Monday, February 7, 2011

Websites and Research Questions


On your notecards, please answer the questions below and make a source card for each website.




The Crucible



Literary devices: http://summarycentral.tripod.com/thecrucible.htm



  • What are two of the themes of The Crucible?


  • Explain Miller's writing style.



Inaccuracies of The Crucible: http://www.17thc.us/docs/fact-fiction.shtml



  • List three differences between the play and what really happened in Salem.




History Behind the Play




Witchcraft:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/witchhistory.html


  • How many years separated the last execution of a "witch" in Europe from the Salem Witch Trials?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8334055.stm



  • Describe the type of person who was often accused of being a witch? (demographics, personality, kinds of actions that led others to accuse them of being a witch, etc.)


Trouble in Salem: http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/salemwitchcraft.html#politics



  • What political and economic reasons existed for the division between Salem Village and Salem Town?

  • Why was life difficult for Parris and his family?

  • Why were Betty and Abigail forbidden from playing games?

Salem Witchcraft Trials:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_ACCT.HTM



  • How was Cotton Mather connected to the Salem Witchcraft Trials?

  • Who were the first three people to be accused of witchcraft?

  • Why was John Proctor likely accused of witchcraft?

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salemcauses.html



  • List five of the suspected causes for the Salem Witchcraft Trials.
McCarthyism:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/mccarthyism/484/



  • During the 1940s and 1950s, what fears in America were used by Senator Joseph McCarthy in his "paranoid hunt?"

  • What events led to the end of McCarthyism?

HUAC: http://www.moderntimes.com/huac/



  • What were the committee's three purposes?


Blacklists: http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schrecker-blacklist.html


  • Why was Hollywood targeted during the trials?



Arthur Miller




American Masters: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/none-without-sin/56/



  • What event occurred three years after The Crucible was written?