Journal #11

If I was to make a society with virtues to live by, I probably would not change much from today's world.  That sounds pretty weird because we have a pretty corrupted society when you think about it, but I do not think that is because of the laws and virtues we have, but because people do not necessarily always follow them.  We have a pretty well-set government and laws in place.  At the core of it all is freedom.  We are one of the few places on this earth that gives out freedom and rights for FREEEEE.  We believe that everyone has a right to their own life and their own decisions.  Most people take advantage of this and live their life to the fullest, then you have other people who just sit back an let their life live itself, that is why our society can sometimes appear lazy and, to be frank, fat.  We all know it's true.  Just ask any of our foreign exchange students.  Especially Andre.  Our cafeteria food pretty much makes him want to curl up in a ball and cry.  We also have a pretty strict law on killing.  Which I can thoroughly appreciate.  I really do not like when people kill each other.  It is unnecessary and get us no where.  It also creates lots of sadness and sadness just is not okay.  It never gets anyone anywhere and just creates more problems when it is not properly dealt with.  Another virtue/belief that our society has that I thoroughly agree with is our education system.  For the most part, education comes first in a child's life.  There are a few exceptions to this, but school is generally a requirement for those between the ages of five and at least sixteen in America.  I think that is an excellent thing to have, but kids do not always appreciate it and put forth their best effort because they do not realize how lucky they are.  So America once again comes off in a very slack-off kind of manner.  

Propaganda and Errors of Faulty Logic

Propaganda is information of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Most commonly it is found in political campaigns and is used during wars to convince people of what is right and wrong. A common type of propaganda is name-calling. This is one of the more immature types if you ask me. It consists of attaching a negative label to an opponent in order to make them appear less qualified than you or your cause. Examples of name-calling is shown on the third page: "A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a TYRANT is unfit to be ruler of free people" (Jefferson, 124). Jefferson claims the King is a tyrant, which may or may not be true, but either way puts the idea in people's head and sparks an idea. Another type is called glittering generalities. Yes. It is actually called 'glittering generalities'. Sad, I know. Another term used to describe it is 'glad-words'. Basically these are terms like fair and honest and best. They have a pretty empty meaning but are meant to make people feel good and comfortable with whatever person or cause that is using the propaganda. Some example are scattered through out the text. In the second paragraph, Jefferson says "...that all men are created equal..." (Jefferson, 122). This isn't quite a word, but more a phrase. Jefferson is saying what the people want to hear. It doesn't really matter if he believes it or not. He knows that people want freedom, and putting that bluntly will get people on his side. Glad-words come about again on page 124, "In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms" (Jefferson, 124). Here, the author uses happy and 'glad' terms (humbler) to builds himself up and make his side appear much greener, if you will, than his oppositions. On page one some serious propaganda begins to occur. As far as I can tell, it can be classified as card-stacking. Card-stacking is pretty much stacking the odds in your favor. This could either mean stacking up cards in your favor OR stacking up cards AGAINST your opponent. In this case, it is against the opponent. One page one Thomas Jefferson begins to shpeel all of the wrongs the King of England has committed against the colonists. A few examples: "He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodations of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and fomidable to tyrants only", "He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither (I love that he just used hither for real.), and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands", and "For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;" (Jefferson, 123). So as you can see, Jefferson pretty thoroughly stacks up the odds against the King. He makes it so that he appears to be the good guy, and the King the bad. This is a method of focusing on the other persons bad so no one looks at your own flaws.
     Jefferson literally lists off all the wrongs the King has committed for about two solid pages.  This is good evidence that Jefferson had few errors of logic, if any.  A type of error of logic can a lot of times be when people argue for the sake of arguing.  They don't have good back up or even reasoning for arguing.  It can also be when people are talking just to evade the actual problem, they just talk to distract.  Here, Jefferson avoids both.  He has a very good cause and really believes in that cause.  He also gives very strong and very extensive back up.  He shows that he is not arguing from ignorance, but is very well informed on the topic. 
  



Work Cited:

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., Douglas Fisher, Beverly Ann. Chin, and Jacqueline Jones. Royster. "The Declaration of Independence." Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 120-24. Print.

"Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic." Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://orderofsaintpatrick.org/marx1/propaganda-tech.htm>.

Journal #10

So.  I think that if you bring Brach's Star Brites Mints, it will just distract the class.  We have enough difficulty as it is attempting to stay on task.  Imagine adding in food to the equation.  Not only  would we have the debate of whose blog convinced you to bring them (because we would have to find out, even if we had to duct tape you to the wall, we would find out one way or another), but you would also have to deal with the wrappers.  Now let me tell you all the problems with the wrappers.  First off, they are LOUD.  You have to open them, and unless you are a skilled candy-wrapper-opener, you are going to make noise.  It's not just one of though, it's ALL of us making noise continuously for like three minutes.  Then you would have those people who wait until the middle and end of class to open there's and make more noise!  So not only are the noise with which the wrapper makes distracting, but also the disposal of the wrapper!  Once you eat the candy with in, you have to throw it away!  People would be getting in and out of their seats the entire time!  That's just annoying!  There would of course be some of those kids who would not even throw them away at all, too!  They, for what ever reason, think that their mother follows them around and just picks up everything for them!  So that would leave clean up for you Mr. Langley!  I'm not even sure which kind of mints these are.  I really really really like the ones they gave us during ISATS.  Those straight up melted in your mouth.  Now if it's the hard mints, yuck.  Those taste decent for about the first half, but then they just leave a bad taste in your mouth.  In summary, I think bringing in mints would be distracting because we would have to spend time figuring out why you brought them and the wrapper's would cause ruckus and such.  DO NOT DO IT.

Journal #9

The Adventures of the Four Narwhal Friends: The Encounter with the Sea God

There once was a narwhal named Autumn.  He also had three friends with the names Winter, Summer, and Spring.  They were the best four friends that anyone could have!  One day they were swimming along in the ocean blue when they came upon a sad sad part of the ocean.  The bright blue color the ocean usually was gone and replaced by a much less vibrant blue that really made everyone much sadder.  Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Summer were all very curious narwhals and of course had to search out the reason as to why this part of the ocean was much sadder than the rest.  They began to swim deeper and deeper and it only got colder and colder.  Soon,  Summer could not take it anymore and swam back to her happier ocean where it was comfortable in temperature.  She was Summer, after all, cold just wasn't her style.  Spring, Autumn, and Winter continued on.  Eventually Spring gave out as well, and went to find Summer.  That left Autumn and Winter to find the mysterious cause of the sadness.  After a few minutes more they found a boy crying on the ocean floor.  He wasn't wet, or even dead for that matter!  Just sitting there, letting the tears roll down his face.  Autumn and Winter got closer only to discover it was none other than Percy Jackson!  Son of the Sea God!  No wonder he wasn't wet, he was Poseidon's child! Percy Jackson was a celebrity among the narwhals, so Autumn and Winter were simply ecstatic to find the Son of the Sea God!  Upon getting closer to the demi-god, Autumn and Winter noticed his tears were the cause for the sadness!  They were slowly flowing from his face and you could just barely notice that the tears were indeed the reason that was altering the oceans vibrant blue color into a sadder, dull, and less impressive blue.  You could also tell, once you were closer, their was also an aura of sadness surrounding Percy, greater than any other.  Autumn pipped up and asked, "Percy? Why are you crying so?"  At first Percy made no movement or signs that he had heard them.  Finally though, he slowly turned and said in a barely audible voice,

"All the blue ice cream was gone."

TO BE CONTINUED. (If journal topic permits). 

Journal #8

My Mother can be very irrational.  Of course I am her daughter and therefore she does not allow me to do a lot of things that I want to do so I am going to think of her irrationally at times.  There have been instances when she has been truly irrational.  Specifically, this summer was the first summer that I had ever had my license, naturally my social life greatly increased.  Okay, this is about my dad and my mom both being irrational, forgot about him.  Last school year I became really good friends with Morgan Young, so this summer I was at her house like every day.  Once, I ended up spending the night two nights in a row because I had ended up not having a car and just stayed the next Saturday and went to church with them and my parents received me from there.  Then volleyball started in June, and my social life took a temporary dip.  I only went to her house about once a week to swim or eat or something.  Then at the end of June we decided we were going to watch all the Harry Potter movies in one day.  It is possible, it's only about nine-teen hours and forty-eight minutes.  In order to do so, I needed to spend two night in a row at Morgan's house.  By the time we would have finished I would, it would have been past my driving curfew.  My parents decided that it was no longer okay for me to spend two nights in a row.  They never really told me why, come to think of it.  That is my number one biggest pet peeve, decisions with out reasoning.  Well, I had to persuade them with multiple reasons to help them see the light that this was very important.  I would not be able to hang out with these people for about two weeks after that, it would be great fun, and wonderful memories would be made.  In the end, I convinced them with my wonderful reasoning abilities and all was good in the neighborhood.  

Wait. What?

Holy jazzer muffins that was long.

Crucible: Act IV

   "The parochial snobbery of these people was partly responsible for their failure to convert the Indians. Probably they also preferred to take land from heathens rather than from fellow Christians. At any rate, very few Indians were converted, and the Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the Devil’s last preserve, his home base and the citadel of his final stand. To the best of their knowledge the American forest was the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God" (Act I, 5).  In the "Crucible"  we see that the people in the story are very concerned with the 'Devil's Work' within the town.  This quote exemplifies that the people believed a very strict line existed in society.  On one side was God and the other the Devil.  They believe that their town is where God and goodness are and the forest, were the Indians are, is where the Devil and evil are.  This is much like the sermon we listened to in class "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards.  In the Sermon, the preacher is bombarding his audience with accusations of the life they have been living, reprimanding them all with extremely forceful words.  

   This quote and this sermon are similar to me because they both present very strict views of God and the Devil.  The quote gives us a visual along with words.  It clearly conveys that the towns people believe that their town is where God is.  They strictly believe that they are the good in this situation.  They believe that the forest is where the evil is.  The relate the Indians and the Devil.  This reminds me of the sermon we listened to because the preacher, Jonathan Edwards, also draws a very clear line.  He tells us, well really screams at us, that our life is basically a big fat sin.  He tells us that if we do not change what we are doing we will end up in Hell.  Then he gives a very in depth analysis of what he thinks Hell looks like.  He pretty much tells us we must be perfect or we will be punished.  There has only ever been one perfect human being.  Jesus.  Therefore, he draws a line between humanity and the Son of God.  In relations to the quote, he is showing the way humans are living as the Devils way and perfection as the Godly way.  (This makes me angry, but those reason are for another day.)   

   There is something ironic about "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and how it comes out in "The Crucible."  The Sermon is Jonathan Edwards telling his audience that they are living incorrectly and, unless they want to pay the very fiery consequences, the must change their ways.  Now you have "The Crucible."  A book full of Puritans 'trying' to do the right thing.  They think that witchery has over taken them and they must rid themselves of it and purify in God's name.  In order to do this, mostly everyone ends up lying at some point, relationships are ripped apart, and most importantly various innocent lives are taken.  That, for one, is not very christian-like at all.  In Act IV, Reverend Hale enters.  He looks sorrowful and is asked why.  He responds with "Why, it is simple.  I come to do the Devil's work.  I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves" (Act IV, 131).  A Reverend is being asked to lie.  Definitely not christian-like.  Now in the sermon, the audience is told they must clean up their lives or face the consequences.  In "The Crucible" the people think they are cleaning up their lives to avoid the consequences.  The people haven't necessarily heard this sermon in particular, but we are told that in their church they receive like treatment.  The ironic thing is the people in "The Crucible" are being told that they are living in an evil way and need to turn to God, but in the end they do quite the opposite.  

   There are multiple similarities between "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and "The Crucible."  The biggest one I saw was the distinct line both parties drew between God and the Devil.  The people put the forest, natives, and witchery on the Devil's side, and themselves on God's side.  Jonathan Edwards put how people had been living on the Devil's side and simply perfection on God's side.  They both had very clear ideas of what was right and wrong in their eyes.  Jonathan Edwards pretty much expected us to live as Jesus, or we will end up in Hell in his opinion.  Both parties had very clear ideas in their head, but each lead to a very incorrect conclusion.  The sermon and "The Crucible" were both of incorrect views of what should be happening and what should happen in the future.

    

 Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print. 

Field, Nancy. "Unit 1." Glencoe Literature American Literature: The Reader's Choice. [S.l.]: Glencoe Mcgraw-Hill Schoo, 2003. 83-85. Print.

Journal #7

Let me start off with saying that bullying is stupid.  Any time a person has an idea in their head that they are better than someone else for whatever reason, that is straight up stupid.  I have never been in a serious bullying situation, nor have I really known anyone who has been, either.  I can, however, talk about what I have learned about in the past in classes and such.  I remember in eighth grade they had a speaker come in and talk about virtual bullies, on Facebook and such.  There had been a girl who had been mean to another girl or stolen her boyfriend or something very minimal and the victims mother felt the need to step in on the situation.  The mother got on Myspace (I know, back in the day) and created a fake account as a high school boy and added the girl who had been bullying her daughter.  She began to slowly build a friendship with the girl, always calling her pretty and continuously complimenting her until the girl began to trust this boy.  After a few months the boy began to throw out digs on the girl, BULLYING her back.  He eventually make her feel so horrible about herself she thought she had no reason to live and committed suicide.  How did this effect the victim?  In this particularly situation, very strongly.  She made herself so vulnerable to this Myspace boy she had never met that his opinions were, in the end, the difference between life and death.  How did this effect the bully?  I would be very angry if this did not virtually ruin the mother who created the fake accounts life.  I don't remember the exact reason she felt the need to step in on her daughters life, but I do remember it was an extremely petty and definitely not worth anyone's life.  Hopefully the mother was effected very highly and learns from her mistakes and others can also learn from it.  

The Crucible: Act III

   How is human nature displayed in "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller?  First, let us brain storm some common characteristics of human nature.  One, we are SELFISH.  I do not care what you say.  Humans are probably the most selfish species ever.  This is not always a bad thing, necessarily.  Some times it is for the preservation of one's self.  Usually, however, we are just more concerned about ourselves as opposed to the rest of the world that continues to revolve no matter what.  Abigail exemplifies the trait of selfishness splendidly.  Not only does she show great signs of selfishness in Act III, but the whole book.  In the beginning when she is being interrogated, she completely throws everyone else under the bus in order to preserve herself.  She doesn't think about anyone else and how her actions could possibly effect them.  Then in Act III when they are in court and Abigail is being questioned, she does not even hesitate to think about anyone else.  She is focused on herself and only herself and the only way to get herself out of any trouble.  She does not care about the truth or the lies, as long as what is being said puts her in a position of power.  
   This blog is going to be contradicting in some ways, I am warning you now.  It will be with good taste, though.  I just went on a little tangent about how selfish humans are.  This is very true.  HOWEVER.  We have shining moment when the opposite is proven.  In my opinion, humans predominantly are focused on themselves and how this or that can benefit them.  PREDOMINANTLY.  Sometimes though,  we are the most caring species ever.  There are some people in this world who are simply incapable of thinking about themselves.  They are only concerned with how they could be helping someone else.  This magnificent trait is shown through John Proctor in Act III.  Just to clarify, I am not saying John Proctor is a perfect little angle.  He is not.  However, he has a shining moment in Act III where he puts himself and something that he cares a whole lot about on the line for someone else.  His wife, Elizabeth is being accused of being a witch.  *sarcasm* Wierd, right?  That does not happen very much in "The Crucible"...  Well, in order to free his wife and reveal Abigail as the little liar that she is, he tells of the affair that the two had (John Proctor and Abigail).  In order to save his wife from most certain death, he ruins his good reputations which is something that is very important to him.  He shows that sometimes it is in human nature to help others at all costs.  
   The last characteristic of human nature that really popped out at me from "The Crucible" was that of social conformity.  In other words, people want to be liked,  they want to be accepted at all costs.  There are some people who do everything in their power to do their own thing and be able to take credit for everything they do, that is not the case in this book.  Witch craft is the things, so everyone goes with it.  We can make a pretty sure guess that none of these people actually experienced anything they are saying they did.  They are lying.  Why may you ask?  In order to fit in!  Duh!  They want to be liked, so when Abigail begins accusing someone of witch craft, they go with it!  It might also be that they don't want to be the next victim,  but also they want to fit in and be apart of something.  Humans want to be liked and accepted, it is in our nature, and pretty much everyone in this book reflects that.  


 Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print. 

Journal #6

It is very annoying when someone blames you for something you did not do.  I try very hard to always make my accusations as true as possible because it is no fun trying to regain that person's affections for you.  There are many possibly repercussions to giving false accusations.  If I was to accuse my brother, Walker, of stealing all the money out of my piggy bank but really it had been my other brother, Taylor, Walker would most likely be pretty mad at me.  He would feel very wounded.  He would feel wounded because he would think that I did not think our relationship was as strong as it really was.  I would feel very extremely wounded if someone was to falsely accuse me of something.  I would see that they had a false image of me and that they really did not know me at all.  It would be like our friendship was a lie and that I had not really known them at all.  I would also see that they hadn't really known me either, which would hurt because all my efforts to build a relationship with them would all be for a loss it would seem.  Now this all seems a bit extreme, do not take it so extreme.  I just would feel very hurt if this was to happen to me, but I would be able to recover as most people would.  It would be initially my relationship with that person most likely would not be the greatest.  This would also apply to the vice versa situation.  If I was to accuse someone wrongfully they would probably lose trust in me initially as well.  That would probably be the worst repercussion of that situation, losing that relationship with that person for however long.  You could also end up grounded or in jail or just sad and friendless.  There are a lot of possible repercussions that could happen with false accusations, however losing the trust of a friend would be the worst.   

The Crucible: Act II

          There are many different types of personalities.  There are, however, four main types that we are going to focus on in this blog.  They are a helper which is the color blue, a thinker the color green, a planner the color gold, and finally a doer which is the color orange.  Many people could possibly fall in between these categories and be a mix, but you can pretty well fit just about anybody in one of these categories.  Now we're reading "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller.  The characters that I am going to relate to the chart from "The Crucible" are John Proctor, Abigail Williams, Tituba, and Reverend Parris.  
     I believe that John Proctor is doer.  A doer does a lot of spontaneous and rash things.  They do not think their actions all the way through, usually, and tend to be the one everyone is looking at and just thinking to themselves, "Wait...what?"  The biggest piece of evidence I have to show to prove John Proctor as a "doer" is his affair with Abigail Williams.  This is a perfect representation of something a doer would do.  At the time, his wife Elizabeth was very frigid, she even tells us this herself.  She was also very sick and we can assume John was not getting the same amount of attention he usually received from his wife.  You insert a young and fiery new housekeeper and you have a soon very shamed Puritan with no where to turn.  
     Our next character is Abigail Williams.  She would fall somewhere between a planner and a doer.  I would say possibly a planner because whenever confronted about the witch-craft she is very articulate and purposeful with her actions.  She plans and takes control of the situation very quickly to ensure that things go as she wants. She makes sure that the other girls know what is going to happen and the consequences if they do not.  She does not hesitate.  This leads us right into why she might be a doer, as well.  She does not hesitate.  She knows what she wants immediately and so she acts upon it and takes action with out first thinking what could possibly be the repercussions.  Her "doer" side is also reflected in her affair with John Proctor.  She does not hesitate to think she could be potentially breaking up a marriage with her actions, but instead goes for what she wants.  
     Next up, we have a helper.  Tituba, Reverend Parris' slave.  She is supposedly the one who led the witch-craft in the woods with all of the girls.  This is actually very true, however she was not doing it as witch-craft.  She was simply practicing her culture.  She is African-American and originally from Barbados so she has African roots.  Her culture is singing and dancing.  So despite the fact she is being completely manipulated and persecuted and accused of thing she hasn't done, she is still kind and caring.  Poor Betty is lying in bed, Tituba doesn't care about herself and the mess she's in, she goes to care for Betty anyway.  
     Lastly, we have Reverend Parris.  He is the first character we see in this little novella.  He is standing over his sick daughter, Betty's, bed.  We initially feel pretty bad for him.  We think he is at his daughters deathbed, about to mourn for her.  Nope.  He's just THINKING about what this will do for his reputation, having witch-craft evident in his house.  Reverend Parris is slowly, but thoroughly revealed for the sick individual he is through out the book.  He is constantly analyzing situations and thinking what he could do to make them go in his favor.  I have decided he is thinker because he is constantly reading into situations and contemplating how they could come out in his odds.  He is a very selfish thinker, but a thinker no less.    
      Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print. 

Journal #5

A "fair punishment" is very hard to give a concrete definition of.  There are so many variables that could effect a punishment that it's hard to say what is fair and what is not.  In the twenty first century I'd say grounding from electronics is definitely a fair and efficient way of going about it.  The fear of losing ones telephone or computer or car or whatever is very good motivation.  If you threaten a child's social life, they are extremely apt to stay in line.  Now that we have defined WHAT should be taken away, now is the situation of how long.  First it depends on how serious the infraction was.  That also depends on the parent figure and their opinions on what is so called serious and what is not.  A typical parent would consider breaking curfew a serious enough infraction of the rules.  Say your curfew is eleven o'clock and you roll in around eleven thirty.  If the child was to alert the parent of the situation and that they would not be making curfew but were doing there best to make home as fast as possible but still in one piece, I would imagine a parent would be much more forgiving.  Now if the child simply rolls in around eleven twelve with no explanation what so ever, I'd say the punishment would be in a more serious category.  As a parental figure I would either veto their car privileges for the following social outing they had planned, or cell phone privileges for a period of time.  I would, however, be absolutely positive they always had a way of contacting me and making sure they could communicate if necessary.  I would probably take the phone for a few days in order to drive the point home that I am their parent and therefore need to know their were abouts at all times, no matter what their excuse was.  If they aren't going to use their phone for the actual cause, letting me know their were abouts, then they get no phone at all. 

The Crucible: Act I

"The Crucible" is basically about the Salem witch trials in the late 1600's.  This was right around the Puritan's prime-time in America.  They were in the literature spot light.  As we've discussed in class, characteristics of Puritan writing is mainly short, blunt, and to the point writing styles.  The author does not want to elaborate and potentially draw attention away from God and onto themselves.  That leads us into the other prominent characteristic.  God is always very prominent and the center of Puritan writing.  God is portrayed as a very loving figure who always has the best in mind for everyone.

These writing styles are reflected on and off through out act I of "The Crucible."  In the very beginning it states "...to win people and God to his side"

(Miller 3).  In the very beginning the author is already illustrating how our main character is living his life for God.  "Ours is a divided empire in which certain ideas and emotions and actions are of God, and their opposites are of Lucifer" (Miller 33).  This quote exemplifies the authorities figures of the towns views of the working of God and Lucifer (Satan) within the town.  This is just another visualization of how prominent the faith is within this book.

This book also exemplifies how the church was breaking away from typical Puritan writing styles. "Proctor was a farmer in his middle thirties.  He need not have been a partisan of any faction int he town, but there is evidence to suggest that he had a sharp and biting way with hypocrites.  He was the kind of man-powerful of body, even tempered, and not easily led-who cannot refuse support to partisans without drawing their deepest resentment.  In proctor's presence a fool felt his foolishness instantly-and a Proctor is always marked for Calumny therefore" (Miller 20).  Typical Puritan writing is usually characterized as very blunt and to the point.  Nothing that is not absolutely essential.  The writers were afraid that if they elaborated too much on anything it was a sin for they were drawing attention away from God, no matter how minutely.  This is not shown in this quote.  The author takes his sweet time describing this man to us.  He tells us his age, his distaste for hypocrites, his way with conversation, even his physical description.  In any other example of Puritan writing we've seen, we were lucky if we got someones gender.  Here we get the full shpeel.  This shows how the Puritan writing style was changing, taking on a more "rebellious" feel compared to their original views.  

"When it is recalled that until the Christian era the underworld was never regarded as a hostile area, that all gods were useful and essentially friendly to man despite occasional lapses; when we see the steady and methodical inculcation into humanity of the idea of man's worthlessness-until redeemed-the necessity of the Devil may become evident as a weapon, a weapon designed and sued time and time again in every age to whip men into a surrender to a particular church or church-state" (Miller 34).  Okay.  Big quote.  Don't freak out!  At least not yet!  Puritan writing was always described as proclaiming God, praising him and illustrating him in a forgiving loving way.  "The Crudible" begins to imply that maybe that's not how God really is after all.  This quote perfectly tells us that during this book, people were beginning to think about Hell and what it really was like.  Once they had an idea planted in their head, they begin to think, "If my God is so awesome, why is he sending me here?"  

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print. 

Journal #4

There once was an ant.  His name was Berry.  He had an aching feeling.  This feeling ached for pudding.  Not just any pudding, however, chocolate pudding.  He knew where he could find said chocolate pudding, however, it was getting to it that was his problem.  Why was it such a problem you may ask?  It was in the *suspenseful music* REFRIGERATOR.  Duh Duh Duh Duuuuuh!  Berry was based in the living room of the Gallio household, the refrigerator was stationed in the Gallio kitchen.  These two rooms were separated by "The Hallway" every ants nightmare.  The survival rate of entering "The Hallway" was less than 10%.  So you can see why Berry would be scared.  Though he was scared, his yearn for some chocolate-y pudding was much more potent.  He was determined to get to this pudding, no matter the cost.  There was no time to waste.  Now or never as his any colony always said.  He took his first step out into "The Hallway."  It's menacing green walls taunted him, as if saying "You'll be this color when we're done with you!"  He scurried along the mocking walls until he reached the china cabinet.  It was at least seven feet tall and full of fragile pottery Mrs. Gallio had attained through out the years.  He had heard of many spiders to hide out and wait for courageous ants to stumble right into their webs hid around the china cabinet.  Berry would not be that ant.  He scurried purposefully around the china cabinet and only hoped he would avoid any spider-booby-traps.  He was getting tired now.  He was about half-way through "The Hallway"  and was already beginning to feel the fatigue setting in.  It was only a matter of time before it was all to much for him to take and he lost all control (This is how I feel on long car rides.  If I'm in one place to long....not good.).  He had made it past the china cabinet!  Weeeew!  *STOMP, STOMP, STOMP* Why was the floor rumbling?!  Where was that black shadow coming from?!  Why is it descending upon me?!  NOOO THIS COULDN'T BE THE-! "Honey! I'm home!" 

Comparison of "History of Plymouth Plantation" to Puritan writing 9/1/12

"History of Plymouth Plantation" by William Bradford is a collection of journal entries by William Bradford himself.  They are of his time immigrating to the 'New World' and his time as a mayor of thirty-three years of Plymouth Plantation.  His writing style reflects typical Puritan writing in a definite spiritual way.  The first indicator I found while skimming (it's like eight-hundred pages, give me a break) "History of Plymouth Plantation" was in the opening pages.  With in the first paragraph he mentions God and Satan quite easily.  "It is  well knowne unto y godly and judicious, how ever since y first breaking out of u lighte of y gospell in our Honourable Nation of England ( which was y first of nations whom y Lord adorned ther with, affter y grosse darknes of propery which had covered and overspread by Christian worled,) what wars and opposissions ever since, Satan hath raised, maintained, and continued against the Saincts, from time time, in one sorte or other" (Bradford, Deane 1).  This all takes place in the VERY first sentence.  He drops God and Satan's name before you can even think "I wonder if this guy was a Puritan...?"  Not only does William Bradford already appear to be a very Christian-ly influenced writer within his very first pages, but he is also a very to-the-point-writer, as well.  He does not describe much of anything to us in the beginning.  It is a journal, so I suppose it would not be typical for a journal-er to describe every possible little thing with intent for someone to read and gain understanding, but in this case it really is like that.  William Bradford wrote this journal for those who were not on the voyage on the Mayflower to the New World.  He wrote it for reference about the voyage for others to read and gain understanding.  So, even though he know others will be potentially reading his journal he still does not try to spice it up.  There is nothing in the "History of Plymouth Plantation" that is not absolutely essential for the reader to have to understand the journal.  This, personally, bugs me a lot.  I do not deal well with to-the-point, descriptive-less prose.  Frankly, it straight up irks me.  That is, however, very beside the point!  Back to how a lot of christian references came up through Bradford's writings!  Not only does he refer to Christianity frequently in the beginning, but he stays constant and it is just as prominent in the beginning as in the middle and end.  Even during the hardships that William Bradford and his young colony must face during their long period of time in the New World, he still remains faithful and true to his God.  He continually rejoices his name through out his journal no matter what circumstances he is facing.  His prose does not become any more interesting through out the years, either.  By that I mean, his writing techniques stay very blunt and to the point, which I am not saying is a bad thing, it is simply not my favorite thing.  He stay very Puritan-y through out the entire book through his references to his faith and his extremely blunt way of doing it.       

Bradf

Bradford, William, and Charles Deane. History of Plymouth Plantation. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1856. N. pag. Print.