I wouldn't be here because my race is the mixture of the Native Americans with the Spanish men. I don't really know what to think about the fact that I'm here because my ancestor was probably raped by a Spanish man, it sounds kind of harsh but its true.

      It angers me that these people were just going through their day normally when all of a sudden these men on horses came and started killing and taking everything from them. How would it be if one day aliens come and take our natural resources, started raping the women and create a new creature! That is exactly the craziness those people were going through and we don't even think about that we celebrate Columbus and honor him for doing these horrid things.

      In very little time, the Native American's lives were altered and their "neighborhood" had been destroyed with no trace of their old lives. The arrival of Columbus awakened new beginnings but destroyed old dreams.