A World of Fear and Greed in Arthur Miller's The Crucible

As we read and understand Arthur Miller's The Crucible we will have a few side discussions about herd mentality and argumentum ad populum decision making. The discussion will be taken into a modern context because there is always this sense with modern people that "people were really dumb and superstitious back then and I am so glad that we don't live in that world." We will open up the class to wider world view and discuss modern "witch hunts." 

If you forgot your playbook today, load up this electronic copy of The Crucible.

Choose a Prompt Option and decide which question you would like as your focus. Your essay is the answer to that question.

To create a synthesis essay, we will use many sources. Each source will individually support our thesis statement and together create a stronger case than any individual source could explain.Each essay must include a body paragraph connecting an article from a topic group connected to our thesis statement. Each essay must include a body paragraph connecting an article from a second topic group connected to our thesis statement. 

Each essay must include a body paragraph connecting The Crucible to our thesis statement. 

Topic Group 1: The Persecution of Women and Children in India and Africa

Topic Group 2: The Persecution of Muslims in America

Topic Group 3: The Persecution of LGBT Individuals in Russia

Topic Group 4: The Persecution of Atheists in America

Students are encouraged to submit articles that are as good or better examples than those listed here.

If you are aware of a witch-hunt level persecution that is happening in the world and think another topic group should be created, please bring your topic, arguments, and evidence in the media and we will discuss. Through this submission process it is acceptable (with approval) that the student generate their own "witch hunt" thematic connection and use their own source. This is permitted only for one of their two topic groups.

Mixed Articles




Disconnected Links

Support Material: Malleus Maleficarum

"For nearly three centuries Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer) was the professional manual for witch hunters. This work by two of the most famous Inquisitors of the age is still a document of the forces of that era's beliefs. Under a Bull of Pope Innocent VIII, Kramer and Sprenger exposed the heresy of those who did not believe in witches and set forth the proper order of the world with devils, witches, and the will of God. Even if you do not believe in witchcraft, the world of 1484 did.

Contemporary cases illustrate methods by which witches attempt to control and subvert the world: How and why women roast their first-born male child; the confession of how to raise a tempest by a washwoman suspended "hardly clear of the ground" by her thumbs; methods of making a formal pact with the Devil; how witches deprive men of their vital member; and many others. Methods of destroying and curing witchcraft, such as remedies against incubus and succubus devils, are exemplified and weighed by the authors.

Formal rules for initiating a process of justice are set down: how it should be conducted and the method of pronouncing sentence; when to use the trial by the red-hot-iron; how the prosecutor should protect himself; how the body is to be shaved  and searched for tokens and amulets, including those sewn under the skin. As Summers says, it was the casebook on every magistrate's desk."

Support Material: McCarthyism

Unit Design Credit Shared: 

When I taught English 11 for the first time I received some unit ideas from my colleague Ms. Bigelow (http://www.msbigelow.net/colonial-america). Since 2012 when I adapted her work for my class, we've been taking turns improving it for our own style and goals.