Reflection: How does The Crucible display the qualities of Puritans

The Crucible displays many qualities of Puritan writing. After reading the novel and not fully understanding the details, I read the summary on SparkNotes to get the full idea.

The similarity that stuck out the most to me was that the government in this novel was a theocracy. A theocracy is a government ruled by God (Miller 60). Obviously this fact is similar to the Puritan style because the Puritans were all about God.

During this time in Salem, God was a central aspect. Just like in the Puritan writing style, they tried to involve God with everything that their town was a part of. Even starting out in the play, a man is already praying. During this time, if anyone was sick and they could not deem a reason for it, they assumed it was witchcraft. After the possibly bewitched being goes to trial, the town determines if they are truly bewitched (Miller 65). Being involved in witchcraft was a horrible sin. No one should even dance, let alone communicate with the devil. In the other Puritan styled writing, nothing this evil and against God has been discussed (in my experience with the few readings we have done in class.) This reading has ventured further off from God and dealt more with sin. Even though it is still saying witchcraft is wrong, it is still the most evil reading that I have read so far. In my opinion, it is different than the other readings so far because of its level of evil.

In this novel, it was clear that if a member of the town was not a good Christian and did not follow the bible properly, it was the whole town's business (Miller 60). Everyone seemed to assume that the person accused of witchcraft definitely had something to do with it without even talking to the person. The town was spreading rumors faster than a wild fire spreads. I find this ironic because gossip is a sin, and that is what they were doing. They were gossiping about one of their town member's being bewitched. Everyone had their own little spin on it, too. Nothing was official and a lot of false things were being said. That in itself is a sin. Maybe the townsfolk should look at correcting themselves instead of so hardly, and falsely, judging others wrongdoing.

Another thing is that Betty's father seems to be more worried about his reputation than his daughter getting better (Miller 63). This writing seems to be like the Puritan writing style because God is the center of it, but the characters do not seem to be good bible followers because they judge others and let their own sins slide. It is rather ironic, really.

Believing in God is a strong belief of the Puritans. In the previous readings, the characters always turned to God for help when they were in a tough spot. They always believed that God would get them out of their mess. In this book, Betty's father did pray for her, but he did not seem to ask God for the right things or even thank him for the little things (Miller59). He just seemed unhappy and mad. That was not like the other Puritan writing examples at all.

Works Cited

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

"SparkNotes: The Crucible: Act I: Opening Scene to the Entrance of John Proctor." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 07 Sept. 2011.

"True Colors." True Colors International. Baytech Web Design. Web. 18 Oct. 2011.