The Crucible and Related Readings (edit title)

• Rated 4 stars

“This quickly became one of my all time favorite books. I saw the play before reading it, and enjoyed it so much that I started reading the day after. It is about Salem Mass. in the 1620's. People are accusing people left and right of being a witch, even though not a single one of them were. The Crucible is parallel to the McCarthy era in a sense that there was pandemonium and mass hysteria among the people. I was able to relate tot his because my great grandmother was black listed during this time for being socialist. The events in the book are important to look it because it shows how horrific things took place in the 1600's, but it is also possible for it to occur in to days age. I recommend this book to anyone who are interested in comparing past events to events that has recently happened to see how it can be avoided in the future.”

• Rated 0 stars

“1928--Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, Transylvania
[important because later on in the story he regrets being born there and then his world revolved around family, religious study, community and God.
1933- The Nazi Party takes control of Germanys government
{this is the most important because this is the date that changed life as Elie knew it. Down the road Elie was about to face a lot of pain and suffering. Hitler hated the Jews and had a plan to get rid of them.}
1940- May of this year was when the most commonly known concentration camp Auschwitz was built. This is very important because for the Jews to not know anything about it, this was where they were going to be murderer and many others were going to work and suffer.
1941-Elie was 12 years old and began studying Kabbalah. Once Elie reached the camp he had really strong religious beliefs but as all the horrible things start to happen he loses faith in god.
1944--Elie and his family was deported to Auschwitz. This was very life changing because he and his family were separated and also this is where his sister and mother were murdered. Elie spent time here and he faced many difficult challenges. He and others were starved, gassed, and beaten. Going through all of this is what made Elie the strong person that he is because he felt that he could not encounter anything else more painful.
Jan.1945--Elie’s father dies in Buchenwald. This is significant because Elie did not shed a tear. As a matter of fact he was some what glad that his father had died to take a burden off his shoulders. This goes to show how much Elie had changed as a person and to show how his values had changed over a short period of time.
Apr.1945--Elie is liberated from concentration camp. Once Elie and the others are free, all they can think about is food. Elie is free once again and when he looks at himself in the mirror he is surprised because he does not notice himself.
1948--Elie moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. This is where he was first inspired to become a journalist. He studied hard and began to travel the world looking for things to write about.
1954--After an interview with François Mauriac, Elie is persuaded to write about the Holocaust and what he experienced. This is very important because at first Elie was not going to write about it because one he was too ashamed and two it brought back to many painful memories. After a lot of thought and consideration he finally gave in.
1956--while in New York, Elis hit by a taxicab. This made him a much stronger person because even though he was in a wheel chair he still worked on his book. He didn’t give up because for the first time since the camp he believed in himself.
1958--Night is published. This book covers his experience during the Holocaust. It goes into great detail about how badly Elie and his people suffered. By publishing this book Elie became very known to the people of the U.S.
1963--Elie receives U.S. citizenship. By being a U.S citizen Elie was able to work on things and go public whit them and not be afraid of being deported. Also by becoming an citizen he felt as if though he was a part of something.
1964--Elie returned to Sighet to visit his child hood home. This shows that he has courage and that he is no longer afraid to face his fears.

1969--Elie married Marion Rose. This went to show that he was finally functioning as a normal person. Elie was not letting his past get in the way of his happiness.3 years later Marion gave Elis his first son, Elisha Shlomo. Also during this time Elie serves as a professor at an University in New York.
1978--Jimmy Carter appointed chair of Presidential Commission on the Holocaust to Elie. This was a huge accomplishment because Elie would never expect someone in his position to win such a position. This position turned Elie into a great leader.
1985--Elie is awarded Congressional Gold Medal of Achievement by president Ronald Regan. Elie is ecstatic because he didn’t think he would make it this far. By receiving an honor this high Elie is given the strength to move forward with his life.
1986--Elie is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This is the highest honor a journalist could earn. This made Elie realize that he really did have a purpose in life.
2005- Elie is named as man of the year. Elie realizes that even though he went through a lot, he had lived a great life. He was very proud of himself and no longer ashamed of what he was and had become.



http://thinkexist.com/quotes/elie_wiesel/

http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/wiesel/timeline/

http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Wiesel



”

• Rated 2 stars

“ The book "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller was a required read in my junior english class. The little town of Salem is struck with fear when they find they are surrounded by "witches." Abigail claims she can see the witches spirits and soon every other person in Salem has been convicted with witchcraft. I thought the way the author wrote the story was confusing since the book was meant for a play. Also, they used old english which was hard to understand. Personally I thought the book was rather sad even though it was hard to follow and understand. The only bad thing about this book is if you don't understand a part, you won't understand most of the book and every other paragraph you have to go back and re-read to understand what you just read. I would recommend this book to whoever is interested in American History or to someone who is looking for a difficult read. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“i choose The crucible because it talks about whichcraft and about people lying and people getting hung for being accused of whichcraft. I like the book because its funny to me cause of people getting hung but its funny to me but i dont know about other people.

A town in Mass. that is sopossily under whichcraft and there are thesegrils that the accussers and accuse almost everybody in the hole village of whichcraft. If they were accused they were brought in front of the corurt to tesstify and if they didnt they were to be hung hte next moring.

The authers word craft was a little hard to understand cause of the old word chocies that they used back in the day but after you read it for a while it gets easier to understand.


my opnion for the book is that its a good book for an easy to read book cause its a short book.

i recomend it to people that like mysteries and for people who like old books ”

• Rated 3 stars

“I chose to read this book because i like to read books that are in the format of plays.
it also was a book that we read as a class.
This book was written during the time of the salem witch trials, this means that u could not believe in your religion with out being acussed of being a witch. A group of girls were in the woods dancing and doing some witchcraft activities with a servant named tituba.They were acused of being bewitched.
I recomend this book to whoever likes reading about the salem witch trials”

• Rated 4 stars

“The Crucible is an very interesting book and not offensive if one does not go too deep into it. I enjoyed the plot, and it inflicted many emotions in me, such as anger, fear, and laughter. I would recommend this book to anyone. I did hear that The Crucible is a metaphor for McCarthyism, however I do not see how this book related to McCarthyism in any way. After all, during the 50s, we actually caught communists. I read this book for English class and was skeptical at first. However once I got past the first act, which was not too interesting, the story began to pick up. From then I was drawn into the events up to teh point where I had to continue reading just to find out what would happen next. The Crucible is a short yet intense read.”

• Rated 4 stars

“I saw the play quite a few years before reading it, but it left a strong impression for more than one reason, not the least of which is the superlative quality of the play.

Arthur Miller wrote this during McCarthy era about the witch hunt of another times, and it fits the witch hunt of aommunists in postwar era as if tailored, tailored not only well but in fact tailored in Savoy in London to boot.

The only difference between the two times being the mundane details - that one in the era gone by was started by a few young girls amusing themselves, and the story is of how a mistake by a man involving an affair with a young servant, giving rise to hopes that he never intended to encourage, destroyed not only his life and family but also that of his innocent wife and of more than a few neighbours as well.

A few of my colleagues had a long argument after seeing the play, about whether the wife should have encouraged the husband to commit sin of forgery, of allowing his signature on a fraudulent paper to be fixed on the church door; and their opinion was it was all her fault he died - even though she was the one he most sinned against in having an affair with the young servant, she was the most innocent of the two, and yet was not given the option of being excused, and couldn't have escaped hanging in any way, leaving three young children and another newborn orphans.

The horror of their insistence on her guilt was unbelievable. She had not been given the option of life for the crime of being a woman, and those colleagues of European ancestral origins were essentially crucifying her again for the same reason.

Such is the grip of misogyny enforced on European culture for over a few centuries, that any issue turns into not only a witch hunt but generally they manage to find some innocent woman and pin the guilt on her, so she can be offered to their terrible gods above as a sacificial lamb.

They had entirely missed the point of the whole exercise of why Arthur Miller wrote the play in the first place, and what it was all about.

Or, perhaps, they fitted the characters he wrote about - those that would go on a witch hunt, preventing any possibility of independant thought and action on part of the ruled and subjugated, making sure most activities to do with any craft, any knowledge and any expertise of any sort whatsoever were kept from general people, and only allowed to the ruling classes.

They were after all of a culture that had a much longer witch hunt of a few centuries of inquisition, ruling out any possibility of women with knowledge even of matters of essential needs of life and family.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Good read. Very good look into the "witching times". I enjoyed it a lot.”

• Rated 4 stars

“incredible story. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“Miller was truly a very complex man intune with deep suffering and deserved redemption.”