LITERATURE AMERICAN
LITERATURE
A C KN O W LED G M EN TS INTRODUCTORY U N IT Scribner: From-77^ Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Copyright 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Copyright renewed 1953 by Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan. Reprinred with permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group.
A R T C R ED IT S COVER, TITLE PACE La M aison noire, East Hampton, N ew York, 1965, Jeanloup Sieff. © The Estate of Jeanloup Siefif. C ontinued on p a g e R172
Copyright © 2009 by McDougal Littell, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Warning: No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of McDougal Littell unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. W ith the exception of not-for-profit transcription in Biaille, McDougal Littell is not authorized to grant permission for further uses of copyrighted selections reprinted in this text without the permission of their owners. Permission must be obtained from the individual :opyright owners as identified herein. Address inquiries to Supervisor, Rights and Permissions, McDougal Littell, P.O. Box 1667, Evanston, IL 60204. ISBN 13: 978-0-618-90160-9
ISBN 10: 0-618-90160-4
Printed in the United States of America. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9— VJM— 12 11 10 09 08 07
TURE Janet Allen
Robert J. Marzano
Arthur N. Applebee
M ary Lou McCloskey
Jim Burke
Donna M. Ogle
Douglas Carnine
Carol Booth Olson
Yvette Jackson
Lydia Stack
Robert T. Jimenez
Carol A nn Tomlinson
Judith A. Langer
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SEN IO R PR O G R A M CONSULTANTS JA N E T A L LE N Reading and Literacy Specialist; creator of the popular“ lt’s Never Too Late” /"Reading for Life” Institutes. Dr. Allen is an internationally known consultant who specializes in literacy work with at-risk students. Her publications include Tools fo r Content Literacy; It’s Never Too Late: Leading Adolescents to Lifelong Learning; Yellow Brick Roads: Shared and Guided Paths to Independent Reading; Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4 - 12; and Testing
, 2, 3
7
.. . Bridging Best Practice
and High-Stakes Assessments. Dr. Allen was a high school reading and English teacher for more than
20 years and has taught courses in both subjects at the University of Central Florida. She directed the Central Florida Writing Project and received the Milken Foundation National Educator Award.
A R T H U R N. A P P L E B E E Leading Professor, School of Education at the University at Albany, State University of New York; Director of the Center on English Learning and Achievement.
During his
varied career, Dr. Applebee has been both a researcher and a teacher, working in institutional settings with children with severe learning problems, in public schools, as a staff member of the National Council of Teachers of English, and in professional education. Among his many books are Curriculum as Conversation: Transforming Traditions o f Teaching and Learning; Literature in the Secondary School: Studies o f Curriculum and Instruction in the United States; and Tradition and Reform in the Teaching of English: A History. He was elected to the International Reading Hall of Fame and has received, among other honors, the David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English.
J I M B U R K E Lecturer and Author; Teacher of English at Burlingame High School, Burlingame, California. Mr. Burke is a popular presenter at educational conferences across the country and is the author of numerous books for teachers, including School Smarts: The Four Cs o f Academic Success; The English Teacher’s Companion; Reading Reminders; Writing Reminders; and ACCESSing School: Teaching Struggling Readers to Achieve Academic and Personal Success. He is the recipient of NCTE’s Exemplary English Leadership Award and was inducted into the California Reading Association’s Hall of Fame.
D O U G LA S C A R N IN E Professor of Education at the University of Oregon; Director of the Western Region Reading First Technical Assistance Center. Dr. Carnine is nationally known for his focus on research-based practices in education, especially curriculum designs that prepare instructors of K-12 students. He has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for Exceptional Children and the Ersted Award for outstanding teaching at the University of Oregon. Dr. Carnine frequently consults on educational policy with government groups, businesses, communities, and teacher unions.
Y VETTE JA C K S O N Executive Director of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education. Nationally recognized for her work in assessing the learning potential of underachieving urban students, Dr. Jackson is also a presenter for the Harvard Principal Center and is a member of the Differentiation Faculty of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Dr. Jackson’s research focuses on literacy, gifted education, and cognitive mediation theory.
She designed the Comprehensive
Education Plan for the New York City Public Schools and has served as their Director of Gifted Programs and Executive Director of Instruction and Professional Development.
R O B ER T T. J IM E N E Z Professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Jimenez’s research focuses on the language and literacy practices of Latino students. Aformer bilingual education teacher, he is now conducting research on how written language is thought about and used in contemporary Mexico. Dr. Jimenez has received several research and teaching honors, including two Fulbright awards from the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars and the Albert J. Harris Award from the International Reading Association. His published work has appeared in the American Educational Research Journal, Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Journal o f Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Lecturay Vida.
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JU D IT H A . L A N C E R Distinguished Professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York; Director of the Center on English Learning and Achievement; Director of the Albany Institute for Research in Education. An internationally known scholar in English language arts education, Dr. Langer specializes in developing teaching approaches that can enrich and improve what gets done on a daily basis in classrooms. Her publications include Getting to Excellent: How to Create Better Schools and Effective Literacy Instruction: Building Successful Reading and Writing Programs. She was inducted into the International Reading Hall of Fame and has received many other notable awards, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, for her research on literacy education.
R O B ER T J. M A R Z A N O Senior Scholar at Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL); Associate Professor at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; President of Marzano & Associates. An internationally known researcher, trainer, and speaker, Dr. Marzano has developed programs that translate research and theory into practical tools for K-12 teachers and administrators. He has written extensively on such topics as reading and writing instruction, thinking skills, school effectiveness, assessment, and standards implementation. His books include Building Background Knowledgefo r Academic Achievement; Classroom Managem ent That Works: Research-Based Strategies fo r Every Teacher; and W hat Works in Schools: Translating Research Into Action.
D O N N A M . O G LE Professor of Reading and Language at National-Louis University in Chicago, Illinois; Past President of the International Reading Association. Creator of the well-known KWL strategy, Dr. Ogle has directed many staff development projects translating theory and research into school practice in middle and secondary schools throughout the United States and has served as a consultant on literacy projects worldwide.
Her extensive international experience includes coordinating the
Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project in Eastern Europe, developing integrated curriculum fora USAID Afghan Education Project, and speaking and consulting on projects in several Latin American countries and in Asia. Her books include Coming Together as Readers; Reading Comprehension: Strategies fo r Independent Learners; All Children Read; and Literacyfo r a Democratic Society.
C ARO L BO O TH O LSO N Senior Lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine; Director of the UCI site of the National Writing Project. Dr. Olson writes and lectures extensively on the reading/writing connection, critical thinking through writing, interactive strategies for teaching writing, and the use of multicultural literature with students of culturally diverse backgrounds. She has received many awards, including the California Association of Teachers of English Award of Merit, the Outstanding California Education Research Award, and the UC Irvine Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Olson's books include Reading, Thinking, and Writing About M ulticultural Literature and The Reading/Writing Connection: Strategies fo r Teaching and Learning in the Secondary Classroom.
C ARO L A N N T O M L IN S O N Professor of Educational Research, Foundations, and Policy at the University ofVirginia; Co-Director of the University’s Institutes on Academic Diversity. An internationally known expert on differentiated instruction, Dr. Tomlinson helps teachers and administrators develop effective methods of teaching academically diverse learners. She was a teacher of middle and high school English for 22 years prior to teaching at the University ofVirginia. Her books on differentiated instruction have been translated into eight languages. Among her many publications are How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms and The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs o f All Learners.
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EN G LISH LEA RN ER SPECIALISTS M A R Y LOU M C CLO SKEY Past President of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL); Director of Teacher Development and Curriculum Design for Educo in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. McCloskey is a former teacher in multilingual and multicultural classrooms. She has worked with teachers, teacher educators, and departments of education around the world on teaching English as a second and foreign language. She is author of On Our W ay to English, Voices in Literature, Integrating English, and Visions: Language, Literature, Content. Her awards include the Le Moyne College Ignatian Award for Professional Achievement and the TESOL D. Scott Enright Service Award.
LYD IA STACK International ESL consultant. Her areas of expertise are English language teaching strategies, ESL standards for students and teachers, and curriculum writing. Her teaching experience includes 25 years as an elementary and high school ESL teacher. She is a past president of TESOL. Her awards include the James E.AIatis Award for Service to TESOL (2003 ) and the San Francisco STAR Teacher Award (1989 ). Her publications include On Our W ay to English; Wordways: Carnesfor Language Learning; and Visions: Language, Literature, Content.
C U RR IC U LU M SPECIALIST W IL L IA M L. M C B R ID E Curriculum Specialist. Dr. McBride is a nationally known speaker, educator, and author who now trains teachers in instructional methodologies. A former reading specialist, English teacher, and social studies teacher, he holds a Masters in Reading and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. McBride has contributed to the development of textbook series in language arts, social studies, science, and vocabulary. He is also known for his novel Entertaining an Elephant, which tells the story of a burned-out teacher who becomes re-inspired with both his profession and his life.
M E D IA SPECIALISTS D AV ID M . C O N S ID IN E Professor of Instructional Technology and Media Studies at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. Dr. Considine has served as a media literacy consultant to the U.S. government and to the media industry, including Discovery Communications and Cable in the Classroom. He has also conducted media literacy workshops and training for county and state health departments across the United States. Among his many publications are Visual Messages: Integrating Imagery into Instruction, and Imagine That: Developing Critical Viewing and Thinking Through Children’s Literature.
L A R K IN P A U L U Z Z I Teacher and Media Specialist; trainer for the New Jersey Writing Project. Ms. Pauluzzi puts her extensive classroom experience to use in developing teacher-friendly curriculum materials and workshops in many different areas, including media literacy. She has led media literacy training workshops in several districts throughout Texas, guiding teachers in the meaningful and practical uses of media in the classroom. Ms. Pauluzzi has taught students at all levels, from Title I Reading to AP English IV. She also spearheads a technology club at her school, working with students to produce media and technology to serve both the school and the community.
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LISA K. S C H E F F L E R Teacher and Media Specialist. Ms. Scheffler has designed and taught media literacy and video production curriculum, in addition to teaching language arts and speech. Using her knowledge of mass communication theory, coupled with real classroom experience, she has developed ready-to-use materials that help teachers incorporate media literacy into their curricula. She has taught film and television studies at the University of North Texas and has served as a contributing writer for the Texas Education Agency’s statewide viewing and representing curriculum.
ALABAM A A L A B A M A H IG H SC H O O L L IT E R A T U R E T E X T B O O K R E V IE W E R S Jessical Garrett Badio
Monja Owen
Janet U. Wallace
Ramsay High School
Mt. Hope School
Gadsden City High School
Birmingham, AL
Mt. Hope, AL
Gadsden, AL
Ada V. Blair
Tineka B. Peoples
Peggy Winter
Ramsay High School
West End High School
Sparkman High School
Birmingham, AL
Birmingham, AL
Harvest, AL
Pamela Martin
Susan Dolberry Stockman
Wetumpka High School
Section High School
Wetumpka, AL
Section, AL
NATIONAL TEACHER A D VISO RS These are some of the many educators from across the country who played a crucial role in the development of the tables of contents, the lesson design, and other key components of this program: Virginia L. Alford
Edward J. Blotzer
Delorse Cole-Stewart
Christopher Guarraia
MacArthur High School
Wilkinsburg Junior/Senior
Milwaukee Public Schools
Centreville High School
San Antonio,Texas
High School
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Clifton, Virginia
L. Calvin Dillon
Rochelle L. Greene-Brady
Yvonne L. Allen
Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania
Shaker Heights High School
Stephen D. Bournes
Gaither High School
Kenwood Academy
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Evanston Township High School
Tampa, Florida
Chicago, Illinois
Dori Dolata
Michele M. Hettinger
Dave T. Anderson
Evanston, Illinois
Hinsdale South High School
Barbara M. Bowling
Rufus King High School
Niles West High School
Darien, Illinois
Mt.Tabor High School
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Skokie, Illinois
Jon Epstein
Elizabeth Holcomb
Kacy Colleen Anglim
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Portland Public Schools District
Kiala Boykin-Givehand
Marietta High School
Forest Hill High School
Portland, Oregon
Duval County Public Schools
Marietta, Georgia
Jackson, Mississippi
Jacksonville, Florida
Helen Ervin
Jim Horan
Arlington Heights High School
Laura L. Brown
Fort Bend Independent
Hinsdale Central High School
Fort Worth,Texas
Adlai Stevenson High School
School District
Hinsdale, Illinois
Lincolnshire, Illinois
Sugarland,Texas
North High School
Cynthia Burke
Sue Friedman
Torrance, California
Yavneh Academy
Buffalo Grove High School
High School
Dallas,Texas
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois
Howell High School
Hoppy Chandler
Chris Gee
Susan P. Kelly
Farmingdale, New Jersey
San Diego City Schools
Bel Air High School
Director of Curriculum
San Diego, California
El Paso,Texas
Island Trees School District
Eau Gallie High School
Gary Chmielewski
Paula Grasel
Melbourne, Florida
St. Benedict High School
The Horizon Center
Beverley A. Lanier
Gainesville, Georgia
Varina High School
Beverly Scott Bass
Jordana Benone
Patricia Blood
Marjorie Bloom
Chicago, Illinois
James Paul Hunter Oak Park-River Forest
Levittown, New York
Richmond, Virginia
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Pat Laws
Lisa Omark
Cheryl E. Sullivan
John R. Williamson
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
New Haven Public Schools
Lisle Community School District
Fort Thomas
Charlotte, North Carolina
New Haven, Connecticut
Lisle, Illinois
Independent Schools
Diana R. Martinez
Kaine Osburn
Anita Usmiani
Trevino School of
Wheeling High School
Hamilton Township
Anna N. Winters
Communications & Fine Arts
Wheeling, Illinois
Public Schools
Simeon High School
Hamilton Square, New Jersey
Chicago, Illinois
Laredo,Texas
Andrea J. Phillips
Fort Thomas, Kentucky
Natalie Martinez
Terry Sanford High School
Linda Valdez
Tonora D.Wyckoff
Stephen F. Austin High School
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Oxnard Union
North Shore Senior High School
High School District
Houston, Texas
Houston,Texas
Cathy Reilly
Elizabeth Matarazzo
Sayreville Public Schools
Ysleta High School
Sayreville, New Jersey
El Paso, Texas
Mark D. Simon
Carol M. McDonald
Neuqua Valley High School
J. Frank Dobie High School
Naperville, Illinois
Houston,Texas
Nancy Sjostrom
Amy Millikan
Fenwick High School
Consultant
Oak Park, Illinois
Chicago, Illinois
Scott Snow
Oxnard, California
Karen Zajac
Nancy Walker
Glenbard South High School
Longview High School
Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Longview, Texas Kurt Weiler
Cynthia Zimmerman Mose Vines Preparatory
New Trier High School
High School
Winnetka, Illinois
Chicago, Illinois
Elizabeth Whittaker
Lynda Zimmerman
Larkin High School
El Camino High School South San Francisco, California
Terri Morgan
Sequin High School
Elgin, Illinois
Caprock High School
Arlington,Texas
Linda S. Williams
Ruth E. Zurich
Woodlawn High School
Brown Deer High School
Baltimore, Maryland
Brown Deer, Wisconsin
Amarillo,Texas
Jan eW . Speidel
Eileen Murphy
Brevard County Schools
Walter Payton Preparatory
Viera, Florida
High School Chicago, Illinois
O VERVIEW Alabama Student's Edition TA B LE OF C O N T E N T S W IT H A L A B A M A ST A N D A R D S
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S T U D E N T G U ID E TO S T A N D A R D IZ E D TEST SU CCESS
A L3 9
• Preparing for the ACT/SAT •ACT/SAT Strategies and Practice
LE SSO N S W IT H E M B E D D E D ST A N D A R D S IN S T R U C T IO N Look for the Alabama symbol throughout the book. It highlights targeted content standards and bullets to help you succeed in classroom assessments.
A L A B A M A C O U R SE OF ST U D Y FO R E N G L IS H LA N G U A G E A R TS
LABAMA
• Embedded Assessment Practice
CONTENTS
• Understanding the Alabama Course of Study
ALABAM A CONTENTS IN B R IE F S T U D E N T G U ID E TO S T A N D A R D IZ E D TEST SU CCESS • • • •
Understanding the Alabama Course of Study Embedded Assessment Practice Preparing for the ACT/SAT ACT/SAT Strategies and Practice
U N IT 1: An Emerging Nation E A R LY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G 1600-1800 The Native American Experience Exploration and the Early Settlers
IN T R O D U C T O R Y U N IT
The Puritan Tradition
Exploring American Literature
Writers of the Revolution
L IT E R A R Y E S S E N T IA L S W O R K S H O P
Literary Movements in Context Using Critical Lenses Strategies for Reading American Literature
U N IT 2: Celebrating the Individual A M E R IC A N R O M A N T IC IS M 1800-1855
W R IT IN G E S S E N T IA L S W O R K S H O P
The Early Romantics
Critical Thinking Skills and Writing W riting Process Review
The Fireside Poets
L E S S O N S W IT H E M B E D D E D ST A N D A R D S
The Transcendentalists
IN S T R U C T IO N
American Gothic U N IT 3? An Age of Transition FR O M R O M A N T IC IS M TO R E A LIS M 1855-1870 Brilliant Mavericks: Whitman and Dickinson Literature of the Civil War
FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN 0 OUR FATHERS BROUGHT 1THIS CONTINENT A NEW I 'NCE1VED IN LIBERTY AND [ } TO THE PROPOSITION TF N ARE CREATED EQ.UAL •
LITERATURE AND READING CENTER • Author Biographies • Additional Selection Background • Literary Analysis Frames • Power Thinking Activities
U N IT
4: Capturing the American Landscape R E G IO N A L IS M A N D N A T U R A LIS M 1870-1910
VOCABULARY CENTER
The Rise of Naturalism
• Vocabulary Strategies and Practice • Multi-Language Glossary of Academic
A New Role for Women
• Vocabulary Flash Cards
The Harlem Renaissance The New Poetry The Modern Short Story Journalism as Literature
Vocabulary
MEDIA CENTER • Production Templates • Analysis Guides
RESEARCH CENTER • W eb Research Guide • Citation Guide
I
A S S E S S M E N T C E N T E R __________
• Assessment Practice and Test-Taking Tips • SAT/ACT Practice and Tips
6: New Perspectives C O N T E M P O R A R Y LIT E R A T U R E 1940 - p r e s e n t Modern American Drama
M ORE TECHNOLOGY
eEdition • Interactive Selections
Responses to War
• Audio Summaries
Civil Rights and Protest Literature
WriteSmart
A Mosaic of American Voices U N IT
• W riting Templates and Graphic Organizers • Publishing Options • Quick-Fix Editing Machine
Regionalism and Local Color Writing
U N IT 5 : A Changing Awareness T H E H A R L E M R E N A IS S A N C E A N D M O D E R N IS M 1910-1940
U N IT
W RITING AND GRAMMAR CENTER
7: Investigation and Discovery TH E PO W ER OF RESEARCH
• W riting Prompts and Templates • Interactive Student Models • Interactive Graphic Organizers • Interactive Revision Lessons • Rubric Generator
MediaSmart d v d • Media Lessons • Interactive Media Studies
An Emerging Nation
EARLY A M ERICAN W RITIN G 1600-1800
U N IT 1 IN T R O D U C T IO N
14
• Q U E S T IO N S O F T H E T IM E S • H IS T O R IC A L E S S A Y • T H E LE G A C Y O F T H E E A R L Y A M E R IC A
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
• T IM E L I N E
The Native American Experience M YTH
Creation Myths, Reading Folk Literature
The World on the Turtle’s Back
Iroquois
32
Okanogan
42
N. Scott Momaday
50
FOLK TALE
Trickster Tales, Predict
Coyote and the Buffalo T H E M E S A C R O S S T IM E
Memoir, Analyze Structure
from The Way to Rainy Mountain
m e m o ir
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO S Y N T H E S IZ E
Native American Values
61
M E D IA S T U D Y images in Mass Media
AL12
Changing Views of Native Americans
O
f il m c l ip s
M E D IA ) SM A R T
DVD
62
Exploration and the Early Settlers Primary Sources, Slave Narrative, Historical Narrative
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : H IS T O R IC A L N A R R A T IV E S
66
REPO R T
Historical Context, Reading a Primary Source
from La Relacidn
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
68
SLA V E N A R R A T IV E
Slave Narrative, Analyze Details
from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano
78
John Smith
88
William Bradford
98
H IST O R IC A L N A R R A T IV E
Narrator, Reading Older Texts
from The General History of Virginia C H R O N IC LE
Cultural Characteristics,
from Of Plymouth Plantation
Summarize
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO E V A LU A T E
Personal Accounts of Exploration and Settlement
109
The Puritan Tradition PO ET RY
Figurative Language, Clarify Meaning in Older Poetry
To My Dear and Loving Husband Upon the Burning of Our House Huswifery
Edward Taylor
110 114 116
Jonathan Edwards
118
Anne Bradstreet
SER M O N
Sermon, Analyze Emotional Appeals Conventions and Historical Development of American Drama Conventions of Drama, Draw Conclusions About Characters Understand Historical Context, Synthesize
from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : A M E R IC A N D R A M A
128
T H E M E S A C R O S S T IM E
The Crucible
dram a
Reading for Information McCarthyism o n l i n e a r t i c l e The Demons of Salem, With Us Still /romTimebends m e m o i r
Arthur Miller
131
212 N E W S P A P E R ARTICLE
Arthur Miller
214 216
U N IT 1 C O N TIN U ED M E D IA S T U D Y Dialogue
The Crucible
M E D IA
f il m c l ip
v
? / d“ d rt
Reading for Information The Crucible m o v i e r e v i e w W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO A N A L Y Z E
The Puritan Legacy
Writers of the Revolution Rhetorical Devices,
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : P E R S U A S IV E R H E T O R IC
Persuasive Techniques, Argument and Reasoning Rhetorical Devices, Reading a Persuasive Speech
SPEEC H
Speech in the Virginia Convention
Patrick Henry
P U B L IC D O C U M E N T
Argument, Analyze Text Structure
The Declaration of Independence
Persuasive Techniques,
fro m
Thomas Jefferson
ESSAY
The Crisis
Thomas Paine
Analyze Main Ideas and Support LETTERS
Diction, Reading Primary Sources
Letter to the Rev. Samson Occom Letter to John Adams
Phillis Wheatley Abigail Adams
A U T O B IO G R A P H Y
Characters o f Autobiography, Make Inferences About the Author
fro m
The Autobiography
Connect fro m Poor Richard’s Almanack
Benjamin Franklin
a p h o r is m s
Reading for Information 50 Ways to Fix Your Life m a g a z i n e W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO P E R S U A D E
Revolutionary Ideas
AL14
a r t ic l e
Benjamin Franklin
j p 'j l l
SKILLS PRACTICE
W R I T IN G W O R K S H O P : P E R S U A S IV E E S S A Y
276
S P E A K IN G A N D L IS T E N IN G : P E R S U A S IV E S P E E C H
283
A S S E S S M E N T PR A C T IC E
284
ESSA Y
from Defense of the Constitutions of Government in Massachusetts During the Revolution
John Adams
E Y E W IT N E S S N A R R A T IV E
from Boston Tea Party
George Hewes
G R E A T R E A D S : ID E A S F O R IN D E P E N D E N T R E A D IN G
290
V O C A B U L A R Y ST R A T EG IES
Specialized vocabulary, p. 6 o
Connotation, p. u y
Etymologies, p. 76 Latin roots: nom, p. 86 Multiple meanings, p. 97 Words from French, p. 108
Context clues, p. 210 Words from gods and mythology, p. 232 Political words, p. 242 Words from Middle English, p. 253
Synonyms, p. 119
Latin roots://c, p. 273
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U NIT
2
ALABAMA
Celebrating the Individual
AM ERICAN ROM ANTICISM 1800-1855
U N IT
2 IN T R O D U C T IO N
• Q U E S T IO N S O F T H E T IM E S
292
• H IS T O R IC A L E S S A Y
• T I M E L IN E
• T H E LE G A C Y O F R O M A N T IC IS M
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
The Early Romantics SH O RT STORY
Satire, Interpret Imagery
The Devil and Tom Walker
Washington Irving
310
William Cullen Bryant
328
PO EM
Blank Verse, Understand Structure
Thanatopsis W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO A N A L Y Z E
Elements of Romantic Style
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333
The Fireside Poets PO ET RY
Stanza and Rhyme Scheme, Reading Traditional Poetry
A Psalm of Life The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
334 338
PO ETRY
Meter, Make Inferences
The Chambered Nautilus Old Ironsides
Oliver Wendell Holmes
340 344
PO ETRY
Mood, Paraphrase
from Snowbound The First Snowfall
John Greenleaf Whittier
346
James Russell Lowell
354
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO E V A LU A T E
Fireside Poets in Perspective
357
The Transcendentalists Characteristics o f an Essay
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : T H E A R T O F T H E E S S A Y
358
ESSA YS
Transcendentalism, Identify Aphorisms
from Self-Reliance
Ralph Waldo Emerson
from Nature
360 365
ESSAYS
Essay, Evaluate Ideas
from Walden
Henry David Thoreau
Reading for Information Thoreau Still Beckons,!/1 Can Take My Laptop n e w s p a p e r a r t i c l e from Civil Disobedience
370
381 Henry David Thoreau
382
Mohandas K. Gandhi
392
Margaret Fuller
394
T H E M E S A C R O S S C U L T U R E S : IN D IA
On Civil Disobedience
speech
N O N F IC T IO N
Author’s Perspective, Paraphrase Main Ideas
from Woman in the Nineteenth Century W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO REFLEC T
The Transcendental Spirit
401
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Skills and Standards
American Gothic SH O RT STORY
Unity of Effect,
The Fall of the House of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe
402
Edgar Allan Poe
427
Edgar Allan Poe
437
Understand Complex Sentences SH O RT s t o r y
Allegory, Clarify Meaning
The Masque of the Red Death PO EM
Sound Devices, Make Inferences
The Raven Connect What Troubled Poe’s Raven M E D IA S T U D Y
Art Elements in Illustrations
445
pa ro d y
^
Illustrations Inspired by Poe
i m a g e c o l l e c t io n
v
m e d ia
J
w o rt
446
T H E M E S A C R O SS T IM E
from Danse Macabre
essa y
Stephen King
450
Herman Melville Nathaniel Hawthorne
452 454
Nathaniel Hawthorne
456
A M E R IC A N M A S T E R P IE C E S
Moby Dick n o v e l e x c e r p t The Scarlet Letter n o v e l
exc erpt
sh o rt sto ry
Symbol, Identify Cultural Characteristics
The Minister’s Black Veil w r a p - u p : w r i t i n g t o a n a ly z e
The Gothic Perspective
Narrative Techniques
SKILLS PRACTICE
w r it in g
w o r k sh o p
473
474
: r e f l e c t iv e e s s a y
S P E A K IN G A N D L IS T E N IN G : C O N D U C T IN G A N I N T E R V I E W
481
A S S E S S M E N T PR A C T IC E
482
PO EM
A Dream Within a Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
PO EM
The Fire of Driftwood
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
G R E A T R E A D S : ID E A S F O R IN D E P E N D E N T R E A D IN G m V O C A B U L A R Y ST R A T EG IES
Latin roots: spec, p. 326 Words with multiple affixes, p. 368 Prefixes: ab- and per-, p. 390
AL18
Greek roots: path, p. 425 Affixes and spelling changes, p. 436 Latin roots: ambi, p. 472
488
An Age o f Transition ALABAMA
FROM ROM ANTICISM TO REALISM 1855-1870
U N IT
3 IN T R O D U C T IO N
• Q U E S T IO N S O F T H E T IM E S • T H E LE G A C Y O F T H E E R A
490
• H IS T O R IC A L E S S A Y
• T IM E L I N E
Brilliant Mavericks: Whitman and Dickinson Form and Meaning, Traditional and Organic Forms, Free Verse Free Verse, Analyze Tone
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : F O R M A N D C O N T E N T IN P O E T R Y
506
P O ET RY
I Hear America Singing from Song of Myself A Noiseless Patient Spider Beat! Beat! Drums! Reading for Information from Preface to Leaves of Crass
essa y
Walt Whitman
508 512 516 517
Walt whitman
518
Pablo Neruda
520
T H E M E S A C R O S S C U L T U R E S : C H IL E
Ode to W alt Whitman
po em
AL19
UNIT 3 CONTINUED PO ET R Y
Author’s Style, Reading Dickinson’s Poetry
Because I could not stop for Death Success is counted sweetest Much Madness is divinest Sense My life closed twice before its close The Soul selects her own Society I heard a Fly buzz—when I died My life had stood— a Loaded Gun Reading for Information Letter to Mr. T. W. Higginson
letter
Emily Dickinson
524 528 529 529 530 531 532
Emily Dickinson
533
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO C O M P A R E
The Innovations of Whitman and Dickinson
535
Literature of the Civil War SLA V E N A R R A T IV E
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Style, Analyze Author’s Purpose
fro m
Narrative Elements, Reading a Narrative
fro m
Frederick Douglass
536
Harriet Jacobs
550
SLA V E N A R R A T IV E
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Connect Free Labor p o e m Go Down, Moses
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 560 561
s p ir it u a l
SP EE C H
Audience and Form, Analyze an Author’s Beliefs
The Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln
The Emancipation Proclamation Analyze Primary Sources, Synthesize
AL20
562
P R O C LA M A T IO N
Reading for Information Letter to His Son LETTER Letter to Sarah Ballou l e t t e r fro m A Diary from Dixie d i a r y Speech to the American Equal Rights Association s p e e c h
566 Robert E. Lee
570
Sullivan Ballou
572
Mary Chesnut
573
Sojourner Truth
574
1
Identify Realism
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : R E A L IS M
576
A M E R IC A N M A S T E R P IE C E Point of View, Analyze Structure
The Red Badge of Courage
n o vel exc erpt
Stephen Crane
578
Ambrose Bierce
580
SH O R T STORY
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO S Y N T H E S IZ E
Voices of the Civil War
595
M E D IA S T U D Y Point of View
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
media f il m c l ip s
W
d“
° rt
596
W R IT IN G W O R K S H O P : B IO G R A P H IC A L N A R R A T IV E
598
P U B L IS H I N G W IT H T E C H N O L O G Y : V ID E O D O C U M E N T A R Y
605
A S S E S S M E N T PR A C T IC E
606
PO EM
The Wind begun to knead the Grass
Emily Dickinson
PO EM
Patroling Barnegat
Walt whitman
G R E A T R E A D S : ID E A S F O R IN D E P E N D E N T R E A D IN G
612
V O C A B U L A R Y STRA TEG Y
Latin roots: lud, p. 594
AL21
Capturing the American Landscape ALABAMA
REGIO NALISM A N D NATURALISM 1870-1910
U N IT
4 IN T R O D U C T IO N
• Q U E S T IO N S O F T H E T IM E S • T H E LE G A C Y O F T H E E R A
O
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
Setting in Regional Literature,
• H IS T O R IC A L E S S A Y
• T I M E L IN E
Regionalism and Local Color Writing L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : S E T T IN G IN R E G IO N A L L IT E R A T U R E
632
Regionalism A U T O B IO G R A P H Y
irony, Predict
fro m
The Autobiography of Mark Twain
Connect Epigrams
Mark Twain
634
Mark Twain
646
Mark Twain
649
Mark Twain
659
Mark Twain
670
M E M O IR
Voice, Paraphrase
fro m
Life On the Mississippi
SH O RT STORY
Tall Tale, Understand Dialect
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County A M E R IC A N M A S T E R P IE C E
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
AL22
n o vel exc erpt
SH O RT STORY
Regionalism, Clarify Meaning
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
Bret Harte
672
Garrison Keillor
688
Willa Cather
692
T H E M E S A C R O S S T IM E
from Lake Wobegon Days
f ic t io n
SH O R T STORY
Setting, Draw Conclusions About Character
A Wagner Matinee W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO S Y N T H E S IZ E
705
America’s Literary Regions M E D IA ST U D Y Photographs and Paintings
American Landscapes
o
i m a g e c o l l e c t io n
M E D IA ) SM A R T
DVD
706
The Rise of Naturalism SH O RT STORY
Naturalism, Analyze Descriptive Language Analyze Primary Sources, Compare Forms
The Open Boat Reading for Information n e w s p a p e r The Commodore Sinks at Sea More of the Filibusters Safe Stephen Crane and His Work Stephen Crane’s Own Story
Stephen Crane
710
a r t ic l e s
The Florida Times-Union The New York Press
738 740 740 741
SH O RT STORY
Theme, Analyze Author’s Perspective
The Law of Life
Jack London
744
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO E V A LU A T E
Naturalistic Perspectives
755
A New Role fo r Women Theme and Social Context
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : S O C IA L T H E M E S IN F IC T IO N
756
SH O RT STORY
Plot and Conflict, Predict
The Story of an Hour
Kate Chopin
758
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
766
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
784
SH O RT STORY
First-Person Narrator, Understand Social Context
The Yellow Wallpaper Reading for information W hy I Wrote “ The Yellow W allpaper” j o u r n a l a r t i c l e
AL23
Skills and Standards
A M E R IC A N M A S T E R P IE C E
Ethan Frome
n o vel exc erpt
Edith Wharton
788
Edith Wharton
790
SH O RT STORY
Tone, Make Inferences
April Showers
About Characters
w ra p - u p : w r it in g t o co m p a re
Women’s Changing Roles
Responding to Literature
SKILLS PRACTICE
803
804
W R IT IN G W O R K S H O P : L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS P U B L IS H I N G W IT H T E C H N O L O G Y : P O W E R P R E S E N T A T IO N
811
A S S E S S M E N T PR A C T IC E
812
SP EE C H
I W ill Fight No More Forever
Chief Joseph
N O V EL EX C ER P T
Sister Carrie
Theodore Dreiser
G R E A T R E A D S : ID E A S FO R IN D E P E N D E N T R E A D IN G
V O C A B U L A R Y ST R A T EG IES
Words pronounced differently, p. 648 Words with misleading prefixes, p. 668 Latin roots: equ, p. 686 Music terminology, p. 704
AL24
Creek prefixes: epi, p. 736 Denotation and connotation, p. 754 Temperament words, p. 786 Latin roots: rog, p. 802
818
A Changing Awareness ALABAMA
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE A N D M O D ERN ISM 1910-1940
*CP|An dinner
[n e v e r 1
'1 *
U N IT
cover
[ch am e
!
5 IN T R O D U C T IO N
• Q U E S T IO N S O F T H E T IM E S
820
• H IS T O R IC A L E S S A Y
• T IM E L IN E
• T H E LE G A C Y O F T H E H A R L E M R E N A IS S A N C E A N D M O D E R N IS M
O
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
The Harlem Renaissance PO ET RY
Speaker, Analyze Rhythm and Repetition
Harlem The Negro Speaks of Rivers I, Too The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
838 842 843 844
James Weldon Johnson Claude McKay
846 850
Countee Cullen
852
JeanToomer
855
Arna Bontemps
856
Zora Neale Hurston
858
PO ET RY
Sonnet, Understand Form and Meaning
My City If We Must Die
Theme, Distinguish Figurative from Literal Meaning
Any Human to Another Storm Ending A Black Man Talks of Reaping
PO ET RY
ESSA Y
Tone, Identify Main Ideas
How It Feels to Be Colored Me
AL25
U N IT 5 C O N TIN U ED T H E M E S A C R O SS T IM E Literary Criticism, Identify Author’s Position
Thoughts on the AfricanAmerican Novel l i t e r a r y
Toni Morrison
c r it ic is m
868
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO A N A L Y Z E
Perspectives on the Harlem Renaissance M E D IA S T U D Y Documentary
Jump at the Sun
875
M E D IA
do cum entary
876
d v d rt
The New Poetry P O ETRY
Characterization in Narrative Poetry, Analyze Speaker’s Attitude
Richard Cory Miniver Cheevy Lucinda Matlock
Edwin Arlington Robinson
880 884
Edgar Lee Masters
886
Carl Sandburg
888
PO ET RY
Tone and Diction, Synthesize Details
Modernism as a Literary
Chicago Crass
892 894
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : M O D E R N IS M
Movement PO ETRY
Frost’s Style, Recognize Ambiguity
Acquainted with the Night Nothing Gold Can Stay “ Out, Out— ”
Robert Frost
896 900 901
Robert Frost
903
PO ETRY
Narrative Poetry, Understand Form in Poetry
The Death of the Hired Man PO ETRY
Imagism, Make Inferences
In a Station of the Metro Helen Spring and All This Is Just to Say
Ezra Pound
912
H. D.
914
William Carlos Williams
916 917
PO ETRY
Form in Modern Poetry, Reading Modern Poetry, Stream of Consciousness, Summarize Stanzas
AL26
anyone lived in a pretty how town Poetry Recuerdo
E. E. Cummings Marianne Moore Edna St. Vincent Millay
920 924 926
\ PO EM
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
T. s. Eliot
928 935
w r a p - u p : w r i t i n g t o s y n th e s iz e
Modernist Style
The Modem Short Story SH O R T STORY
Character Motivation and Traits,
Winter Dreams
F. Scott Fitzgerald
936
F. Scott Fitzgerald
962
Predict Story Development
A M E R IC A N M A S T E R P IE C E
The Great Gatsby
n o vel exc erpt
M E D IA ST U D Y Persuasion in ig 20 s Ads
M E D IA
Advertising in the Jazz Age
p r in t a d v e r tis e m e n ts
w
° v°
964
SH O RT STORY
Style, Make Inferences
In Another Country
Ernest Hemingway
968
John Steinbeck
978
John Steinbeck
980
A M E R IC A N M A S T E R P IE C E
The Grapes of Wrath Analyze Photographs, Compare and Evaluate
n o vel exc erpt
Reading for Information The Grapes of Wrath p h o t o
essa y
and Horace Bristol SH O RT STORY
Stream of Consciousness, Clarify Sequence
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Katherine Anne Porter
988
SH O R T STORY
Universal Theme, Monitor
A Worn Path Reading for Information from One Writer’s Beginningsm e m o i r
Eudora Welty
1002
Eudora Welty
1014
William Faulkner
1018
Flannery O’Connor
1032
SH O R T STORY
Mood, Analyze Sequence
A Rose for Emily SH O R T STORY
Irony, Analyze Descriptive Details
The Life You Save MayBe Your Own w r a p - u p : w r i t i n g t o e v a lu a t e
The Essence of a Short Story
1045
AL27
Skills and Standards Characteristics o f Journalism
Journalism as Literature L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS W O R K S H O P : J O U R N A L I S M A S L IT E R A T U R E
1046
as Literature N E W S DISPATCH
Subjectivity in Reporting, Analyze Descriptive Details
A New Kind of War
Ernest Hemingway
1048
Dorothy Parker
1058
E. B. White
1066
B O O K R E V IE W
Voice, Reading a Book Review
A Book of Great Short Stories ESSAY
Style and Diction,
The Duty of Writers
Interpret Author’s Message
1071
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO E V A LU A T E
Journalism Beyond the Facts
W R IT IN G W O R K S H O P : C O M P A R IS O N - C O N T R A S T E S S A Y
1072
S P E A K IN G A N D L IS T E N IN G : O R A L IN T E R P R E T A T IO N
1079
A S S E S S M E N T PR A C T IC E
1080
SH O RT STORY
from Death in the Woods
Sherwood Anderson
PO EM
To a Poor Old Woman
William Carlos Williams
1086
G R E A T R E A D S : ID E A S F O R IN D E P E N D E N T R E A D IN G
| H
V O C A B U L A R Y ST R A T EG IES
ggg
Creek roots: cosm or cosmo, p. 866 Words from the Jazz Age, p. 960 Words from Italian, p. 976
AL28
t
* *
mtm m§ ,
Nouns and figurative verbs, p. 1000 Latin roots: med and its meanings, p. 1016 Etymologies, p. 1030
New Perspectives ALABAMA
CO N TEM PO RARY LITERATURE 1940-PRESENT
U N IT
6 IN T R O D U C T IO N
• Q U E S T IO N S O F T H E T IM E S
1088
• H IS T O R IC A L E S S A Y
• T IM E L I N E
• T H E LE G A C Y O F T H E E R A
Modern American Drama A M E R IC A N M A S T E R P IE C E S
Our Town d r a m a e x c e r p t The Glass Menagerie d r a m a e x c e r p t Death of a Salesman d r a m a e x c e r p t A Raisin in the Sun d r a m a e x c e r p t
Lorraine Hansberry
1106 1108 1110 1112
John Steinbeck
1114
Randall Jarrell
1119
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
1122
Thornton Wilder Tennessee Williams Arthur Miller
Responses to War ESSA Y
Tone and Imagery, Adjust Reading Strategies
Why Soldiers Won’t Talk PO EM
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner SH O RT STORY
Characterization,
Adam
Analyze Historical Context
AL29
U N IT 6 C O N TIN U ED T H E M E S A C R O SS C U LT U R E S
from Survival in Auschwitz
m e m o ir
Primo Levi
1132
Tim O’Brien
1136
SH O RT STORY
Conflict, Analyze Structure
Ambush
1143
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO S Y N T H E S IZ E
The Literary Legacy of War
Civil Rights and Protest Literature LETTER
Allusion, Trace the Elements of an Argument
from Letter from Birmingham Jail
Connect Ballad of Birmingham
po em
Martin Luther King Jr.
1144
Dudley Randall
1156
Martin Luther King Jr.
1160
Malcolm X
1166
Cesar Chavez
1172
N O N F IC T IO N
Historical Context, Compare and Contrast Authors’ Beliefs
from Stride Toward Freedom IN T E R V IE W
Necessary to Protect Ourselves Analyze an Argument, Support an Opinion
Reading for Information Martin Luther King Jr.: He Showed Us the Way ESSAY M E D IA S T U D Y
Historical Perspectives in the News
Perspectives in the News
med.a
n e w s c a s t / a r t ic le
v v
DVD
1176
A U T O B IO G R A P H Y
Eyewitness Account, Reading a Primary Source
from Coming of Age in Mississippi
Anne Moody
1180
Nikki Giovanni
1189
My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew James Baldwin
1192
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO P E R S U A D E
1201
Connect Revolutionary Dreams
po em
O P E N LETTER
Rhetorical Devices, Identify ldeas\
The March Toward Equality
AL30
A Mosaic of American Voices Tone, Voice
LITERARY ANALYSIS W ORKSHOP: VOICE IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
1202
ESSA Y
Personal Essay,
Mother Tongue
Amy Tan
1204
Alice Walker
1214
Sandra Cisneros
1222
Gwendolyn Brooks
1230
Identify Main Ideas ESSA Y
Author’s Message,
from In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens
Understand Cultural Context ESSA Y
Voice, Analyze Structure
Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis of the Everyday P O ET RY
Repetition, Compare and Contrast Poems
Life for My Child Is Simple Primer for Blacks
1233
P O ET RY
Sound Devices, Make Inferences About Speakers
Adolescence— III Testimonial
Rita Dove
1236 1240
PO ET RY
Imagery, Trace the Development of an Idea
The Man in the Moon Forgetfulness
Billy Collins
1242 1245 1247
W R A P - U P : W R IT IN G TO REFLEC T
A New Diversity
S K I U S PR A C T IC E
W R IT I N G W O R K S H O P : P R O B L E M - S O L U T IO N E S S A Y
1248
P U B L IS H I N G W IT H T E C H N O L O G Y : C R E A T IN G A W E B S IT E
1255
A S S E S S M E N T PR A C T IC E
1256
N E W S P A P E R ARTICLE
from Police Dogs in Alabama Spur North Carolina Unrest R A D IO T R A N S C R IP T
from Radio and Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights
John F. Kennedy
G R E A T R E A D S : ID E A S FO R IN D E P E N D E N T R E A D IN G
1262
V O C A B U L A R Y ST R A T EG IES
Analogies, p. 7758 Greek prefixes: syn-, p. 7777
Idioms, p. 1200
AL31
Investigation and Discovery
THE POW ER OF RESEARCH ALABAMA
GRAPESf
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
Use Reference Materials and Technology, Evaluate Sources
AL32
R E S E A R C H S T R A T E G IE S W O R K S H O P
1268
Beginning Your Investigation Choosing the Right Research Tools Evaluating Sources Note Taking and Plagiarism Becoming a Critical Researcher
1268 1270 1274 1278 1281
W R I T IN G W O R K S H O P : R E S E A R C H P A P E R
1284
Finding and Evaluating Sources Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Sharing Your Own Ideas and Interpretations Documenting Your Sources Reviewing MLA Citation Guidelines
1292 1294 1295 1295 1299
S P E A K IN G A N D L IS T E N IN G : P R E S E N T IN G T H E R E SU LT S O F Y O U R IN V E S T IG A T IO N
1302
ALABAMA Stud ent Resource Bank Reading Handbook Reading Literary Texts
R2 R2
Reading Informational Texts:Text Features
R3
Reading Informational Texts: Patterns of Organization
R8
Reading Informational Texts: Forms
R13
Reading Persuasive Texts
R19
Adjusting Reading Rate to Purpose
R25
Writing Handbook The Writing Process
R26 R26
Building Blocks of Good Writing
R28
Descriptive Writing
R32
Narrative Writing
R34
Expository Writing
R35
Persuasive Writing
R38
Workplace and Technical Writing
R40
Research Handbook Finding Sources
R44 R44
Collecting Information
R48
Sharing Your Research
R49
Grammar Handbook
P
Synonyms and Antonyms
R75
Denotation and Connotation
R75
Analogies
R75
Homonyms and Homophones
R75
Words with Multiple Meanings
R76
Specialized Vocabulary
R76
Using Reference Sources
R76
Spelling Rules
R76
Commonly Confused Words
R79
Speaking and Listening Handbook
rso
SDeech r
R80
Different Types of Oral Presentations
R82
Other Types of Communication
R85
Active Listening
R86
Media Handbook Five Core Concepts in Media Literacy
R88 R88
Media Basics
R88
Film and TV
R90
News
R91
Advertising
R93
Elements of Design
R94
Evaluating Media Messages
R95
Quick Reference: Parts of Speech
R50 R50
Quick Reference:The Sentence and Its Parts
R52
Quick Reference: Punctuation
R53
Quick Reference: Capitalization
R55
Nouns
R56
Pronouns
R56
Verbs
R59
Glossary of Literary Terms
R104
Modifiers
R61 R63
Glossary of Reading & Informational Terms
R123
Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections The Sentence and Its Parts
R64
Phrases
R65
R129
Verbals and Verbal Phrases
R65
Glossary of Vocabulary in English & Spanish
Clauses
R66
R138
The Structure of Sentences
R67
Pronunciation Key Index of Fine Art
Writing Complete Sentences
R68
Index of Skills
R141
Subject-Verb Agreement
R69
Index of Titles and Authors Acknowledgments Art Credits
R164
Vocabulary and Spelling Handbook Using Context Clues
R72 R72
Analyzing Word Structure
R73
Understanding Word Origins
R74
Test-Taking o Handbook Critical Reading
R96 R96 R97
Writing
R102
Essay
R103
General Test-Taking Strategies
A L A B A M A ST A N D A R D S
R139
R167 R171 SI AL33
Selections by Genre
N O N F IC T IO N A P H O R IS M S
S H O R T S T O R IE S Adam Kurt Vonnegut J r . ......................................................1122
Epigrams Mark T w a i n ......................................................... 646 Poor Richard’s Almanack Benjamin Franklin...................... 271
Ambush Tim O’B rie n ...........................................................1136
A U T O B IO G R A P H Y / M E M O IR
April Showers Edith W h a r t o n ............................................ 790
The Autobiography Benjamin Franklin................................262
Death in the Woods Sherwood Anderson.........................1080
The Autobiography of M ark Twain Mark T w a in ................ 634
The Devil and Tom W alker Washington Irv in g ....................310
Coming of Age in Mississippi Anne M o o d y ....................... 1180
The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan P o e ................ 402
Life on the Mississippi Mark T w a in .................................... 649
In Another Country Ernest H e m in g w a y.............................968
One W riter’s Beginnings Eu d o ra W e lty...............................1014
The Jilting of Cranny W eatherall Katherine Anne Porter. .988
Survival in Auschwitz Primo L e v i.......................................1132
The Law of Life Jack L o n d o n ............................................... 744
Timebends Arthur M i l l e r .....................................................216
The Life You Save M ay Be Your Own Flannery O’Connor. . 1032
The W a y to Rainy M ountain N. Scott M o m a d ay...................50
The Masque of the Red Death Edgar Allan P o e ................... 427 The M inister’s Black Veil Nathaniel H a w th o rn e ................ 456 The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Mark T w a in ..................................................................... 659 An Occurrence at O wl Creek Bridge Ambrose Bierce . . . .580 The Open Boat Stephen Crane.............................................710 The Outcasts of Poker Flat Bret H a r t e ................................ 672 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner...................................... 1018 The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin....................................... 758 A W agner M atinee W illa Cather......................................... 692 A Worn Path E u d o ra W e lty ................................................1002 W in ter Dreams F. Scott Fitzgerald....................................... 936 The Yellow W allpaper Charlotte Perkins G ilm an................ 766
ESSA YS Civil Disobedience Henry David T h o re a u ...........................382 The Crisis Thomas P a in e .......................................................244 Danse Macabre Stephen K in g ............................................ 450 The Grapes of W rath Photo Essay John Steinbeck and Horace Bristol..................................980 How It Feels to Be Colored M e Zora Neale H urston........... 858 In Search of Our M others’ Gardens Alice W alker................1214 Letter from Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King J r . . . . . 1144 Martin Luther King Jr.: He Showed Us the W a y Cesar Chavez .1172 M other Tongue Amy T a n ...................................................1204 M y Dungeon Shook: Letter to M y Nephew James Baldwin
1192
Nature Ralph W aldo E m e rs o n .............................................365 N O VEL EXC ERPTS
Preface to Leaves o f Crass W alt W h itm a n ........................... 518
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark T w a in ..............670
Self-Reliance Ralph W aldo E m e rs o n .................................. 360
Ethan Frome Edith W h a r t o n ...............................................788
Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis of the Everyday
The Crapes of W rath John Steinbeck.................................. 978
Sandra C is n e ro s............................................................. 1222
The Great Catsby F. Scott Fitzgerald.................................. 962
Stride Toward Freedom Martin Luther King J r . .................. 1160
Lake Wobegon Days Garrison Keillor.................................. 688
W alden Henry David T h o re a u .............................................370
M oby Dick Herman M e lv ille ............................................... 452
W h y I W rote “ The Yellow W allpaper”
The Red Badge of Courage Stephen C r a n e ........................ 578 The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel H a w th o rn e .......................... 454 Sister Carrie Theodore D reiser.............................................812 F O L K L IT E R A T U R E Coyote and the Buffalo O k a n o g a n .......................................42 The W orld on the Turtle’s Back Iroquois............................... 32
Charlotte Perkins G ilm an..................................................784 W h y Soldiers W o n ’t Talk John S te in b e c k .......................... 1114 W om an in the Nineteenth Century Margaret Fuller . . . .394 H IS T O R IC A L D O C U M E N T S The Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson . . . .234 Defense of the Constitutions of Government in Massachusetts During the Revolution John Adams. . .284 The Emancipation Proclamation Abraham L in c o ln ........... 566
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ALABAMA P H IS T O R IC A L N A R R A T I V E S Boston Tea Party George H e w e s .......................................... 284
On Civil Disobedience Mohandas K. G a n d h i..................... 392
The General History of Virginia John S m it h .......................... 88
Radio and Television Report to the American People
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Ja c o b s .............. 550
on Civil Rights John F. Kennedy...................................... 1257 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Jonathan Edwards . . 118
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano................................................. 78 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
Speech in the Virginia Convention Patrick H e n r y ..............224 Speech to the American Equal Rights Association
an American Slave Frederick D ouglass...........................536
SojournerTruth................................................................. 574
Of Plymouth Plantation William Brad ford ............................ 98
Acquainted with the Night Robert F ro s t.............................896
La Relation Alvar Nunez Cabeza d e V a c a ............................... 68
Adolescence— III Rita D o v e ................................................ 1236
I N F O R M A T I O N A L N O N F IC T I O N The Commodore Sinks at Sea Newspaper Article................... 738 The Crucible Movie Review .................................................... 220
Any Human to Another Countee C u lle n ............................. 852
The Demons of Salem, W ith Us Still
anyone lived in a pretty how tow n E.E. C u m m in g s...........920
Victor Navasky Newspaper A rticle.........................
214
50 Ways to Fix Your Life Magazine A rticle .............................274 McCarthyism Online A rticle................................................... 212 More of the Filibusters Safe Newspaper Article.....................740 Police Dogs in Alabama Spur North Carolina Unrest Newspaper Article................................................. 1256 Stephen Crane and His W ork Newspaper A rticle.................. 740
Ballad of Birmingham Dudley R a n d a ll...............................1156 Beat! Beat! Drums! W alt W h it m a n ......................................517 Because I could not stop for Death Emily Dickinson . . . .524 A Black M an Talks of Reaping Arna Bo n tem p s...................856 The Chambered Nautilus Oliver Wendell H o lm e s............. 340 Chicago Carl Sandburg.........................................................888 The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner Randall Ja rre ll...........1119
Stephen Crane’s Own Story Stephen Crane Newspaper A rticle............................................................... 741 Thoreau Still Beckons, if I Can Take M y Laptop Newspaper A rticle............................................................... 381
The Death of the Hired M an Robert F ro s t.......................... 903 A Dream W ithin a Dream Edgar Allan P o e .......................... 482 The Fire of Driftwood Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . . . .482 The First Snow fall Jam es Russell L o w e ll............................. 354
L IT E R A R Y J O U R N A L I S M
Forgetfulness Billy C ollins................................................... 1245
A Book of Great Short Stories Dorothy P a rk e r ..................1058 The Duty of Writers E.B. W h it e .......................................... 1066 A New Kind of W ar Ernest H e m in g w a y ........................... 1048 Thoughts on the African-American Novel Toni Morrison. . .868
Free Labor Frances Ellen Watkins H a rp e r .......................... 560 Go Down, Moses
.................................................................. 561
Grass Carl S a n d b u rg ........................................................... 892 Harlem Langston H u g h e s ....................................................838
L E T T E R S / D IA R I E S
Helen H. D.............................................................................. 914
A Diary from Dixie M a ry C h e s n u t........................................ 573
Huswifery Edward T a y lo r ..................................................... 116
Letter to His Son Robert E. L e e .............................................570
If W e M ust Die Claude M c K a y ............................................ 850
Letter to John Adams Abigail A d a m s...................................258
I Hear America Singing W alt W h it m a n ............................... 508
Letter to the Rev. Samson Occom Phillis W h e a t le y ............254
I heard a Fly buzz— w hen I died Emily Dickinson................. 531
Letter to Sarah Ballou Sullivan B a ll o u ................................ 572
In a Station of the M etro Ezra P o u n d .................................. 912
Letter to Mr. T. W . Higginson
I,Too Langston H u g h e s ...................................................... 843
Emily Dickinson................... 533
S P E E C H E S / S E R M O N S / IN T E R V IE W S The Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln ...........................562 I W ill Fight No More Forever Chief Jo s e p h ........................... 812 Necessary to Protect Ourselves Malcolm X ....................... 1166
Life for M y Child is Simple Gwendolyn Bro o k s..................1230 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock T. S. E l io t ..................... 928 Lucinda Matlock Edgar Lee M a s te rs .................................... 886 The Man in the Moon Billy C o llin s...................................... 1242 M iniver Cheevy Edwin Arlington Robinson........................884
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Much Madness is divinest Sense Emily Dickinson............... 529 M y City James Weldon Jo h n s o n ...........................................846 M y life closed tw ice before its dose Emily Dickinson . . . . 529 M y life had stood— a Loaded Cun Emily D ickinson............. 532 The Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston H u g h e s.................... 842 A Noiseless Patient Spider W alt W h itm a n .............................516 Nothing Cold Can Stay Robert F r o s t ...................................900 Ode to W alt W hitm an Pablo Neruda...................................... 520 Old Ironsides Oliver Wendell H o lm es................................... 344 “ Out, Out— ” Robert F r o s t ...................................................901 Patroling Barnegat W alt W h it m a n ..................................... 606 Poetry Marianne M o o r e ....................................................... 924 Primer for Blacks Gwendolyn Brooks...................................1233 A Psalm of Life Henry Wadsworth Lo n g fello w .................... 334
Features LITERATURE W O R K S H O P S Historical Narratives............................................................. 66 American D ram a................................................................. 128 Persuasive Rhetoric............................................................222 The Art of the Essay............................................................358 Form and Content in Po etry............................................... 506 Realism............................................................................... 576 Setting in Regional Literature............................................. 632 Social Themes in Fiction.................................................... 756 M o d ern ism ....................................................................... 894 Journalism as Literature.................................................. 1046 Voice in Contemporary Literature.................................... 1202
The Raven Edgar Allan P o e ...................................................437 Recuerdo Edna St. Vincent M illa y ........................................ 926
L I T E R A T U R E C E N T E R atC lassZon e.com
Revolutionary Dreams Nikki G io v a n n i................................ 1189 Richard Cory Edwin Arlington Robinson.............................. 880 Snowbound John Greenleaf W h ittie r................................... 346 Song of Myself W alt W h it m a n ...........................................
W R IT IN G W O R K S H O P S
512
Persuasive Essay................................................................ 276
The Soul selects her own Society Emily Dickinson............... 530
Reflective E s s a y ................................................................ 474
Spring and All William Carlos W illia m s................................. 916
Biographical N arrative.......................................................598
Storm Ending Je a n T o o m e r................................................... 855
Literary Analysis................................................................ 804
Success is counted sweetest Emily Dickinson....................... 528
Comparison-Contrast Essay.............................................. 1072
Testimonial Rita D o v e ........................................................ 1240
Problem-Solution Essay..................................................... 1248
Thanatopsis William Cullen B r y a n t...................................... 328
Research R e p o r t............................................................... 1284
This Is Just to Say William Carlos W illia m s .......................... 917 The Tide Rises,The Tide Falls Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
338
WriteSmart
To a Poor Old W om an William Carlos W illia m s .................. 1080 To M y Dear and Loving Husband Anne Brad stree t................ 110
S P E A K IN G , L IS T E N IN G , A N D V IE W IN G
]
Upon the Burning of Our House Anne Brad street................ 114 The W e ary Blues Langston H u g h e s......................................844
Persuasive Speech................................................ .......... 283
W hat Troubled Poe’s R a v e n ...................................................445
Conducting an Interview ...................................... .......... 481
The W ind begun to knead the Crass Emily Dickinson . . . . 606
Video Documentary.............................................. .......... 605
The Crucible Arthur M ille r...................................................... 131
Power Presentation.............................................. .......... 811 Oral Interpretation.............................................. .......... 1079 Creating a Web S it e ............................................. ..........1255
from The Death of a Salesman Arthur M ille r ...................... 1110 from The Glass Menagerie Tennessee W illia m s ................ 1108 from Our Town Thornton W ild e r..........................................1106 from A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry......................... 1112
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Presenting the Results of Your Investigation . . . . . . . . 1302 M E D I A C E N T E R atC lassZ o ne.co m
A L A B A M A || WRAP-UPS
M ED IA STUDIES
W R IT IN G TO S Y N T H E S IZ E
Changing Views of Native Americans Film C lip s ................ 62
Native American V a lu e s .......................................................61
The Crucible Film C lip ............................................................. 218
Voices of the Civil W a r ....................................................... 595
Illustrations Inspired by Poe Image Collection......................446
America’s Literary Regions.................................................. 705
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Film C lip s...................... 596
Modernist S t y le ................................................................ 935
American Landscapes Image Collection................................ 706
The Literary Legacy of W a r ................................................. 1143
Jump at the Sun Documentary................................................876 Advertising in the Jazz Age Print Advertisem ents.................964
W R IT IN G TO E V A L U A T E
Perspectives in the News Newcast/Article............................. 1176
Personal Accounts of Exploration and Settlem e n t............109 Fireside Poets in Perspective..............................................357
MediaSmart DVD
Naturalistic Perspectives..................................................... 755 The Essence of a Short Sto ry.............................................. 1045 Journalism Beyond the F a c ts ............................................ 1071 W R IT IN G TO A N A L Y Z E The Puritan Legacy.............................................................. 221 Elements of Romantic S t y le ................................................ 333
V O CABULARY STRATEGIES pages 60,76, 86 , 97,108,127, 210, 232, 242, 253, 273, 326, 368, 390,425,436,472, 594, 648, 668 , 686,704,736,754,786, 802,866, 960,976,1000,1016,1030,1158,1171,1200
The Gothic Perspective....................................................... 473 Perspectives on the Harlem Renaissance.............................875 W R IT IN G TO P E R S U A D E Revolutionary Id e a s ............................................................ 275 The March Toward Eq u ality .............................................. 1201 W R IT IN G TO R E F LE C T
GRAM M AR AND STYLE pages 77, 87,211, 233, 243, 327, 369, 391,426,444, 549, 559,569, 669, 687,737,765,787, 867,911,919, 961, 977,1001,1017,1031, 1057,1065,1121,1159,1191,1213
The Transcendental S p ir it .................................................. 401 A New D iversity............................................................... 1247 W R IT IN G TO C O M P A R E The Innovations of Whitman and Dickinson........................ 535 Women’s Changing R o le s ..................................................803
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•What is the Alabama Course of Study? • How will 1learn the Alabama Course of Study?
E M B E D D E D A S S E S S M E N T P R A CTICE
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P R E P A R IN G FO R T H E ACT/SAT*
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•What are the ACT and SAT?
A CT/SA T ST R A T EG IES A N D P R A CTICE A N S W E R K E Y W IT H E X P L A N A T IO N
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STANDARDIZED
U N D E R S T A N D IN G TH E A L A B A M A CO U RSE OF STU D Y
TEST SUCCESS
STUDENT GUIDE TO STAN DARD IZED TEST SUCCESS
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Understanding the Alabama Course of Study What is the Alabama Course of Study? The Alabama Course of Study is a list of content standards that outlines what you should know and be able to do at each grade level. Your teacher uses the standards to create a course of instruction that will help you develop the skills and knowledge you are expected to have by the end of grade 11. The Alabama Course of Study prepares you for success not only in taking tests like the ACT and the SAT, but also for everyday life and the workplace.
How will I learn the Alabama Course of Study? Your textbook is closely aligned to the Alabama Course of Study for English Language Arts, so that every time you learn new information or practice a skill, you are mastering one of the standards. Each unit, each reading selection, and each workshop in your textbook connects to one or more of the standards. The standards covered in each section of your textbook are listed on the opening page of the section.
ALABAMA
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The Alabama Course of Study for English Language Arts is divided into five subject areas called strands: Reading Literature Writing and Language Research and Inquiry Oral and Visual Communication Each of the content standards belongs to one of these strands. Some content standards have bullets that point out specific skills that you need to learn in order to master the standard. Alabama uses a special code to identify the grade level, the content standard, and the bullet.
A L A B A M A C O U RSE OF STU D Y STA N D A RD D ECO D ER
11. 2 . a Indicates a grade n standard
j •
Identifies the bullet: a.
Explaining use of
allusions
Identifies the standard: 2 Analyze use of figurative language and literary devices, including hyperbole, simile, metaphor, personification, and other imagery, to enhance specific literary passages.
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Embedded Assessment Practice Each unit has a formatted practice test that covers specific standards-based skills.
A S S E S S M E N T P R A C T IC E LO C A T O R U n i t I page 284 Early American W riting
U n it 2 page 482 American Romanticism
From Rom anticism to Realism
• Elements of an Argument
• Stanza, Rhyme Scheme, and M eter
• Author’s Style
• Persuasive Techniques
• Symbol
• Figurative Language
• Historical Context
• Mood
• Irregular Capitalization
• Descriptive Details
• Sound Devices:
• Slant Rhyme
U n it 3 page 606
• Primary Source
• Internal Rhyme
• Inventive Punctuation
• Multiple-Meaning Words
• Repetition
• Cataloging
• Specialized Vocabulary: Political Words
• Alliteration
• Parallelism
• Onom atopoeia
• Repetition
• Adverb Clauses
• Paraphrase
• Complex and Compound-Complex Sentences
• Participles and Participial Phrases
• Tone
• Parallelism
• Latin Roots and Words
• Prepositional Phrases
• Adjective Clauses
• Free Verse
• Context Clues • Vivid Verbs • Establish Tone
U n it 4 page 812
U n it S page 1080
Regionalism and Naturalism
The Harlem Renaissance and Modernism
• Theme
U n it 6 page 1256 Contemporary Literature • Main Ideas
• Setting
• Character Motivation and Traits
• Historical Context
• Naturalism
• Irony
• Rhetorical Devices
• Character
• Tone
• Plot and Conflict
• Imagery
• Allusions
• Make Inferences
• Idioms
• Media: Persuasive Techniques • Etymology
• Prefixes
• Make Inferences
• Latin Roots and Words
• Establish Voice
• Latin Words and Roots
• Infinitive Phrases
• Denotation and Connotation
• Vivid Adjectives
• Tone • Diction • Repetition
• Active and Passive Voice • Gerunds and Gerund Phrases
U n it 7 page 1264 The Power of Research • Research Strategies pg 1268 • Writing Research Papers pg 1284
ST U D E N T G UIDE
• Repetition
• Create Mood
ALABAMA
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Preparing for the ACT/SAT What are the ACT and SAT? High school juniors often need to take standardized tests, especially if they are considering going to college. This section will introduce you to the formats used by two of the most common standardized tests you may take: the ACT and the SAT. Studying these formats and completing the practice items will help prepare you for the tests and make you a more confident test taker.
^ H O W T H E T E S T S COMPARE
r
1
ACT Required for admission at many colleges
Required for admission at many colleges
Tests achievement in English, reading, science reasoning, and math
Tests critical reading skills, math, and writing
Tests grammar skills
Tests grammar skills
Tests vocabulary skills
Places more emphasis on vocabulary
Multiple choice with an optional essay
Mostly multiple choice with an essay and io student-determined math questions
Does not penalize guessing, so answer every question
Penalizes guessing, so skip a question if you cannot eliminate any answer choices
Scores range from i to 36 for each of the four tests; a composite score, which is the average of the four test scores, can also range from 1-36
Scores range from200 to 800 for each of the three sections
ST U D E N T GUIDE
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Focus on the English, Reading, and Writing Sections of the ACT and the SAT T r
HOW
E N G L IS H S K IL L S A R E C O V E R E D O N T H E AC T
1
Reading Test
English
Writing Test (Optional) ]
Multiple-choice questions. Includes 4 readings in these subject areas: social sciences, natural sciences, fiction, humanities
Multiple-choice questions. Covers usage and mechanics
Requires you to understand literal meaning and make inferences
•punctuation
Essay prompt identifies two positions on an issue. You are asked to take a position and support it in an essay.
Requires you to demonstrate ability to
•sentence structure
•identify main ideas and details
•grammar and usage
•understand cause and effect/sequence of events
Covers rhetorical skills
•compare and contrast
•organization
•use context to find meaning of words and phrases
•style
•developing a topic
•generalize •analyze voice and techniques
HOW
E N G L IS H S K IL L S A R E C O V E R E D O N T H E SA T
The Critical Reading Section Includes two types of multiple-choice questions: sentence-completion and reading-passage-based questions Sentence-completion questions test your vocabulary and understanding of how sentence parts work together Reading passages range from about 100-850 words Reading-passage questions require you to understand literal meaning, including vocabulary, and make inferences (extended reasoning) Reading-passage questions also require you to •identify main ideas and details •understand cause and effect •follow the logic of an argument •recognize tone
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ST U D E N T GUIDE
Writing Test Essay prompt includes a quote from one or two sources. You are asked to respond to a specific question related to the quote(s). Multiplechoice questions cover usage and mechanics, which require you to demonstrate ability to •improve sentences and paragraphs •identify errors in sentences
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ACT/SAT Strategies and Practice Test-Taking Strategies Stay calm when you are faced with a test.These tips will help you approach any test with confidence.
STEPS TO TAKE B EF O R E A N Y TEST • Be prepared. Know what you need to take with you to the test (for example, identification, a registration ticket, and #2 pencils). Get your things together the night before you take the test. • Be on time. Know where the testing center is and how long it will take you to get there. Plan to arrive a few minutes early. • Sleep and eat well. Get a good night’s sleep before the test and eat a light breakfast that morning.Too much food can make you feel sleepy or sick, while too little can leave you feeling distracted or tired during the test. • Know the format. Find out what the test will cover and what format it will have.The ACT and the SAT are both mostly multiple-choice tests. The SAT has a written essay and the ACT has an optional written essay. • Practice. You may want to take a practice test to familiarize yourself with the question types and format of the test. If you get nervous about taking tests, practice may help you relax and feel more confident. • Review the Test-Taking Handbook that is part of this textbook. Pages R96 -R103 provide a handy reference along with many helpful strategies and tips.
STEPS TO TAKE D U R IN G A N Y TEST • Read directions. Be sure you understand what you are being asked to do. • Fill in the answer sheet carefully. Follow directions for filling in the answer sheet. Avoid unnecessary marks. If you skip a question, make sure you skip that item on the answer sheet. • Manage your time. Many tests tell you about how much time to spend on each section.Try resetting your watch to noon just before you begin the test so that during the test,you can tell at a glance how much time you have spent. • Answer easy questions first. Look over the test once and answer any questions you know quickly. Skip questions when you are unsure of the answers.Then go back and spend more time on the questions you skipped. • Check your answers if you have time. Look over your work. Make sure you have filled in the answer sheet correctly. See if you can answer any questions you skipped. Usually your first answer is correct, so do not change answers unless you have a good reason, such as realizing that you misread a question.
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Testing Tips for the ACT and the SAT Keep a positive attitude.Take the test seriously, but remember it is only one piece of the information used to assess your ability or achievement. If you are nervous, take a few deep breaths and remember that you have prepared yourself for success on the test.
FOR THE ACT • Answer every question. You earn points for each correct answer. There is no penalty for incorrect answers, so if you do not know the answer to a question, try to narrow down the choices and make your best guess. Even if you are unable to narrow down the choices,you should still guess. • Complete the test. Because there is no penalty for incorrect answers, it is in your best interest to answer every question. If you manage your time well, you should be able to complete the test. If you are running out of time, try to quickly answer any remaining questions. • Know that the optional writing test is last. Remember to take some time to plan your response in the beginning and to do a final check at the end.
FOR THE SAT • Try to narrow down choices. You earn points for each correct answer. You lose a fraction of a point for each incorrect answer. If you cannot eliminate any responses, leave the question blank. If you can eliminate even one answer, you may want to guess. • Complete as much of the test as you can. The more questions you answer correctly, the better your score will be. However, many students do not have time to answer every question. Try not to linger on any one question, and do not panic if you think you will not be able answer all the questions. • Be prepared to write first. The essay writing test is first, while the multiplechoice writing question section is last. (The other test sections in between appear in random order, and are not the same for each test-taker.)
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ST U D E N T GUIDE
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Reading Comprehension Tests The ACT and the SAT both require you to read passages and answer multiplechoice questions about them. The questions will not require you to have any other outside knowledge of the subject. Instead, they will focus on what is stated directly in the text or what you can infer from the text. Questions in these tests are designed to assess your ability to identify the main idea, read for details, understand the author’s intent, and make sense of vocabulary, among other skills.
G E N E R A L T IP S FOR R E A D IN G C O M P R E H E N S IO N Q U E S T IO N S Before You Read ... • Scan the questions and answer choices first. This will help you focus your reading. • Read shorter passages first. Leave longer passages until later. If you do not understand a passage, move on to the next one. Go back and reread the skipped passage if you have time. • Examine the title. Quickly preview the passage to locate any helpful text features, such as headings. As You Read ... • Read the passage carefully. Summarize in your mind what you learn from each paragraph or section. • Identify main ideas and key supporting details. Use context clues to help you understand unfamiliar words and phrases. • Look for key words and phrases. Words such as later, because, in addition to, and instead o f can help you determine relationships among sentences, paragraphs, and sections. When You Answer the Questions ... • Refer to the passage. Correct answers must be based on what is in the passage, not on other information you may know about the subject. • Reread, if necessary. If a question asks about a particular section of the reading passage, you may find it helpful to quickly review it or even reread it. • Do not spend too much time on anyone question. Remember, you do not have to answer questions in sequential order.
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STRATEGIES FOR THE ACT R EA D IN G TEST • Focus on the reading. Remember, correct answers must be based on what is in the passage, not on other information you may know about the subject. • Divide your time. Pace yourself so you have time to answer every question. For the ACT, only correct answer choices determine your score. You will not be penalized for guessing. • Start with topics you know best. ACT reading passages cover a variety of subjects. If you feel more confident about one subject than another, begin with a passage in that subject. Then move on to other subjects. • Read all the answer choices. Make sure the answer choice you select is the one that best answers what the question is asking.
STR A TEG IES FOR THE SAT CRITICAL R E A D IN G TEST • Do the sentence-completion questions first. These questions take less time than the reading-passage questions because you can read the sentence more quickly than a passage. Make sure you leave time for the reading-passage questions. • For two-part answers, test the logic of one part of each answer. If you have a sentence-completion question with two blanks, test the logic of the first word/phrase. Eliminate any answer that does not make sense.Then test the second part of the remaining answers.
Example: Afraid of causing a program that was to o A
controversy, bland
B
interest, diverse
, the committee put together to generate much response.
C discord, questionable D appeal, general When you test just the first word of each answer, you can eliminate B and D because logically, the committee would not be afraid of causing interest or appeal in a program. Then test the remaining answers using both parts. A makes more sense than C because a questionable program is more likely to generate a response than a bland one. Even if you cannot decide between A and C, using the strategy eliminates two answers and improves your chances of guessing correctly. • Do not worry if you cannot answer every question. If you are unable to eliminate at least one answer choice, it is best not to guess on the SAT.
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ST U D E N T GUIDE
ALABAMA
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Reading Comprehension Test Practice Both the SAT and the ACT require you to read passages and answer multiplechoice questions about them. Use the models below for practice. The margin notes include helpful strategies.
Read the following passage. Then answer questions i through 6 .
The fo llo w in g passage is taken fro m an inform ational article about World War I.
The Great War
STRATEGIES FOR R E A D IN G TH E PASSAGE Look for the main idea. The title and opening paragraph will often help you identify the main idea of a passage.
Use subheadings. These help you understand how the article is organized and find main ideas.
Use context clues. Look for restatement, examples, or other clues that help you understand the meaning of the word. This paragraph explains what propaganda
War Affects the Home Front |
By the time the United States joined the Allies, the war had been going on for nearly three years in Europe. In those three years, Europe had lost more men in battle than in all the wars of the previous three centuries. The Great War, as the conflict came to be known, affected everyone. It touched not only the soldiers in the trenches, but civilians as well. It affected not just m ilitary institutions, but also political, economic, and social institutions. Governments Wage Total War World War I soon became a total war. This meant that countries devoted all their resources to the war effort. In Britain, Germany, Austria, Russia, and France, all the resources of each government were dedicated to winning the conflict. In each country, the government took control of the economy. Factories were told what products to produce and how many of each. Numerous facilities were converted to munitions factories where weapons and ammunition were manufactured. Nearly every able-bodied civilian was put to work. Unemployment in many European countries nearly disappeared. So many goods were in short supply that governments turned to rationing. Under this system, people could buy only small amounts of those items that were needed for the war effort. Eventually, rationing covered a wide range of goods, from metals to butter and shoe leather. Governments also suppressed antiwar activity— sometimes by force. In addition, they censored news about the war. M any leaders feared that honest reporting of the war would turn people against it. Governments also used propaganda— persuasive information designed to promote their goals and opinions— to keep up morale and support for the war.
means.
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The War’s Impact on Women Total war meant that governments turned to women for help as never before. Thousands of women replaced men in factories, offices, and shops. Women built tanks and weapons, plowed fields, paved streets, and ran hospitals. They also kept troops supplied with food, clothing, and weapons. The propaganda effort sought to glorify women’s part in the war effort. In reality, much of the women’s work was dangerous and low paying. Although most women left the work force when the war ended, their work for the war effort set an important precedent. Now answer questions i through 6 on a separate sheet of paper. Base your answers on the article “ The Great War.” STR A TEG IES FOR A N S W E R IN G THE Q U ES TIO N S Eliminate incorrect answer choices. If you are not sure of
|1 | According to the author, the Great War affected A. soldiers and civilians. B. m ilitary personnel and institutions around the world. C. American and European society at large. D. women most of all.
an answer, eliminate answer choices that you know are incorrect.
|2 | Which heading would be most appropriate for the fifth paragraph o f the article? F. Propaganda and Media G. Keeping Up Morale H. Crack Down! Controlling Anti-War Activity J . Governments Control Images of War I 3 | In the third paragraph the author states, “Numerous facilities were converted to munitions factories where weapons and ammunition were manufactured.” After the war, these factories most likely were A. destroyed. B. converted again to produce something else. C . run by women. D. converted to housing for returning soldiers. |4 | Based on the last sentence in the article, which conclusion is best? F. Women would become soldiers if there was another war. G. Female workers were as productive as male workers. H. M any men would lose their jobs to women. J . Women would have a difficult time keeping their jobs or getting new jobs once men returned from war.
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§
► |5 1 In the fourth paragraph, the word rationing means A. B. C. D.
you to a specific part of the passage, reread that section.
lim iting how much of a resource people can buy. replacing one material with another that is less in demand. making people wait in long lines to get their goods. producing only goods needed for the war effort.
U ] The main idea o f the section “The War’s Impact on Women” is that F. the war did not affect women very much. G. people finally recognized women as heroes. H. women played an important role in the war. J. during the war, women were subjected to great danger.
STR A TEGIES FOR R E A D IN G THE PASSAGE Put it in context. Descriptions or explanations that appear before the passage may provide context for the passage or help you focus your reading by identifying a main idea or asking a question.
Recognize sequence of events. Notice tense, past or present, and words that identify time to help you understand the sequence of events.
Read the following passage. Then answer questions 7 through 9 .
^
The fo llo w in g passage is fr o m President L incoln’s Second Inaugural Address. He d elivered the speech on M arch 4, 1865, w hile the C ivil War was still raging.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Fellow countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. W ith high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it— all sought to avert it. W hile the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war— seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
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Now answer questions 7 through 9 on a separate sheet of paper. Base your answers on the excerpt from Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.
0
W hat was the purpose o f Lincoln’s previous inaugural address? A. to avert war while saving the Union B. to rouse continued support for war C . to gain support for war to save the Union D. to highlight the dangers the nation had faced during the war
1 8 | The best word to replace deprecated in the second paragraph is F. denounced. G. predicted. H . desired. J. desisted. [ 9 | Based on the first paragraph o f the speech, you can infer that A. Lincoln will show how the country has changed. B. Lincoln will not talk long because the country is at peace. C . Lincoln will summarize the war’s past and outline its future. D. Lincoln’s address will be shorter than his first address. Now turn to page S 3 and see how well you did.
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P
Vocabulary Question Tips and Strategies Both the ACT and the SAT test your vocabulary. In the ACT, vocabulary is covered in the Reading Test. You are asked to determine the meaning of words in context. The SAT asks you to find the meaning of words in context in the readingpassage questions. Sentence-completion questions also test your word knowledge.
B U IL D IN G Y O U R V O C A B U L A R Y SK IL LS . . . • Use a dictionary. When you read or write, have a dictionary handy and be sure to look up any unfamiliar words. • Keep a word list. Write down any words and their definitions that you are learning. Although neither test is a rote test of vocabulary, it does make sense to expand your vocabulary. • Read and write often. Both skills improve your vocabulary. Make the effort to use precise language whenever you write. • Review the Vocabulary and Spelling Handbook. Pages R72 -R79 provide a handy reference along with the many helpful strategies and tips. Also review the glossaries on pages R104 -R137.These glossaries provide a handy reference of words you may not be familiar with that are included in this textbook.
W H E N YO U A N S W E R Q U E S T IO N S . . . • Use context clues. Other words in the sentence or passage can help you figure out unfamiliar words. • Break unfamiliar words into parts. Even if you have not seen a certain word before, you may recognize a prefix, suffix, or a root within it. Knowing the meaning of the word part can help you figure out the meaning of the word or eliminate some answers.
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Grammar, Usage, and Style Question Tips and Strategies The English Test on the ACT and the multiple-choice part of the writing section on the SAT cover grammar, usage, and style issues.
B U IL D IN G Y O U R G R A M M A R SK IL LS . . . • Look for ways to improve your grammar and usage. Ask your teacher for helpful books and other resources. When you take a practice SAT or ACT test, read any explanations provided, even if you answered correctly. • Read and write often. Both activities improve your grammar skills. For example, offer to proofread a friend’s paper and ask him or her to proofread yours. When you read a newspaper or magazine, be on the lookout for errors— and for proper grammar, usage, and style. • Review the Grammar Handbook. Pages R50 -R71 provide a handy reference along with many helpful tips
W H E N YO U A N S W E R Q U E S T IO N S . . . • Know the answer format for each test. Both tests may include answer choices that indicate the item in question is correct. On SAT multiple-choice questions for the writing section, answer choice A may repeat the original phrasing. (Other SAT section questions may include “ No error” as answer choice E.) On the ACT, many questions have “ NO CHANGE” as one of their answer choices. • Use grammar clues. For fill-in-the-blank items, choose answers that match the verb tense and pronouns used in the rest of the sentence. For example, if you are asked to complete the sentence, “Tomorrow he_____________ the achievement award,’’you would choose will accept, not accepted or accepting.
• Try to formulate an answer as you read. If you are asked to choose the best version of a sentence or a new part of a sentence, think about how you would write the sentence before looking at the choices. Then look for a sentence similar to your answer. • Choose the best answer. If more than one answer seems right, choose the answer that seems clearest to you.
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Grammar, Usage, and Style Question on the ACT On the ACT,you will be asked to read certain passages and find errors in underlined sections. Remember that some underlined sections will not have errors. You will have a choice of “ NO CHANGE” for sections that are correct as written. You will also be asked general questions about each passage’s purpose and organization.These questions refer to the passage as a whole, not to any one section.
Read the passage and choose the answer that you think is best.
The Appalachian Trail Notice style and tone. The answers you choose should fit the style and
^
1.
A. B. C. D.
2.
F. NO CHANGE G. w ill hike H . hike J- had hiked
3.
A. NO CHANGE B. sections but not in the same year C. parts but each part at a different time D . little bits and pieces not all at once
4.
F. NO CHANGE G. yet 20% finish H . but hardly anybody J- and now it’s about 20% who complete the trail
The Appalachian Trail (AT.) is a marked footpath of a little over 2100
tone of the passage.
miles connecting Mt. Katahdin in Maine and Springer Mountain in Georgia. The AT. itself passes through 1
fourteen states. Millions of people will have hiked 2
part of the AT. each year. Most of these people hike a small piece of the trail on a day hike or short trip. Section hikers aim to hike the whole trail in pieces 3 Keep reading. Although each question is based on a specified part of
► over time. Thru-hikers make up a very 3
small portion of the people on the trail
the passage, you may need to read beyond
each year. They attempt to hike from
the marked section to decide which answer is
Georgia to Maine, or vice versa, in one
NO CHANGE Along the way, the path The A.T. path Between the two end points, the path
correct.
season. A complete thru-hike typically takes about five to seven months to complete. In recent years, more people are attempting thru-hikes, but only 4
about 20% complete the entire trail. 4
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Question 5 asks about the passage as a whole.
5.
The writer intends to continue the article. Which sentence would make the best transition to talking about the challenges o f thru-hiking the AT.? A. Care to guess why the numbers are so low? B. The allure of the trail is great, but the challenges are, too. C. The low completion rate is indicative of the numerous rigors of the trail. D. That so few finish isn’t surprising given the difficulties of a thru-hike.
Now turn to page S 3 to see how well you did.
Grammar, Usage, and Style Questions on the SAT The SAT covers vocabulary in the reading-passages and sentence-completion questions. For the latter, you will be asked to choose one or two words that fit into a sentence. Some questions ask you to identify grammar and usage errors. Several parts of a sentence will be underlined. You are asked to choose the part of the sentence that contains an error. If the sentence is correct, choose “ No error.” In another type of question, you will be asked to choose the best wording to replace the underlined section of a sentence. A third type of question asks you to read a passage. Questions following the passage ask you about sentence structure, word choice, organization, or development of ideas.
Choose the response that best completes each sentence.
1.
Discovering the secluded beach w as______ ; if we hadn’t taken a wrong turn we never would have found it. (A) treacherous (B) serendipitous (C) spontaneous (D) isolated (E) auspicious
2.
The careful investigators_______examined the scenef o r _______ pieces o f evidence. (A) doggedly . . . superfluous (B) scrupulously . . . obvious (C) scurrilously . . . anticipated (D) perfunctorily . . . essential (E) meticulously . . . minute
LI
ALABAMA Select the part of the sentence that contains an error. If the sentence is correct, select choice E.
3.
Until we know the extent of the damage, we can not begun to determine A
B
C
when the school w ill reopen. No error D
4.
E
The rail-trail committee wants to pave the section of trail from Main A
Street to Cooper Street but, it has been blocked by abutting land owners B
C
who want to take control of the land and by conservation groups who D
want to protect the wooded area. No error E
Select the best answer from the choices given.
5.
6.
Most people understand the effects o f gravity, but without being able to explain how it works. (A) but without being able to explain how it works. (B) but are being unable to explain how it works. (C) though they can’t explain how it works. (D) and they can’t explain how it works. (E) without explaining how it works. Although many people associate tomatoes with Italian cooking, tomatoes were only introduced to Italy in the sixteenth century. (A) Although many people associate tomatoes with Italian cooking, tomatoes were only introduced to Italy in the sixteenth century. (B) M any people associate tomatoes with Italian cooking, while tomatoes were only introduced to Italy in the sixteenth century. (C) Although many people associate tomatoes with Italian cooking, they were introduced to Italy in the sixteenth century. (D) Although people associate tomatoes with Italian cooking, tomatoes were not becoming introduced to Italy until recently. (E) Although tomatoes were only introduced to Italy in the sixteenth century, they are associated with Italian cooking by many people.
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Read the passage and choose the best answer for the questions that follow.
Zora Neal Hurston died with little fanfare in I960. She died in poverty in a nursing home and was buried in an unmarked grave. About a decade later, her writings were rediscovered. Since the 1970s, her works have grown in popularity, and her works are taught in many high school and college classes in the United States. How did such a change in fortune come about? 7.
Which is the best way to write the first two sentences? (A) Zora Neal Hurston died with little fanfare in 1960. She died in poverty in a nursing home and was buried in an unmarked grave. (B) Zora Neal Hurston died with little fanfare in 1960 and in poverty in a nursing home and was buried in an unmarked grave. (C) In 1960, Zora Neal Hurston died and was buried in an unmarked grave. (D) Zora Neal Hurston died with little fanfare in I960, and she died in poverty in a nursing home and was buried in an unmarked grave. (E) In poverty and with little fanfare in 1960, Zora Neal Hurston died in a nursing home and was buried in an unmarked grave.
8.
W hat is the best information to provide in the next paragraph o f this essay? (A) more information about Hurston’s death (B) the cause of Hurston’s death (C) details about Hurston’s early life (D) information about Hurston’s success (E) how Hurston gained, lost and regained popularity
Now turn to pages S3-S4 to see how well you did.
Taking Essay Tests Essay tests demonstrate your ability to develop a point of view on a topic and write about it in a clear, logical manner. The SAT includes an essay test. The ACT includes the option of taking an essay test. Knowing howto write an essay in a limited amount of time will help you on future tests and in many classes. Essay tests are usually timed. For the SAT,you will have 25 minutes to write your essay. For the ACT, you will have 30 minutes. Because time is short, you will need to manage your time carefully to complete your essay.The following outline will help.
PREW RITINC . . . Spend about 5 minutes planning your essay. • Read the prompt carefully and restate it in your own words. • Brainstorm ideas first, then identify the position you will take. • Note reasons and examples you will use to support your position. • Think of any arguments for the opposing position that you may want to address. • Quickly organize your ideas by making a simple outline or numbering your ideas in the order you will use them.
W RITING . . . Spend about 18-20 minutes writing your essay. • Create a strong introduction. Consider the purpose and audience for your response. State your position clearly. • Develop the body of your essay. Add additional paragraphs to explain and support your position. Each paragraph should focus on one idea. Include a strong topic sentence and supporting details for each paragraph. • Write a closing paragraph that summarizes your ideas or draws a conclusion. Explain why the reader should accept your solution, explanation, or argument.
REVIEW ING . . . Spend your remaining time proofreading your essay. • Correct errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. • Change wording if you can improve your sentences or paragraphs. • Make other minor additions or changes that will improve your essay.
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Strategies for Essay Tests Good essays have a clear point of view, use specific details and examples to support a position, are well-organized, use correct and varied sentences, use precise and varied vocabulary, and are generally free of errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics. Use these tips to help you write a successful essay. Building Your Writing S k ills ... The more you write, the better prepared you will be for writing a timed essay on the SAT or ACT. Take advantage of writing opportunities at school and in your community. For example, most essay tests ask you to explain or defend a position. Writing an editorial or a letter to the editor is good practice in this regard. For a handy w riting guide, use the Writing Handbook in
• Follow directions. Read the directions carefully. Find out whether you are allowed to use scrap paper or your test book to note ideas. Follow directions about where to write your essay and how long it should be. • Stay on topic. Read the writing prompt carefully. Make sure you understand what you are being asked to discuss. Essays written off-topic generally do not score well. For the SAT, essays written off-topic receive a score of 0. • Choose a specific viewpoint. Many essays ask you to take a clear stand on a topic. State your viewpoint in your opening. Make sure all examples and reasons are related to your point of view. • Be precise. Avoid generalities. Use specific statistics, information, or examples. For example, instead of writing “ Everyone thinks going to school year round is a bad idea,” try writing "Seventy percent of the teachers in our district recently voted against a plan to move to a yearround school schedule.”
this textbook on pages R26 -R 43 . It provides a w ealth of information about the writing process and strategies and tips for effective writing.
• Choose your words carefully. Use specific words to convey your ideas and to vary your vocabulary. You can vary your word choice without using complex words or words that you do not know well. Use simple but precise words you know instead of complicated language that does not express your meaning. • Write neatly. Readers need to be able to understand your handwriting to score your essay. Write as legibly as possible. If you need to correct an error or make a change, use a single, clear line to cross out anything you want to omit. Write “ new text” clearly in the margin or above where the change should be inserted. Follow any specific instructions given on the test for making corrections.
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ALABAMA ACT Essay Question Example ACT essay prompts describe an issue and ask you to write about your perspective. Each prompt provides two perspectives. You can support either perspective or take a different view. The prompt below is typical of an ACT essay question.
Some schools are adding volunteering to the list of requirements for graduation, saying that volunteering allows students to give back to their communities while gaining hands-on experience in a number of fields. Others claim that there isn’t enough time to meet academic requirements even without the volunteering requirement. Do you think volunteering should be a requirement for graduation? In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may take a different point of view. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position. ACT ESSA Y M O D EL State your position. The essay opens w ith a clear statement of the writer's position.
Use specific examples. Use specific experiences, information, or other evidence to support generalizations.
Use a strong conclusion. Restate your position in the last paragraph of your essay.
Volunteering shooId be encouraged, but not required for graduation. While volunteering offers Many benefits, it should be done voluntarily and it should not overshadow acadeM/c pursuits at school. Volunteering is a wonderful thing. I fee.1 good about volunteering at the local antMai shelter, fve learned about anmaJs and om considering studying to be a veterinarian, fve also used My computer skills to help keep records and My people skills when working with potential pet adopters. I choose to volunteer, because I learn froM My experience, not because I have to do it for school. I already have plenty to do for school. Studying for tests, researching papers, and keeping up with My assigned reading all take t/Me. We currently have enough acadeMic requirements for graduation in Math, science, English, social studies, health, and even physical education. We dont need another requireMent. Students should be able to choose what activities they do outside o f school. M ost schools Make it easy for students to play sports or join dubs. If schools think volunteering is iMportant, they should help students find opportunities. Encourage volunteering, but keep it voluntary. After all, volunteering Means giving your t/Me and talents freely. It does not Mean being forced to do so.
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Focus on the question. The question at the end of the prompt is the one you must answer in your essay. Make sure every part of your response relates to the
ACT Essay Question Practice Some school administrators support the use of vending machines as a way to generate money for school programs. Other people are concerned that the foods sold in vending machines are unhealthy and submit students to unnecessary marketing. In your opinion, should high schools allow vending machines for student use?
question.
In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either of the two points of view given, or take a different point of view. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position. Be specific. Choose examples and reasons that support your
On your own paper, write an essay in response to the question. You have 30 minutes.
position. Consider using examples and reasons to counter the opposing side of the argument,
SAT Essay Question Example The SAT essay also asks you to state and support a point of view. The essay prompt contains an excerpt and an assignment asking you to take a position based on the excerpt. You must write your essay in the allotted space. The prompt below is typical of an SAT essay question.
too.
Modern technology purports to bring us closer together. We can move from place to place with greater ease and speed or send a message instantaneously around the globe with the push of a button. Yet we often fail to communicate with the people right in front of us. We chat on cell phones while our companions wait. We seem to spend more time with the computer than with the ones we love. Technology provides the means to communicate with others, but we still have to make the effort. Assignment: Has modern technology improved communication? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experiences, or observations.
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Use more than one example. Provide tw o or
^
three strong examples to support your main idea.
Address counter arguments. Look at
►
the other side of the issue. In addition to supporting your position, point out weaknesses in the opposing view.
Modern technology has definitely improved communication. People can easily communicate with people all over the \Morld whenever it's convenient for them, 'before the Internet, email, and cell phones, communication was more difficult, time consuming, or expensive. Personally, fve found modern technology makes my life easier. I can call friends from anywhere, anytime with my cell phone. My phone also allows my friends to get in touch with me. My mom bought me the phone to improve communication. I call her if I'm going to be late, to Jet her know when fve arrived where I said I was going, or to ask for permission to go somewhere. In fact, I often call my mom for a little chat or a quick question. In some ways, I think I talk with my mom more than the average teen did before cell phones. I also use the computer to communicate. I can send instant messages to friends while doing other work I can email requests for information during o ff hours when I couldnt make a phone call. Sure, some people misuse our new technology. It is rude to chat on your phone while somebody is standing next to you. It's wrong to spend so much time emailing or messaging that you don't even see your friends or family. Most people I know don't do that, or don't do it too much, anyway. I think the possible etiquette issues o f modern communication technology are far outstripped by the benefits o f fast, convenient connections.
SAT Essay Question Practice Helen Keller said, “ Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.” Some people seek security while others are striving for adventure and living life on the edge.
Stick w ith the assignment. Make sure you write on the assigned topic. Essays
►
Assignment: Is it better to live life as an adventure or to seek security? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experiences, or observations.
►
On your own paper, write an essay in response to the question. You have 25 minutes.
written on any other topic will receive a score of zero.
Use the space wisely. On the SAT,you must use only the space provided for the essay. W rite on every line, leave small margins, and make sure your handwriting is legible.
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Ex p l o r i n g A m e r ic a n Lit e r a t u r e
IN T R O D U C IN G T H E E S S E N T IA L S • Literary Essentials Workshop
In
CONGRESS,
u l y
4,
A DECLARAT By
• W riting Essentials Workshop
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UNITED S T A T E S OF AM] In
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I I E N in th e C o o rfe o f h u m a n E v e n ts , i t b eco m es n ecet& ry fo r o n e P eo p le to d iu b lv e th e P o litic a l B a: w ith a n o th e r, a n d to a fla m e a m o n g th e P o w ers o f th e E a rth , -the fe p a ra te a n d e q u a l S ta tio n to w h ic. N a tu re ’* G o d e n t itle th e m , a d cc e n t R e fp e ^ to t h e O p in io n s o f M a n k in d r e q u ire s th a t th e y th o u ld d ed a rc to th e S e p ara tio n . W e h o ld th e fe T r u t h s to h e fc lf-e v u le n t, th a t a ll M e n a r c s e a t e d e q u a !, th a t th e y a r e endow e* u n a lie n a b le R ig h t s , th a t a m o n g th e fe a re L if e , L ib e r ty , a n d th e P u r fu k o f H a p p in c fs— T h a t t o icc u rc in ftitu te d a m o n ir M e n , d e r iv in g th e ir j u f t P o w ers fro m th e C o n fe n t o f th e G o v ern ed , th a t w h en e v er a n y F o rm o f G o re m m e .i, e o f th e P eo p le to a lt e r o r to ib o li(h i t , a n d to in ftit u te n e w G o v e rn m e n t, la v in g it s F o u n d atio n on 1 it s P o w e rs in fu c h F o r m , as ;o th e m fh a ll fe em m o ft l ik e l y to effect th e ir S a fe ty a n d H a p p jn e fs. P r u d e n c e , in d eed V iU ta b lilh e d fbouM n o t b e ch a n g e d fo r l i g h t an d tra n fie n t C au fess a n d a c c o rd tn g ly a ll E x p e rie n c e h a th (h e w n , th=t M a n k in d arc E v ils a r e fu fic ra b le , th a n to r ig h t th e m fd v e s b y ab o ltfh in g th e F o rm s to w h ic h th e y a rc a cc u fto m c d . B u t w h en a lo n g T rain o f J i n e in v a r ia b ly th e fa m e O b ie c t, e v in c e s a D e fig n to re d u c e th e m u n d er a b fo lu te ^ e f p o t if m , i t is th e ir R ig h t , i t i s t h e .r D u t y , t • >d to p ro vid e n ew G «u rd s* fo r th e ir fu tu re S e c u r ity . S u c h h a s b ee n tb s p a t ie n t Su ffe ran c e o f th e fe C o lo n ie s ; a n d fuch is n o w th e m to a lte r th e ir fo rm e r S vftem s o f G o v e rn m e n t. T h e H if lw y o f t h e p refen t K in g o f G r e a t-B n ta m is a H if to r y o f rcpeate h a v in g in d irc& O b ic& t h e E tfcibliO im cnt o f a n a b fo lu te T y r a n n y o v e r th efe S ta te ?. T o p ro ve th is , le t F a f ts b e tu b m irtc d to a ca n . H e h a s re fu fed h is A f le r t to L a w s , th e m o ft w h o le fo m e a n d n ec e fla ry f o r th e p u b lic G o o d .
Exploring American
Literature i
America’s literature comes from all of us and belongs to everyone. It began with the lore of the Native Americans, then appeared in the journals of settlers, the letters of Civil War soldiers, and the tales of Mark Twain. Fast forward another century, and it lives in the books of John Steinbeck and shines from the poems of Gwendolyn Brooks. Why does American literature matter? Not only does it keep us connected to the past, but it also gives us insights into the events and issues that challenge the nation today. The literature in this book can help you ...
Explore
Build CULT URAL
BI G IDEAS
LITERACY
W h y do w e explore new horizons? W h a t is the Am erican
There are som e questions th a t all Am ericans should be able
dream ? Today’s generations aren’t the first to grapple
to answer. In th e area o f Am erican literature, such questions
w ith questions about freedom , progress, exploration, and
include: W h o is M ark Twain? W h y w as The Crucible a w ork of
injustice. Som e ideas and issues are tim eless, as yo u ’ll
great courage? By reading A m erican literature, you become
discover w hen you read the dram atic accounts o f early
aw are o f the pioneering authors and literary m ilestones th at
explorers and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction.
are a part o f th e Am erican heritage.
Connect HIS T O RY Appreciate a and Literature LEGACY W h e th e r it’s the Gettysburg Address or th e poetry o f the
Trailblazers in th e ir tim es, M arg are t Fuller and M artin Luther
Harlem Renaissance, all works o f Am erican literature are
King Jr. fought for equal rights— a fight th a t still continues.
products of the events and ideas th a t inspired th eir authors.
Learning about the great w riters, thinkers, and ideas o f the
By exam ining history and literature together, you can gain a
past helps you better appreciate h ow w e all continue to
deeper understanding o f how the country changed over
build on w h a t w e learned from them .
the centuries, and w h a t makes its people unique.
OUR SCORE AND ) OUR FATHERS B THIS CONTINENT JCEIVED IN
Literary Essentials Workshop
Literature in Context The growth of the Internet, the discovery of a new medical treatment, a declaration of war, a decision of the Supreme Court— consider how events like these affect your attitudes, your outlook, your politics. They shape the attitudes of writers, as well, who then express their ideas in stories, poems, speeches, blogs, and public documents. In the same way, the writing of every time period reflects its unique historical context. By reading it,you can transport yourself back through time and gain perspective on people and events you could never otherwise experience.
L IT E R A R Y M O V E M E N T S IN C O N T E X T N
P U R IT A N A C E /
R E V O L U T IO N A R Y
R O M A N T IC IS M /
E X P E R IE N C E
C O LO N IA L P E R IO D
P E R IO D / A C E OF
A M E R IC A N G O TH IC
1200 B.C.-1600
1600-1700
R E A S O N 1750-1800
1800-1855
a t iv e a m e r i c a n
• Henry Wadsworth
T R A N SC EN D EN T A LISM
1840-1860
• Ralph W aldo Emerson
• Sioux
• W illiam Bradford
• Ben Franklin
• Okanogan
• Anne Bradstreet
• Thomas Jefferson
• Iroquois
• Edward Taylor
• Thomas Paine
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Henry David Thoreau • Margaret Fuller
1607 British settlers
1776 American
1803 Louisiana
1846 Mexican-
Longfellow
• Kiowa
1200 B.C.-1600
Native American cultures flourish. 1492 Christopher
Columbus lands in the Bahamas.
4
establish colony in Jamestown, Virginia. 1692 Witch trials take
place in Salem, Massachussetts.
E X P L O R IN G A M E R IC A N L IT E R A T U R E
colonies declare independence. 1788 U.S.
Constitution is ratified.
Purchase doubles the country’s size. 1808 United States
bans slave trade. 1812 War of 1812
spurs Industrial Revolution.
American War begins. 1848 Gold discoveries
in California lead to first gold rush. 1857 Supreme Court’s
Dred Scott decision denies slaves basic rights.
Literary Movements Think about how certain types of music reflect the times in which they were written. Some folk songs, for example, can remind listeners of an earlier time of protest. Similarly, the literature of each historical
O
A LABAM A ST A N D A R D S
READING & WRITING STANDARDS
l.a Identifying historical developments of American literature 8 Write with attention to word choice and organization
period has a unique flavor. Subject matter, style, form, and attitude all combine to create a literary movement, such as realism or regionalism. While not all writers fit neatly into specific categories, it is still helpful to know the major movements that have defined the nation’s literature. By studying these movements in context, you can see not only the overlap between them, but also better appreciate the writers and works from particular time periods.
R E A L IS M
M O D E R N IS M
1855-1900
1910-1945
HARLEM
C O N T EM PO R A R Y
R E N A IS S A N C E
L IT ER A T U R E
1920-1930
1940-PRESENT
Stephen Crane
Mark Twain
T. S. Eliot
Langston Hughes
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Ambrose Bierce
W illa Cather
Ernest Hemingway
Zora Neale Hurston
John Steinbeck
Jack London
Ezra Pound
Countee Cullen
Rita Dove Amy Tan
1861-1865
1889 O klahom a is
1917
U nited States
1919 Race riots
North and
opened for
enters W orld
erupt in 25
South fight
settlem ent,
W a r I.
Am erican cities.
in Civil War.
triggering a
1865 13 th Am endm ent
land rush.
1903 W rig h t brothers
1920 19 th A m en d m en t is
1929 The W a ll Street stock m arket
1941 Jap anese bomb Pearl Harbor, bringing United States into W orld W a r ll.
1965 U.S. com bat
passed, giving
crashes and
abolishes
achieve first
w o m en th e
th e Great
troops enter
slavery.
airplane flight.
right to vote.
Depression
V ietnam War.
1879 Thomas Edison
beS in s-
2001 Terrorists attack
invents the
W orld Trade
light bulb.
Center and Pentagon.
I N T R O D U C I N G T H E E S S E N T IA L S
5
Using Critical Lenses Have you ever looked through a prism or camera lens and seen the world in an entirely new way? Critical lenses, or lenses of the mind, can affect your perception— and your reading— in a similar manner. They allow you to notice details you might otherwise have missed, and can lead you to unexpected insights about a writer and his or her work. Use the following lenses, as well as others you might develop, to see beyond your own personal perspective.
TH E L E N S E S
I
Q U E S T I O N S TO A S K • W h a t is unique about this
L IT E R A R Y L E N S
author’s style?
The literary lens is the one you’re used to using w ith literature. It focuses
• How do the plot, characters, and
your attention on the author’s style
setting help to communicate
and on such elements as plot, setting,
the author’s message?
character, and theme.
%he G re a t G a ts b y
• How are language and imagery used to support the them e?
A W h at was going on in the
H IS T O R IC A L A N D C U L T U R A L L E N S E S
Historical and cultural lenses force you
country at the tim e this work
to consider how elements of history and
was w ritten?
culture may have influenced the author
W h a t attitudes, trends, and
and the writing.
priorities characterized the times? How are those events and attitudes, and the author’s reactions to them, reflected in the writing?
B IO G R A P H IC A L LE N S
• W h a t were some key events
The biographical lens draws you into
and people in the author’s life?
the arena of an author’s personal
• W h a t were his or her social and
life. By considering a w riter’s
economic circumstances?
heritage, experiences, and economic
• Did culture and heritage play
circumstances, you are able to “ read
a strong role in shaping the
into” a piece of literature w ith far
author’s attitudes?
more insight.
• W h a t motivations might
O TH ER LEN SES
be influencing a character’s
• psychological
behavior? (psychological)
• social • political • philosophical/moral
^
• Are the characters’ choices, behavior, and actions ethical and honest? (philosophical/moral)
E X P L O R IN G A M E R IC A N L IT E R A T U R E
A ugust
Literary Essentials Workshop
M O D E L : C R IT IC A L L E N S E S The Great Gatsby is a novel set in the 1920 s. World War I had just ended, and the country was embarking on a time of great self-indulgence, eager to forget what it had just experienced. In this scene, the narrator describes an outing with his friendly but mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Read the passage twice— with and without lenses.
from
The Great Gatsby Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
At nine o’clock, one morning late in July, Gatsby’s gorgeous car lurched up the rocky drive to my door and gave out a burst of melody from its three-noted horn. It was the first time he had called on me, though I had gone to two of his parties, mounted in his hydroplane, and, at his urgent invitation, made frequent use of his beach. “Good morning, old sport. You’re having lunch with me today and I thought we’d ride up together.” He was balancing himself on the running board of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so peculiarly American—that comes, 10 I suppose, with the absence of lifting work or rigid sitting in youth and, even more, with the formless grace of our nervous, sporadic games. This quality was continually breaking through his punctilious manner in the shape of restlessness. He was never quite still; there was always a tapping foot somewhere or the impatient opening and closing of a hand. 15 He saw me looking with admiration at his car. “It’s pretty, isn’t it, old sport!” He jumped off to give me a better view. “Haven’t you ever seen it before?” I’d seen it. Everybody had seen it. It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat20 boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind shields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory, we started to town. I had talked with him perhaps half a dozen times in the past month and found, to my disappointment, that he had little to say. So my first impression, 25 that he was a person of some undefined consequence, had gradually faded and he had become simply the proprietor of an elaborate road-house next door. And then came that disconcerting ride. We hadn’t reached West Egg Village before Gatsby began leaving his elegant sentences unfinished and slapping himself indecisively on the knee of his caramel-colored suit. 30 “Look here, old sport,” he broke out surprisingly, “what’s your opinion of me, anyhow?”
Close Read 1. Literary Lens W h a t do the details in lines 1 -5 tell you about Gatsby and his relationship with the narrator?
2. Cultural Lens Reread the boxed text. W h a t is the narrator’s attitude toward Americans of this time period? W h at reality might this attitude be reflecting?
3. Psychological Lens Private cars were not common in the 19 20 s. W h y might Gatsby not only w ant to own a car, but also insist on such a luxurious one?
I N T R O D U C I N G T H E E S S E N T IA L S
7
A little overwhelmed, I began the generalized evasions which that question deserves. “Well, I’m going to tell you something about my life,” he interrupted. “I don’t want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear.” So he was aware of the bizarre accusations that flavored conversation in his halls. “I’ll tell you God’s truth.” His right hand suddenly ordered divine retribution to stand by. “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West—all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.” He looked at me sideways—and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase “educated at Oxford,” or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all. “What part of the Middle West?” I inquired casually. “San Francisco.” t(T 1 see. ■>•)
Close Read 4. Cultural Lens W h at "facts” about himself and his background does Gatsby provide? W h a t does this tell you about the cultural values of the tim e? 5. Literary Lens W h at techniques has Fitzgerald used in this excerpt to create the intriguing character of Jay Gatsby?
Now read the biographical information about F. Scott Fitzgerald and answer the questions. Refer back to the excerpt from The Great Gatsby as needed.
F. Scott Fitzgerald Born in 1896 of southern and Irish heritage, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald began writing in his early teens. Encouraged by a mentor at school, Fitzgerald pursued his dream of becoming a writer, quickly neglecting his studies in the process. He served in the army during World War I, and convinced he was going to die, dashed off an autobiographical novel. A few years—and several revisions—later, he sold his novel, titled Tender Is the Night, and became an overnight success. One week after the novel’s publication, Fitzgerald married a southern belle, Zelda Sayre. He and his wife embarked on a flamboyant, high-spending life, although their extravagance and Zelda’s illnesses kept Fitzgerald constantly in debt. Fitzgerald died in 1940, impoverished, after spending his lifetime in pursuit of wealth and privilege.
E X P L O R IN G A M E R IC A N L IT E R A T U R E
Close Read 1. Biographical Lens How might Fitzgerald’s own experiences have influenced his characterization of Gatsby?
2. Biographical Lens W h at similarities do you see between Fitzgerald’s and Gatsby’s values? W h a t was Fitzgerald’s attitude toward these values? W h y do you think so?
Literary Essentials Workshop
Reading American Literature The varied formats and distinctive language that make American literature unique can also make it a challenge. In addition to applying the reading strategies you’ve always used,you will need to develop more advanced strategies.
B ASI C READING ST RA TEGI ES • Preview
C O N S ID E R T H E C O N T E X T
• Set a Purpose
American literature includes not only short stories, novels, essays, and poems, but also a vast array of primary sources— historical documents, letters, and journals, for example. To gain the most from all these reading experiences, ask the following questions as you read:
• Connect • Use Prior Knowledge • Predict • Visualize • Monitor
• What is the format? How might this affect the content and language?
• Make Inferences
• What was the writer’s purpose? In what ways might the purpose have affected the writer's choice of details or presentation of ideas? • Who was the writer’s audience? How might it have impacted what was written? • What was the writer’s perspective? Does the work reflect his or her biases or viewpoint? r --------------------------SO UR CE A N D F O R M A T 1 W R I T E R ’S P U R P O S E 1 P O S S IB L E P U R P O S E S FOR R E A D IN G Chronicle
To record the experiences
• To gain a sense of how the settlers lived
“ Of Plymouth Plantation”
of Plymouth’s first
• To understand the settlers’ attitudes toward the
(William Bradford)
settlers
Speech
To make a case for
“ To the American Equal
w om en’s rights
Rights Association”
Native Americans as well as their biases and beliefs
• To understand the cultural and social influences affecting African Americans and women • To gain insight into one w om an’s perspective
(SojournerTruth)
LE A R N T H E L A N G U A G E The literature in this book is presented in the language of its time and place. This language may include words we no longer use; words that have different meanings today; dialect; and unfamiliar sentence constructions, conventions, and style. Use these reminders and strategies to help you break the time barrier: • Remember that language that sounds dauntingly formal may not always be complicated or serious. These works were written by people just like you, and often express straightforward ideas, and even humor. • Dialects have their own rules of grammar and pronunciation, which you can figure out from context clues. Read passages aloud until you become more familiar with the words and structure. • Complex sentence structures are made up of simple parts. Breakdown difficult sentences, then restate them more simply, rearranging them, if necessary. IN T R O D U C IN G T H E ESSEN TIA LS
9
i
Writing Essentials Workshop
Critical Thinking and Writing Good writing is much more than a process of gathering and organizing information. It is also a powerful tool— a way of clarifying concepts, exploring opinions, and adding something new to the world of ideas. That is what every writer represented in this book knew, and it’s what you can discover as well. It’s time to begin seriously analyzing and honingyourthinking.then challenging yourself to express your thoughts in increasingly sophisticated ways.
Focus on Thinking Skills Author Ambrose Bierce once said,‘‘Good writing is clear thinking made visible.” In other words, before you can write well, you have to think well. By challenging yourself to higher levels of thinking, you can give yourwriting increased depth and sophistication. T H I N K I N G S K IL L
I
• How does realism differ from
C O M P A R IS O N
romanticism?
Juxtaposing ideas and weighing their similarities and differences
H O W TO A P P L Y IT
^
• How did M artin Luther King Jr.’s protest strategies differ from Malcolm X ’s?
Nathaniel H aw thorne’s The
anyone lived in a pretty how town
Scarlet Letter an American
E.E. Cummings
A N A L Y S IS
W h a t makes E.E. Cummings’s
Breaking down subjects and
style unique?
examining their component
W h a t characteristics make
parts
Gothic novel?
S Y N T H E S IS
• W h a t messages do an Iroquois
Drawing from ideas in multiple
myth and Okanogan folk tale
sources to answer a question
have for teenagers in the 21 st
or arrive at a conclusion
century? • How do the unique cultural experiences of authors like Cesar Chavez and Amy Tan contribute to American literature?
E V A L U A T IO N
• Does Stephen Crane create a
Using established criteria
realistic portrayal of w ar in The
to make judgments about
Red Badge o f Courage?
subjects or ideas
• How effective is the movie The Crucible at recreating Arthur M iller’s drama?
10
E X P L O R IN G A M E R IC A N L IT E R A T U R E
The Writing Process As you complete the Writing Workshops in this book, you’ll follow the process that suits your own working style. Use this model as a starting point.
What To Do
What It Looks Like
1. Analyze the prompt. Underline key words that indicate the content, format, audience, and purpose of your writing.
Society has viewed and treated women differently from men throughout history. Write an essay analyzing how two women from
If you are developing your own topic, make sure your goals are both clear and challenging.
different centuries or cultures have responded to these biased social attitudes in their works.
W r itin g p r o m p t
I w ill be w riting an essay analysing works o f tw o women. Since the audience isn't specified, I assume f m w riting fo r my teach&r and classmates.
2. Choose your subjects.
It would be interesting to explore how Sojourner
Decide which authors and literary works you
Truth and Sandra Cisneros responded to social biases.
want to examine. Consider whether they will provide you with enough material for a rich
&oth women explore issues o f equal'tty in "Speech to
analysis.
into Gold: Jh e Metam orphosis o f the Everyday"
3. Explore what you know. Use a chart or other graphic organizer to explore your key ideas and make sure your subject choices are sound.
the American Z-qual Rights Association and “S tra w
Sojourn&r Truth /B>oth
Sandra. Cisneros
• 13th-century / • social
ZOth-century
black slave / minorities
Latin a
• abused by /• defy society s
white owners I expectations not given same \ • describe freedoms as
\ th eir own
black men
\ lives
• le ft home as
an unmarried woman • treated
differently from brothers.
4. Develop a thesis. In a sentence or two, state the main point you want to make about the works and their authors. You can use this statement to guide your writing and revise it as you draft so it is clear, specific, and able to be supported.
& cm centuries ap art, Sojourner Truth and Sandra Cisneros suffered social discrimination. Sojourner Truths "Speech to the American HquaJ Rights Association and Cisneross "Stra w into G old' reflect both society s attitudes tow ard women o f th eir times and the authors streng/th in defying those attitudes.
I N T R O D U C I N G T H E E S S E N T IA L S
11
What To Do
What It Looks Like
5. Gather evidence.
Sojourner Truth's speech
"S tra w into (bold'
Find evidence from the works to support your statements. Choose strong quotations and details and clearly explain how they illustrate
“1have been fo rty years a
"fve managed to do a
slave and fo rty years free,
lo t o f things ... which
and would be here fo rty
many others d id n t think
your ideas.
years more to have equal
1was capable o f either.
rights for a ll"
Especially because 1am a woman, a L a tin a ..
6. Plan your structure. Make an informal outline to help you organize your ideas. Consider beginning— or ending—
►
Historical bajckground (Sojourner Truth, Sandra Cisneros) tAessage (Sojourner Truth, Sandra Cisneros)
with your most important point, and make
S ty le o f communication (Sojourner Truth, Sandra.
sure there is a logical progression in your presentation. You might want to try several structures and decide which works best.
7. Create a draft. Get your ideas down on paper, following the structure you have outlined. As you draft, cite evidence that supports your ideas. Feel free to alter your approach as your ideas develop.
Introduction
Cisneros) Conclusion (changing attitudes tow ard women)
^
Sojourner Truth was a slave born at: the end o f the 18th century Sandra Cisneros is a m/d-ZOth-century Latina. Although w orlds ap art, both women defied discrimination and documented th eir struggles in th eir works.
You’ll eventually want to hook readers with a strong beginning, but don’t worry about getting it perfect at this point.
8. Revise your writing.
black woman, as reflected in her statement, "so much
of a peer reader. Consider these questions: • How clearly have I expressed my ideas? • Is my structure logical? • Do my examples support my points?
good luck to have slavery p a rtly destroyed.\
• Have I added new insights and drawn conclusions? • Do I have an engaging introduction and a solid conclusion? Make necessary changes and proofread the final product.
12
Sojourner Truth dealt w ith ongoing oppression as a
Read your draft critically, and enlist the help
E X P L O R IN G A M E R IC A N L IT E R A T U R E
not entirely How does the quote show her oppression? Good question. fH substitute this quote instead•"I have done a great deal o f work, as much as a man, but did not get so much pay'.'
Writing Essentials Workshop
Analyze a Student Model Read the beginning of one student’s essay, noting the comments in the margins.
Sruba Desai Randolph High School Similar Struggles, Different Worlds What could Sojourner Truth, a slave born at the end of the 18th century,
K E Y TRAI TS I N A C TI ON
and Sandra Cisneros, a mid-20th-century Latina, have in common? Although
5
Hooks readers with an
their heritage and times were strikingly different, both women faced
intriguing question and
discrimination and described their experiences in their works. Comparing
states the thesis clearly and concisely.
their lives and messages shows both the social inequality women have had to face throughout history and the way strong individuals can rise above it.
__
Sojourner Truth was born in New York more than 60 years before the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves. Although she ran away to freedom decades earlier, she still suffered under the unequal treatment afforded io American blacks, especially black women. She summarized this history in her 1867 “Speech to the American Equal Rights Association”: “I have been forty
Supports the main idea about the time in which
years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have
Sojourner Truth lived with a strong quotation from
equal rights for all. I suppose I am kept here because something remains for __
me to do; I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain.” 15
Sojourner Truth did help break that chain of inequality; and a century and a half later, Sandra Cisneros was born into an America in which
Includes cultural and biographical information
women had continued struggling for and finally earned the right to vote.
about Cisneros that clearly
Like Sojourner Truth, Cisneros grew up in poverty, but she also straddled
shows the influences on her as a writer.
two cultures—Mexican and American—moving back and forth between 20
her speech.
the two and not belonging fully to either. Despite social advances for
__ A quotation from
women, she experienced biased attitudes similar to those Sojourner Truth
Cisneros’s work provides
faced. She explains these in her essay “Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis
evidence to illustrate the biographical information.
of the Everyday”: “In our culture men and women don’t leave their father’s house except by way of marriage. I crossed my father’s threshold with 25
Exhibits a logical
nothing carrying me but my own two feet. . . . To make matters worse, I
structure, discussing one
left before any of my six brothers had ventured away from home. I broke a terrible taboo.”
writer’s life and times and
—-
then the other’s.
IN T R O D U C I N G T H E E S S E N T IA L S
13
Preview Unit Goals L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS
Analyze the influence of historical context Identify and analyze cultural characteristics Analyze figurative language and descriptive details Identify characteristics of creation myth, folk tale, memoir, historical narrative, drama, and autobiography Analyze diction and tone
R E A D IN G
Develop strategies for reading older texts Analyze and evaluate elements of an argument Analyze persuasive techniques and rhetorical devices Analyze and evaluate primary sources
W R IT IN G AN D GRAMMAR
W rite a persuasive speech Use prepositional phrases and adverb clauses as modifiers Understand and use compound and compound-complex sentences
S P E A K IN G ,
Deliver a persuasive speech
LIS T E N IN G ,
Analyze how media influence cultural values and stereotypes
A N D V IE W IN G
Evaluate film techniques Compare a film and a play
VOCABULARY
Determine the meaning of multiple-meaning words Understand and use specialized vocabulary
A C A D E M IC VOCABULARY
argument
• primary source
persuasion
• historical context
rhetorical devices
• cultural characteristics
) C L A S S Z O N E .C O M
&
Literature and Reading Center W ritin g Center Vocabulary Center
:£$m
1600-1800 A N E M E R G IN G N A T IO N • The Native American Experience
• The Puritan Tradition
• Exploration and the Early Settlers
• W riters of the Revolution
Questions of the Times DISCUSS With your whole class or in small groups, discuss these questions. Keep them in mind as you read the selections in this unit and consider how Early American Writers tried to answer them.
Who owns the LAND?
EXPLORER?
For thousands o f years, Native Am ericans regarded th e m
A m erica’s early explorers traveled for m any reasons: to
What makes an
selves as caretakers, not owners, o f th e land. The Europe
gain glory for them selves or for th eir countries, to find
ans w h o began arriving in North Am erica, however, saw
gold or o ther riches, to discover n e w routes for travel and
things differently. They laid claim to the land and aggres
trade. Yet none o f these m otivators alone seems enough
sively defended it from Native Am ericans— and from one
to make th e uncertainties o f exploration— unknow n des
another, in the end, the British claim overpow ered all
tinations, unknow n rewards, unknow n dangers— w orth
others. Yet the question remains: W h a t entitles people to
the risk. W h a t is it th a t causes people to seek out the
claim land as their o w n?
unknow n?
Are people basically GOOD?
Who has the right to RULE?
Puritan settlers believed th a t hum an beings w ere sinful
For centuries, European kings and queens had ruled because
creatures doomed to a fiery eternity unless saved by the
it w as believed th a t th e y had a God-given right to do so. But
grace o f God. Yet others w h o cam e to North Am erica cele
in the Age o f Enlightenm ent, people began to question basic
brated the powers of reason and proclaimed th e goodness
assum ptions about governm ent. In Am erica, a popular up
and intrinsic w orth o f hum ans. Are people destined alw ays
rising put a new kind o f g overnm ent to the test: democracy.
to struggle against their basest instincts? Or are th ey fu n
W ith this experim ent, th e young A m erican nation w as
dam entally good— and capable o f becom ing even better?
asking: W h o really has th e right to rule?
In C O N G R E S S ,
J u l y 4, 1776.
A DECLARATION By
th e
REPRESENTATIVES
of
the
U NI TE D S T A T E S OF A M E R I C A , In
W
GENERAL
CONGRESS
a s s e m b l e d .
H E N in the C o o ri o f human Event?, it becomes nccelfiry for one People to diflolvt the Political Bands which have connefled them with another, and to affume among the Powers o f the Earth, -the feparate and equal Station to which the L a m o f Nature and of Nature* God entitle them, a decent ttcfpefi to the Opiniccs o f Mankind requires that they thould declare the caufes which impel them to li e Separation.
W e hold thefe Truth* to he fdf-eviJent, that all Men are created equal, that they arc endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Right*, that among thefe are Life, Liberty, and the Pur/bit o f Happincf*— That to fecorc theie Right*. Government* are lftituied among Men, deriving thetf juft Power* from the Con fent o f the Gcserned, that whenever .my Form o f Government become* definitive o f theft nds it is the R ight o f the People'to alter or to aboliih it, and to inflitute neiv Government* laying it* Foundation on fuch Principle*, and organizing * Powers in fuchForm, a* 10 them lhall fcem moft likely to effeft their Safety and Happineft. ’ Prudence, indeed, 'w ill d id iK that Government* long c(blilhedihould not be changed for light and tranlient Caufes t and accordingly all Experience hath Ihewn, that Mankind are more difpofed to fuffer, while ;vlls are fufferabie, thin to right themfdvc* by abolilhing the Form* to which they are accuftomed. But when a long Train o : Abufes and Ufurpation*, purfuie invariably the fame Obied. evince* a D efignto reduce them under abfolute Bcfpotifin, it ic their Right, it it their Duty, to throw off fuch Government,. nU to orovid- new G o ld s 'fo r their future Security. Such has been the patient Sulfcrance o f thefe Colonies; and fuch i* now the Neceflity which conftrains jem to alter their former Syftem* o f Government. T h e Hifiory o f the prefait King o f Grear-Britain i* a Hiftory o f repeated Injuric* and Ufurpation*, all avinzin dircdO b ica the Eltabliihment o f an ahlblute Tyranny over thefe State?. T o prove this, let F ad* be fubmiited to a candid World. H e has r-fufed hi* Affcnt to Laws, the mnft wholelbtne and neccflky for the public Good. H e ha* forbidden hi* Governors to pafs Law* o f immediate and prefling Importance, unlefs fufpended intheir Operation till hit Affent (hould be obtained; nd when (6 fufptntkd, he has utterly negle&cd to attend to them. H e has refuted to pafs other Law* for the Accommodation o f Urge Difta&s c f People, onlefsthofe Peoplewould relinquish the Right o f Reprefentation ia he Leeifluure, * Right ineflimable to them, and formidable tuTyrant* only. Hr. has called together Legiilaiive Bodic? at Places unufual. uncomfortable, and diftant from the Depofitory o f their public Record:, for the fisle Purpose d jti’ uin’ them into Compliance with his Meafures. H e lu s difiblved Reprefentativc Iloufcs repeatedly, for oppofmg with manly Firmncf* his InvaCcns on the Right* o f the People. H r has refufed for a long Tim e, after fuch Diffolutions, to c.iufc others to be cloScd; whereby the Legiflative Powers, incapable o f Annihilition, hare rcumcd to the People at large for their ere rci let the State remaining in the mean time expoled to all the Danger* o f Invafion from without, and Convulfions within, H . has endeavoured to prevent tbe Population o f thele States; for th .t Purpofe obftruaing the Laws for Naturalization o f Foreigners > refillingto pafs othen 9 encoura-c their Migrations hither, and railing the Conditions o f new Appropriations o f Lands. H e has obi’ ni&ed me Adminiftnition o f Joftice, by refiifing his Alfcnt to L a « for cftablilhing Judiciary Powers. H e his made ju dges dependent on hi* W ill alone, for the Tenure o f their Office*, and tbe Amount and. Payment o f their Salaries. ■H e h is ere&eda Multitude o f new Offices, and Jent hither Swarms o f Officers to hirraf* our People, and eat out their Subftance. H e has kept among us, in Times o f Peace, Standing Armies, without the confent o f our Leg&stures. H e has affected to render the Military independent o f and fupcnor to the Civil Power. H r has combined with others to fubjeft us to a Ju rifd iaira foreign to our ConlHtution, and unacknowledged by our L a w s>giving his Alien t to their Aft* ol sittended Lcgiflation: \ F or' quarterin'* large Bodies o f Armed Troops among us : F or prcteaiu* them, by a mock Trial, from Pnniihmeat for any Murders which they Ibould cosim it on the Inhabitants o f theft States : F or cutting off our Trade with all Parts o f the World : s F o u impolmg Taxe* on as without cur Coo le n t: F o r depriving us, in many Cafes, of the Benefits o f Trial by Ju ry : F or traiifporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offence*: F o r aboliibuiff the free Syftem o f Englilh Law* in a neighbouring Province, cft.iblilhtng therein an arbitrary Government, andenlarging its Boundaries, 6 s to render it at once an Example and fit Inftrutnent for introducing the fame abfolute R ale into theft Colonic : F or taking awav our Charters, abolilhing our moft valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments t F o * fu iw d in g our own Legiflatares, and declaring thctufeKc* inverted with Power to legiflate for us in all Cafes whatlbever. H t has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out o f hi* Proteaicn and waging War agamli us. J I e has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coafts, burnt our Town*, and deftr&yed the Lives o f our People. H e is at this Tim e, tranfporting large Armies o f foreign Mercenaries to conpleat the Works o f Death, Delblation, and Tyranny, already begun with cir umfiances o f Cruelty and Perfidy, fcarcely paralleled in the moft barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head o f a civilized Nation. H e has canftrained .our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms againft their Country, to become the Executioners o f their Friends aw Irethren, or to fall themfelves by their Hands. H e has excited domeftic Infurreflions amongft us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants o f our Frontiers, the mercileft Indian Savages, whoJ nown Rule o f Warfare, is an undirtinguilhed Ddlrudlion, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions. I « every ftaze o f thefe Oppreflion! w ; have Petitioned for Rcdref* in the moft humble Terms : Our repeated Petitions have been anfwered only by repeat d Liiui v A Prince, whofe CharaSer is thus marked by every a& which uusy define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler o f a free People. N o r have we been wanting in Attentions to our Britiih Brethren. W e have warned them from Tim e to Time o f Attempts by their Legiflature to extend ai
For many people, early America was an experiment in hope. Explorers seeking adventure, settlers searching fo r religious freedom , colonists building communities, revolutionaries designing a new governm ent—all em braced their challenges with a sense o f fa ith a nd -■ purpose. Writers o f the day recorded \ and interpreted the extraordinary experiences o f these ordinary people. | They and their fellow colonists im agined and created an entirely new country and unique way o f life.
Early American Writing: Historical Context
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a m
informational reading materials
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Early American literature captures a nation in its infancy. From the first interactions between Native Americans and Europeans to the stirring cries of the Revolutionary War, writers chronicled the tensions and the triumphs of the day.
The Meeting of Two Worlds Explorers and early settlers forged a life for themselves in America that was completely foreign to what they had known in their home countries. In fact, so extraordinary were their experiences that the earliest American writers concentrated mainly on describing and trying to make sense out of their challenging new environment and the unfamiliar people with whom they shared it. In diaries, letters, and reports back home, they recorded a historical turning point: when the world of the Europeans first intersected with that of the Native Americans. Unknown to Europeans, people had been living in the Americas for at least tens of thousands of years, adapting to its diverse environments, forming communities, establishing trading networks, and building working cities. Millions of people lived in the Americas on the eve of the arrival of the Europeans—as many as lived in Europe at the time. The earliest writers chronicled how the Europeans and Native Americans viewed one another and the North American land. In 1634, for example, William Wood of Massachusetts Bay Colony noted that the Native Americans “took the first ship they saw for a walking island, the mast to be a tree, the sail white clouds.” William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Plantation, in turn described North America as “a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men.” The land, however, was neither desolate nor hideous, and the Native Americans were usually cooperative—at least until they began to be forced off their land by European colonists.
From Colony to Country The first permanent colony was established at Jamestown in 1607. By 1733, English colonies stretched all along the Atlantic coast. Once rooted in North American soil, the colonies became increasingly self-reliant and practiced local self-rule. LOYALTY TO E N G L A N D The first colonists thought of themselves as English subjects, even though they did not have representatives in the British parliament. They supported England economically by exporting raw materials to the homeland and importing Britain’s manufactured goods. Britain, in turn, protected its territory. It sent soldiers to fight during the French and Indian War (1759-1763), when France allied with a
The M ayflower in Plymouth Harbor, (1882), W illiam Formby Halsall. © Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
READING STANDARD
3 Read with comprehension
^ T A K IN G N O T E S Outlining As you read this introduction, use an outline to record the main ideas about the characteristics and the literature of the period. You can use article headings, boldfaced terms, and the information in these boxes as starting points. (See page R49 in the Handbook for more help w ith outlining.)
Early American Writing I. H istorical Context A. The hAeet/ng o f Tvjo W orlds I. Early w riters described land and people. Z. Native Americans
had well-established communities when Europeans arrived. 3. W riters chronicled
Native American and European views o f one another. E>. From Colony to Country
/ f ik A D D IT IO N A L BACKGRO UND
For more on Early American Writing, visit The Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
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number of Native American groups to drive the British out of North America. After many defeats, England brought in new military leaders and made its own alliance with Native Americans—the powerful Iroquois. After a long and costly war, the victorious Great Britain claimed all of North America east of the Mississippi River. When Great Britain tried to tax the colonists to recover some of the money spent on the war, however, it ended up losing far more than its war costs. Fired by cries of “No taxation without representation,” the colonists protested British control—in both fiery words and bold actions. With each new act of British “tyranny,” writers for colonial newspapers and pamphlets stirred the hearts and minds of the colonists to support independence. The colonies declared themselves to be “free and independent” in 1776 and fought and defeated one of the greatest military powers on earth to turn their declaration into a reality. The remarkable minds of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other colonial thinkers put timeless words to this experiment in the form of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. When the Constitution was approved in 1788, the United States of America was born. A B R E A K W IT H E N G L A N D
British parliament imposed the Stamp Act and the Tea Act to gain revenue from the colonies. Instead, these acts incited revolt. The Boston Tea Party was but one of many skirmishes leading to the Revolutionary War.
Cultural Influences o r a Religion was the most influential cultural force on writers of this period. Puritan values and beliefs directed people’s everyday lives as well as the formation of an American society.
Puritan Beliefs Many of the settlers in the 1600s were Puritans. Puritans were a group of English Protestants who had sought to “purify” the Church of England and return to simpler ways of worshiping. Their efforts had been most unwelcome in England, however, and many left the country for America to escape persecution. Puritan settlers believed themselves chosen by God to create a new order in America. John Winthrop, for example, wrote in 1630 that “we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” Puritans’ values directed every aspect of their lives. They saw human struggle with sin as a daily mission and believed, above all else, that the Bible would help them through the torments of human weakness. Although they felt that humans were essentially sinful, they believed that some, the “elect,” would be spared from eternal punishment by God’s grace. 20
U N IT I: EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
Hard work, thrift, and responsibility were therefore seen as morally good, a sign that God was working within. The thriving settlements and financial success that grew from these qualities were thought to be a mark of God’s approval. However, Puritanism had a dark side as well. Puritans tended to be inflexible in their religious faith and intolerant of viewpoints other than their own. In one famous case, the Salem witchcraft trials, a whole community fell victim to the hysteria of the witch-hunt, ending with more than 20 people dead by execution.
Ideas of the Age a n sm
In the 1700 s, both Enlightenment ideals and Puritan values contributed to the country’s thirst for independence.
The Enlightenment In the 1700s, there was a burst of intellectual energy taking place in Europe that came to be known as the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers had begun to question previously accepted truths about who should hold the power in government. Their thinking pointed the way to a government by the people—one in which people consent to government limitations in exchange for the government’s protection of their basic rights and liberties. American colonists adapted these Enlightenment ideals to their own environment. The political writings of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson shaped the American Enlightenment and began to eclipse even the most brilliant European thought. Enlightenment ideals prompted action and gave colonists a philosophical footing for their revolution. “I know not what course others may take,” Patrick Henry thundered to the delegates at the second Virginia Convention in 1775, “but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”
A Voice from the Times
We h old these truths to be selfevident, that a ll m en are created equal, that they are en d ow ed by their Creator w ith certain unalienable Rights, that am ong these are Life, Liberty, a n d the pu rsu it o f Happiness. —Thomas Jefferson from the Declaration of Independence
The Great Awakening At the same time, many people began to worry that Puritan values were being lost. Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards called for people to rededicate themselves to the original Puritan vision, and a new wave of religious enthusiasm began to rise. This movement, called the First Great Awakening, united colonists who were in other ways diverse. Across the colonies, people began to feel joined in the belief that a higher power was helping Americans set a new standard for an ethical life. While the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening emphasized opposing aspects of human experience— reason and emotionalism, respectively—they had similar consequences. Both caused people to question traditional authority, eventually leading colonists to break from Britain’s control and embrace democracy U N I T IN T R O D U C T IO N
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Early American Literature f IWMMfiVt Early American writing is as varied as early Americans themselves. Native Americans, explorers, settlers, and revolutionaries all contributed their own perspectives to our knowledge of this literary period.
The Native American Experience When the Europeans arrived, there were more than 300 different Native American cultures in North America with strongly differing customs and about 200 different languages spoken. Yet wherever they lived— in the smoky longhouses of the Northeastern woodlands, the well-defended cliff dwellings of the desert Southwest, the cedar-scented lodges of the Pacific Northwest—one activity was common to all: storytelling. The Native North American cultures did not have a written language. Instead, a group’s history, legends, and myths were entrusted to memory and faithfully passed from generation to generation through oral tradition. In the words of one Native American holy woman, “When you write things down you don’t have to remember them. But for us it is different. . . . [A]11 that we are, all that we have ever been, all the great names of our heroes and their songs and deeds are alive within each of us. . . living in our blood.”
►For Your Notes N A T IV E A M E R IC A N S • were culturally diverse • had an oral tradition • had many different genres of spoken literature • explored common themes, such as a reverence for nature and the worship of many gods
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S This modern depiction of a Haida creation story shows the Raven (a popular cultural hero in many Native American myths and legends) opening a shell to release the first humans into the world. W h at relationship between humans and the natural world does this sculpture suggest?
Raven an d the First M en (1980), Bill Reid. Yellow cedar. University o f British Columbia Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada.
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U N IT 1: EARLY A M ER IC A N W R IT IN G
The forms of Native American oral literature are rich and varied. Creation stories, ways to explain how the universe and humans came into being, can be found in every Native American culture. Other forms include legendary histories tracing the migration of peoples or the deeds of great leaders, fairy tales, lyrics, chants, children’s songs, healing songs, and dream visions. Tragically, much of this literature did not survive after so many Native Americans fell to European diseases. Some groups lost as many as 90 percent of their people, all of whom had a share in preserving the traditional stories. The surviving works, however, show that diverse Native American groups explored common themes in their spoken literature, including a reverence for nature and the worship of many gods. LIT ER A R Y STYLE
Exploration and the Early Settlers While Native American literature offers us a glimpse into the ways and values of America’s indigenous peoples, much of our understanding of pre-colonial America comes from the first-person accounts of its early explorers, settlers, and colonists. The journals, diaries, letters, logs, and historical narratives of those first Europeans to view the American landscape describe in vivid detail its many sights and wonders, as well as its dangers and challenges.
►For Your Notes EXPLO RERS • Columbus’s journals chronicle his four voyages to the Americas. • Cabeza deVaca’s La Relacion tells of his failed expedition.
The first of these writings were the journals and letters of Christopher Columbus, which recounted his four voyages to the Americas begun in 1492. Columbus’s adventures opened the door to a century of Spanish expeditions in the Americas. Incapable of visualizing the historical significance of his travels, however, he died disappointed, convinced that he had barely missed the cities of gold described by Marco Polo. His fascinating journals provide a vivid record of the most significant journeys of his time. Just over 50 years later came La Relation. This report by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, one of the four survivors of the 600-man Narvaez expedition, chronicled his eight years of wandering through Florida, Texas, and Mexico. In it he describes the landscape and people he encountered, as well as animals that were new to Europeans. The French and Dutch also sent explorers such as Samuel de Champlain, the “Father of New France,” who in the early 1600s wrote vivid accounts of New England and the Iroquois.
• Samuel de Champlain
The early English settlers described their difficult and amazing new lives in letters, reports, and chronicles to friends and family back home. Their writings helped people in England imagine what life might be like in America. One of the most influential writings was A B rief and True Report o f the New Found Land o f Virginia, by Thomas Harriot, which faithfully captured the area’s natural resources, the ways of life of the Native Americans, and the potential for building a successful colony It was published in 1588 and was accompanied by illustrations that helped thousands upon thousands of English readers form their first clear picture of North America.
• Equiano, an enslaved
THE EX PLO RER S
EA R LY SET T LER S
wrote accounts of New England and the Iroquois. EA R LY SETTLERS • Settlers described the new land for those still in Europe. • Accounts helped English readers visualize North America. C O L O N IS T S • Writers focused on the story of the new settlements and their larger purpose.
African, described his unjust treatment.
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A modern reconstruction of the original Jam estown, Virginia, settlement C O L O N IA L H IS T O R IE S As the colonies took root, writing began to focus less on pure description and more on the story of the growth of the colonies. In contrast to the carefully accurate Harriot, for example, Captain John Smith wrote sometimes-embroidered accounts of the history of Virginia and New England. By force of his vivid and engaging writing, he created an enduring record of life in the early colonies and an intriguing self-portrait of a man proud of his great deeds and eager to gain recognition. His accounts were also instrumental in attracting settlers to Virginia, thus ensuring the eventual success of that colony. Other writers who documented the history of the New England settlements wrote in a plainer style and with a more serious purpose. William Bradford, longtime governor of Plymouth, and John Winthrop Sr., who served as governor of Massachusetts, reflected upon what they saw as their role in God’s plan for a better society. But not all who wrote narrative histories saw the colonists’ efforts as following God’s plan. Olaudah Equiano described his harsh capture from his African home and the brutal and “unChristian” treatment he received as a slave in the West Indies.
The Puritan Tradition Puritan writers had their own purposes for recording history. They believed writing should be useful, a tool to help readers understand the Bible and guide them in their daily lives. For this reason, logic, clarity, and order were more prized in writing than beauty or adornment. One Puritan compared adorned writing to stained-glass windows. “The paint upon the glass may feed the fancy, but the room is not well lighted by it.” Using a familiar, down-to-earth metaphor such as this to make a deeper point is a common feature of Puritan writing. The direct, powerful, plain language of much of American literature owes a debt to the Puritans.
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U N I T 1 : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
A Voice from the Times
So as there d ied som etim es tw o or three o f a day . . . , that o f one hundred a n d od d persons, scarce fifty remained. —William Bradford from Of Plymouth Plantation
►For Your Notes P U R IT A N W R IT E R S • believed writing should be useful and clear • wrote histories, sermons, scientific works, and essays • delivered sermons contrasting good and evil • wrote poems with religious themes
The works of Puritan writers, such as Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards, include histories of the colonies and fiery sermons on the dangers of sinful ways. Along with histories and sermons, Cotton Mather chronicled the disturbing Salem witch trials, A Voice from the Times where 20 people were condemned to death in an atmosphere of mass hysteria. He also wrote about scientific matters, including inoculation / m ade seek ing salvation the for smallpox. m ain business o f my life. Like Mather, Jonathan Edwards wrote on a variety of subjects, — Jo n a th a n Edwards including the flying (or ballooning) spiders he had observed as a boy. His account of these spiders is considered the first natural history essay on that subject. A spider makes another, very different kind of appearance in Edwards’s best-known work, his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. ” In that sermon he warns his listeners that God “holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire.” Imagine the scene when Edwards first delivered this sermon: the congregation quaking in fear from Edwards’s vivid descriptions of hellfire and a vengeful god. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” while perhaps more fiery than most, is typical of the Puritan sermon. Melodramatic contrasts between good and evil, vivid imagery, powerful language, and strong moral lessons characterized this form of literature. S E R M O N S A N D O T H E R W R IT IN G S
Most Puritan writers composed “plain sermons, histories, and treatises, but poetry was the means of expression for others. In fact, the first book issued in the North American colonies was the the Bay Psalm Book in 1640, in which the Bible’s psalms were rewritten to fit the rhythms of familiar Puritan hymns. Puritan poets such as Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor viewed poetry primarily as a Evangelical preacher George W hitefield was a key figure in the revival movement of Am erica’s “ Great Awakening.” means of exploring the relationship between the individual and God. Bradstreet’s poems reflect her wide learning, deep faith, and love for her husband and children. They also provide insight into the position of women in the maledominated Puritan society. Her book of poetry, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650), was the first work by a North American woman to be published. Minister Edward Taylor, possibly considered the best-known Puritan poet, wrote most of his poems as aids for his meditations. His poetry, like much Puritan writing, uses vivid images from nature and from everyday life as a way to help readers grasp the spiritual world beyond. P U R IT A N P O E T R Y
Writers of the Revolution
►For Your Notes
It is curious to consider now, but some of the most famous figures of the American Revolution lived at the same time as Puritans such as Jonathan Edwards. As products of the Enlightenment, however, revolutionary writers focused their energies on matters of government rather than religion.
W R I T E R S OF THE RE V O L U T IO N • expressed the ideas of the Enlightenment • concentrated on political
Many of the gifted minds of this period were drawn to political writing as the effort to launch a grand experiment in government took shape in North America. The most important outlet for the spread of these political writings was the pamphlet. Between 1763 and 1783, about two thousand pamphlets were published. These inexpensive “little books” became the fuel of the revolution, reaching thousands of people quickly and stirring debate and action in response to growing discontent with British rule. Through these pamphlets the words that would define the American cause against Great Britain became the currency of the day, and the debate about independence grew louder and louder. One such pamphlet, Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, helped propel the colonists to revolution. Though PAM PH LETS A N D PRO PAGAN D A
writing • used pamphlets to spread ideas • focused on natural law and human rights • played a key role in the creation of a new nation
A Voice from the Times
These are the tim es that try m en ’s souls: The sum m er soldier a n d the sunshine p a triot will, in this crisis, shrink fr o m the service o f his country; but he that stands it n o w , deserves the love a n d thanks o f man a n d woman. —Thomas Paine from The Crisis
S old ier o f th e R evolu tion (1876), George Willoughby Maynard. Oil on canvas, 51" x 39". Photo © Christies Images Ltd.
expressing the views of the rational Enlightenment, Paine also agreed with the Puritan belief that America had a special destiny to be a model to the rest of the world. At the end of his stirring essay, he says that freedom had been hunted down around the globe and calls on America to “receive the fugitive,” to give freedom a home, and to welcome people from around the world to its free society. Thomas Jefferson also wrote pamphlets, but his great contribution to American government, literature, and the cause of freedom throughout the world is the Declaration of Independence, in which he eloquently articulated the natural law that would govern America. This natural law is the idea that people are born with rights and freedoms and that it is the function of government to protect those freedoms. Eleven years later, after the Revolutionary War had ended, delegates from all but one state gathered at the Philadelphia State House—in the same room in which the Declaration of Independence had been signed—in order to discuss forming a new government. The delegates included many outstanding leaders of the time, such as Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. Four months later, they emerged with perhaps the country’s most important piece of writing: the Constitution of the United States of America. Although Washington said at the time, “I do not expect the Constitution to last for more than 20 years,” it was indeed flexible enough to last through the centuries to come.
T H E A R T IS T S ’ G A L L E R Y
r
W R IT IN G THAT L A U N C H E D A N A T IO N
The “ Father of American Portraiture Many colonial artists earned their livings with portraits, which were in high demand. Gilbert Stuart was among the best of colonial portrait painters. Because he painted the likenesses of virtually all the notable men and women of the period (including the first five American presidents), he earned himself the moniker "The Father of American Portraiture” by his contemporaries.
Statesmen were not the only ones to contribute to the discussion of the day, however. In that age of political writing, even poetry sometimes examined political and social themes. Among the finest is the work of former slave Phillis Wheatley. In her poems and letters, Wheatley wrote of the “natural rights” of African-Americans and pointed out the discrepancy between the colonists’ “cry for freedom” and their enslavement of fellow human beings. Another voice calling for the rights of all citizens was Abigail Adams, whose husband John became the nation’s second president. In letters written while the couple was apart, Adams encouraged her husband to include the rights of women in the nation’s founding documents. Wheatley, Adams, and other women writers join the Native Americans, colonists, Puritans, and patriots who came before them to give us an understanding of the dreams and values that shaped our nation. All contributed their voices and ideals to building this “city upon a hill.” V O IC E S OF T H E P E O P L E
Painting the President One of Stuart’s favorite subjects was the first president of the United States, George Washington. His 104 likenesses of Washington inform the image most of us have of our first president. In fact, one of his paintings became the basis for the one-dollar bill. Stuart was known to chat with his subjects as they sat for his paintings. By entertaining them during the long hours of posing, he hoped to capture an unguarded,fresh expression on their faces. The serious George Washington, however, found Stuart’s chat annoying. The artist says of Washington,"An apathy seemed to seize him, and a vacuity spread over his countenance, most appalling to paint.” Nevertheless, in Ceorge Washington (Vaughan portrait), 1795 , shown here, Stuart was able to capture Washington’s imposing presence by placing his head high in the design and adding a crimson glow around it.
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Connecting Literature, History, and Culture Early American writing reflects the growing pains of a new nation but also reveals much about trends occurring elsewhere in the world. Use this timeline and the questions on page 29 to find connections between literature, history, and culture. ^ A M E R IC A N
L IT E R A R Y M IL E S T O N E S
r
^
1
1650
1600
1624 John Sm ith publishes The
1650 Anne Brad street’s poems, collected as The Tenth
G eneral H istory o f Virginia.
M use Lately Sprung Up in Am erica, are published in London.
1630 W illia m Bradford describes
1682 M a ry Row landson publishes The Sovereignty and
his journey across the Atlantic and pilgrim s’
Goodness o f God, an account of her cap tivity at the
settlem ent in O f
hands o f A lgonquian Indians.
Plym outh Plan tation .
1693 Cotton M a th e r publishes The W onders o f the
1640 B a y Psalm Book is the
Invisible W orld in defense o f th e Salem w itch trials.
first book to be printed in America. ►
H
is t o r ic a l
c o n t e x t
L
_
1600 1607 The first perm anent English settlem ent
1650 1676 The Puritan s’ victory in King Philip’s W a r ends Native
is founded in Jam estow n, Virginia.
1619 The first enslaved Africans arrive in North Am erica at Jam estow n.
1620 The M a yflo w e r pilgrims
Am erican resistance in N ew England colonies.
1682 W illia m Penn founds th e colony o f Pennsylvania. 1688 Quakers voice opposition to slavery. 1692 Salem w itch trials sh ow atm osphere
establish the M assachusetts
o f mass hysteria.►
Bay Colony at Plym o u th .►
1635 North Am erica’s first public school is founded in Boston.
■ 1615
Inquisition condem ns Italian scientist Galileo Galilei for supporting Copernicus’s theory.
1616 Shakespeare dies. 1632 Indian emperor Shah Jahan begins construction of Taj M a h a l.►
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U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
1650
1652 Dutch found Cape Town on th e southern tip o f South Africa.
1687 Isaac N ew to n publishes Philosophiae naturalis princip ia m athem atica, considered to be the most im p ortant w ork o f th e Scientific Revolution.
1694 Jap anese poet M atsuo Basho, known for revitalizing th e haiku form , dies.
M AK IN G CONNECTIONS Religion played a central role in America during this period. What works written at this time might support this observation? While American writers of this period worked mostly in nonfiction and poetry, groundbreaking novels were being written elsewhere in the world. Name one. The Revolutionary War was a defining event in American history. What other country held a bloody revolution during this period? 1750
1700 1704 The Boston N ew sletter,
1774 Abigail Adams writes first entry in what is
the first American newspaper, is established.► 1722 Benjamin Franklin uses
humor to criticize the Puritan establishment in his first published work,
published as Fa m ilia r Letters
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The sermon typifies the religious movement known as the Great Awakening.
1776 Thomas Paine’s widely read pamphlet Common Sense
Wheatley to visit after receiving from her a poem and letter. 1789 Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting N arrative o f . .. O laudah Equiano
details harsh treatment of captive Africans.►
1750 1773
million; Boston’s population is about 12,000 . 1739 The religious revival known as the Great
Awakening (1739-1742) begins. 1744 The six nations of the
Iroquois Confederation (whose tribe-mark is shown here) cede Ohio Valley territory north of the Ohio River to Britain. ►
Johann Sebastian Bach composes the Brandenburg
Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence. 1781
Peter the Great, czar of Russia, dies.
1726 Jonathan Swift publishes C ulliver's Travels. ►
British defeat at Yorktown ends the American Revolution.
1787 U.S. Constitution is approved.
1750 1752 Calcutta's population reaches 120,000 . 1762 Catherine the Great, an "enlightened despot,”
Concertos.
1725
The Boston Tea Party marks a violent rejection of Britain’s taxation policies. The Revolutionary War begins two years later. ►
1776 July 4 : Second Continental
1700 1721
passionately argues the case for independence.
1776 George Washington invites Phillis
1700 1720 The colonial population reaches about a half
o f Jo h n Adam s and
His W ife, A bigail.
The Dogood Papers.
1741 Jonathan Edwards delivers a sermon called
I
becomes empress of Russia. 1784 The Indian sacred text the Bhagavad-G ita is
translated into English for the first time. 1789 Storming of the Bastille incites the French Revolution. 1791
The classic Chinese novel Dream is published.
o f the Red Cham ber
T IM E L IN E
29
The Legacy of Early America An American Work Ethic Shunning frivolous pleasures that would distract them from thoughts of God, Puritans instead trained their energy on hard, useful work. That hard work often led to material success, which was in turn seen as a sign of God’s favor. Many Americans today also believe in the intrinsic value of hard work— as well as the idea that hard work leads to financial success.
DISCUSS With your class, discuss whether work in and of itself is something to value. What does work provide? In your opinion, does work indeed lead to success? What other factors might be involved?
Government by the People Democracy is surely the most significant legacy of the early American period. Reacting against the monarchy they had left behind and embracing Enlightenment ideals, the framers of the Constitution ensured that governmental power would be shared by the people. The people would elect representatives to carry out their will, and a system of checks and balances would ensure that no one person could rule over all. More than two centuries later, the system still stands.
TAKE ACTION Contact your local representative or senator and ask for support on a current issue that affects you. For example, you may wish to discuss the condition of your local parks or the lack of an after school center in your area. Contact information can be found at www.congress.org.
The Power of Political W riting During the early American period, political writing served as an agent for change. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, for example, furthered the case for American independence. Later, when the army suffered several brutal defeats and many soldiers were deserting, Paine wrote a series of articles called The
Crisis. These articles inspired greater public support for the war and convinced many soldiers to reenlist. Today, political writers of all stripes are working in nearly every form— hardcover, softcover, editorial, blog, newsmagazine—to influence our current political landscape.
WRITE AND DISCUSS Catalog the political writing you encounter over the course of one week. Make a list that includes the formats, the topics covered, and your response to each. Then, with a small group, discuss the issues that are motivating today’s political writers. Are these writers changing the public debate, or merely recording it?
Journalist Juan W illiam s
LE G A C Y
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f The Native American Experience '
a
LITERATURE STANDARD
4 Analyze literary selections for cultural significance
The World on the Turtle's Back Iroquois Creation Myth
named Hiawatha (hl'a-woth's) to end the fighting. Sometime between 1570 and 1600, they formed the Iroquois League, a confederacy empowered to negotiate treaties with foreign nations and to resolve conflicts among the five nations. In 1722, the Tuscarora, from North Carolina, joined the league. For the next 175 to 200 years, the Iroquois managed to dominate other Native American groups and to remain free of both British and French rule.
NOTABLE QUOTE “[N a tiv e A m e rica n ] stories . . . rem in d the people o f who a n d w hat they are, why they are in this p a rticu la r place, a n d how they should continue to liv e here. ”
FYI
The league’s effectiveness stemmed in part from the nations’ shared culture. The groups spoke similar languages, held similar beliefs, and followed similar ways of life. They lived in longhouses made of pole frames covered with elm bark, and they built fences around their villages for protection. Up to 50 people occupied each longhouse, and 300 to 600 people lived in each village. Villages were governed by a chief or chiefs, who received advice from a council of adult males. Groups of women gathered wild fruits and nuts and cultivated corn, beans, and squash. In addition to waging war, the men traded, hunted, fished, and built the longhouses. The Iroquois W a y o f Life
Did you know t h a t ... • both the U.S.
The totem, or tribal symbol, of the Iroquois
Constitution and the founding charter of the United Nations are based on ideas found in the Iroquois constitution, known as “ The Great Binding Law ” ? • Iroquois w om en had m any more rights than colonial Am erican w om en? • more than 50 ,0 0 0 Iroquois live in the United States today?
B U IL D IN G BACKGRO UND
To learn more about the Iroquois, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
“The World on the Turde’s Back” is an Iroquois (Tr'a-kwoi') creation story filled with conflict and compelling characters. The Iroquois passed down this story from one generation to the next by telling it in elaborate performances. In the 1800s, David Cusick, an Iroquois author, recorded one version of the story in print. Today, more than 25 written versions of the story exist. The term Iro q u o is refers to six separate Native American groups—the Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, and Tuscarora. Five of these groups—all but the Tuscarora— once resided in what is now New York State. They continually waged war with one another, putting themselves at risk of attack from neighboring Algonquin tribes. Troubled by the bloodshed, a Huron named Deganawidah (da-ga'ns-we'-de) joined forces with an Onondaga chief
The Power of U n ity
The Iroquois Through Tim e During the American Revolution, the Iroquois nations disagreed about whether to support the rebelling colonists or Great Britain. This dispute severely weakened the Iroquois League. Today, the league shows renewed vigor as it fights for environmental protection and increased recognition by the U.S. government.
\ \\V
k •
Explore the Key Idea
LIT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS : C R E A T IO N M Y T H S
A myth is a traditional story, usually involving supernatural beings or events, that explains how some aspect of human nature or the natural world came to be. Creation myths are a specific kind of myth that typically
H ow do w e make
• describes how the universe, the earth, and life began
o f ou r w orld ?
SENSE
• explains the workings of the natural world • supports and validates social customs and values • guides people through the trials of living As you read “The World on the Turtle’s Back,” note the supernatural explanation it offers of the world’s origin. Think about how this myth serves the functions listed here. 0
R E A D IN G ST R A T EG Y : R E A D IN G FO LK L IT E R A T U R E
You’re probably already familiar with different types of folk literature, which includes folk tales, myths, fables, and legends passed orally from one generation to the next. The creation myth you are about to read is another example of folk literature. Using the following strategies as you read will help you not only understand and appreciate the myth’s message but also glean information about the culture it comes from: • Read the myth aloud, or imagine a storyteller’s voice as you read silently. • Note mysteries of nature and details about creation that the myth explains. • Make inferences about the social values or customs taught through the characters and situations. • Look for details that reveal other aspects of Iroquois culture. As you read, use a chart like the one shown to record your notes and observations about the three kinds of information you find in this myth.
Details About Creation/Nature 'before the earth was created, huMans and animals “o f the kind th at are around us novJ' did not exist.
Social Values or Customs
Other Cultural Details
KEY IDEA Since the beginning of time, people of all cultures have gathered to discuss one of life’s biggest questions: how was the world created? The Iroquois creation myth you’re about to read offers one answer to this question about the origin of the world.
DISCUSS What different accounts of creation— biblical narratives, scientific theories, or stories from other cultures, for example— have you heard or read? With a small group of classmates, summarize as many of these accounts as you know.
TheWorld on the
Turtle's Back IRO Q U O IS
10
20
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In the beginning there was no world, no land, no creatures of the kind that are around us now, and there were no men. But there was a great ocean which occupied space as far as anyone could see. Above the ocean was a great void of air. And in the air there lived the birds of the sea; in the ocean lived the fish and the creatures of the deep. Far above this unpeopled world, there was a Sky-World. Here lived gods who were like people—like Iroquois. In the Sky-World there was a man who had a wife, and the wife was expecting a child. The woman became hungry for all kinds of strange delicacies, as women do when they are with child. She kept her husband busy almost to distraction finding delicious things for her to eat. In the middle of the Sky-World there grew a Great Tree which was not like any of the trees that we know. It was tremendous; it had grown there forever. It had enormous roots that spread out from the floor of the Sky-World. And on its branches there were many different kinds of leaves and different kinds of fruits and flowers. The tree was not supposed to be marked or mutilated by any of the beings who dwelt in the Sky-World. It was a sacred tree that stood at the center of the universe. © The woman decided that she wanted some bark from one of the roots of the Great Tree—perhaps as a food or as a medicine, we don’t know. She told her husband this. He didn’t like the idea. He knew it was wrong. But she insisted, and he gave in. So he dug a hole among the roots of this great sky tree, and he bared some of its roots. But the floor of the Sky-World wasn’t very thick, and he broke a hole through it. He was terrified, for he had never expected to find empty space underneath the world.
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S Examine the painting on page 35 . How does the artist use light and color to emphasize the division between the Sky-World and the void below it?
©
C R E A T IO N M Y T H S So far, how is this myth similar to and different from other accounts of creation you’ve heard or read? Explain your answer, citing details.
Sky Woman (1936), Ernest Smith. Courtesy of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, Rochester, New York. U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
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50
60
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But his wife was filled with curiosity. He wouldn’t get any of the roots for her, so she set out to do it herself. She bent over and she looked down, and she saw the ocean far below. She leaned down and stuck her head through the hole and looked all around. No one knows just what happened next. Some say she slipped. Some say that her husband, fed up with all the demands she had made on him, pushed her. So she fell through the hole. As she fell, she frantically grabbed at its edges, but her hands slipped. However, between her fingers there clung bits of things that were growing on the floor of the Sky-World and bits of the root tips of the Great Tree. And so she began to fall toward the great ocean far below. The birds of the sea saw the woman falling, and they immediately consulted with each other as to what they could do to help her. Flying wingtip to wingtip they made a great feathery raft in the sky to support her, and thus they broke her fall. But of course it was not possible for them to carry the woman very long. Some of the other birds of the sky flew down to the surface of the ocean and called up the ocean creatures to see what they could do to help. The great sea turtle came and agreed to receive her on his back. The birds placed her gently on the shell of the turtle, and now the turtle floated about on the huge ocean with the woman safely on his back. The beings up in the Sky-World paid no attention to this. They knew what was happening, but they chose to ignore it. When the woman recovered from her shock and terror, she looked around her. All that she could see were the birds and the sea creatures and the sky and the ocean. And the woman said to herself that she would die. But the creatures of the sea came to her and said that they would try to help her and asked her what they could do. She told them that if they could find some soil, she could plant the roots stuck between her fingers, and from them plants would grow. The sea animals said perhaps there was dirt at the bottom of the ocean, but no one had ever been down there so they could not be sure. If there was dirt at the bottom of the ocean, it was far, far below the surface in the cold deeps. But the animals said they would try to get some. One by one the diving birds and animals tried and failed. They went to the limits of their endurance, but they could not get to the bottom of the ocean. Finally, the muskrat said he would try. He dived and disappeared. All the creatures waited, holding their breath, but he did not return. After a long time, his little body floated up to the surface of the ocean, a tiny crumb of earth clutched in his paw. He seemed to be dead. They pulled him up on the turtle’s back and they sang and prayed over him and breathed air into his mouth, and finally, he stirred. Thus it was the muskrat, the Earth-Diver, who brought from the bottom of the ocean the soil from which the earth was to grow. Q The woman took the tiny clod of dirt and placed it on the middle of the great sea turtle’s back. Then the woman began to walk in a circle around it, moving in the direction that the sun goes. The earth began to grow. When the earth was big
U N I T 1: EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
Q
FO LK L IT E R A T U R E Reread lines 4 6 -6 2 and consider the role that "all the creatures” play in this myth. W h a t does this suggest about the Iroquois’ attitude toward animals?
enough, she planted the roots she had clutched between her fingers when she fell from the Sky-World. Thus the plants grew on the earth. To keep the earth growing, the woman walked as the sun goes, moving in the direction that the people still move in the dance rituals. She gathered roots and plants to eat and built herself a little hut. After a while, the woman’s time came, and she was delivered of a daughter. The woman and her daughter kept walking in a circle around the earth, so that the earth and plants would continue to grow. They lived on the plants and roots they gathered. The girl grew up with her mother, cut off forever from the Sky-World above, knowing only the birds and the creatures of the sea, seeing no other beings like herself. One day, when the girl had grown to womanhood, a man appeared. No one knows for sure who this man was. He had something to do with the gods above. Perhaps he was the West Wind. As the girl looked at him, she was filled with terror, and amazement, and warmth, and she fainted dead away. As she lay on the ground, the man reached into his quiver, and he took out two arrows, one sharp and one blunt, and he laid them across the body of the girl, and quietly went away. When the girl awoke from her faint, she and her mother continued to walk around the earth. After a while, they knew that the girl was to bear a child. They did not know it, but the girl was to bear twins. Within the girl’s body, the twins began to argue and quarrel with one another. There could be no peace between them. As the time approached for them to be born, the twins fought about their birth. The right-handed twin wanted to be born in the normal way, as all children are born. But the left-handed twin said no. He said he saw light in another direction, and said he would be born that way. The right-handed twin beseeched him not to, saying that he would kill their mother. But the left-handed twin was stubborn. He went in the direction where he saw light. But he could not be born through his mother’s mouth or her nose. He was born through her left armpit, and killed her. And meanwhile, the righthanded twin was born in the normal way, as all children are born. The twins met in the world outside, and the right-handed twin accused his brother of murdering their mother. But the grandmother told them to stop their quarreling. They buried their mother. And from her grave grew the plants which the people still use. From her head grew the corn, the beans, and the squash—“our supporters, the three sisters.”1And from her heart grew the sacred tobacco, which the people still use in the ceremonies and by whose upward-floating smoke they send thanks. The women call her “our mother,” and they dance and sing in the rituals so that the corn, the beans, and the squash may grow to feed the people. Q But the conflict of the twins did not end at the grave of their mother. And, strangely enough, the grandmother favored the left-handed twin. The right-handed twin was angry, and he grew more angry as he thought how his brother had killed their mother. The right-handed twin was the one who did everything just as he should. He said what he meant, and he meant what he said.
Q
C R E A T IO N M Y T H S Creation myths often contain symbols— people, places, and things that stand for something beyond themselves. Reread lines 97 - 10 2 . W h a t might the tw ins’ mother symbolize?
Corn, beans, and squash—the Iroquois’ staple food crops—were grown together. The bean vines climbed and were supported by the corn stalks; squash, which spread across the ground and kept weeds from growing, was planted around the bean plants.
1. the three sisters:
T H E W O R L D O N T H E T U R T L E ’S BA C K
37
He always told the truth, and he always tried to accomplish what seemed to be right and reasonable. The left-handed twin never said what he meant or meant no what he said. He always lied, and he always did things backward. You could never tell what he was trying to do because he always made it look as if he were doing the opposite. He was the devious one. Q These two brothers, as they grew up, represented two ways of the world which are in all people. The Indians did not call these the right and the wrong. They called them the straight mind and the crooked mind, the upright man and the devious man, the right and the left. The twins had creative powers. They took clay and modeled it into animals, and they gave these animals life. And in this they contended with one another. The right-handed twin made the deer, and the left-handed twin made the 120 mountain lion which kills the deer. But the right-handed twin knew there would always be more deer than mountain lions. And he made another animal. He made the ground squirrel. The left-handed twin saw that the mountain lion could not get to the ground squirrel, who digs a hole, so he made the weasel. And although the weasel can go into the ground squirrel’s hole and kill him, there are lots of ground squirrels and not so many weasels. Next the right-handed twin decided he would make an animal that the weasel could not kill, so he made the porcupine. But the left-handed twin made the bear, who flips the porcupine over on his back and tears out his belly. And the right-handed twin made berries and fruits of other kinds for his 130 creatures to live on. The left-handed twin made briars and poison ivy, and the poisonous plants like the baneberry and the dogberry, and the suicide root with which people kill themselves when they go out of their minds. And the left-handed twin made medicines, for good and for evil, for doctoring and for witchcraft. And finally, the right-handed twin made man. The people do not know just how much the left-handed twin had to do with making man. Man was made of clay, like pottery, and baked in the fire. . . . The world the twins made was a balanced and orderly world, and this was good. The plant-eating animals created by the right-handed twin would eat up all the vegetation if their number was not kept down by the meat-eating animals, 140 which the left-handed twin created. But if these carnivorous animals ate too many other animals, then they would starve, for they would run out of meat. So the right- and the left-handed twins built balance into the world. As the twins became men full grown, they still contested with one another. No one had won, and no one had lost. And they knew that the conflict was becoming sharper and sharper, and one of them would have to vanquish the other. And so they came to the duel. They started with gambling. They took a wooden bowl, and in it they put wild plum pits. One side of the pits was burned black, and by tossing the pits in the bowl and betting on how these would fall, they gambled against one another, as the people still do in the New Year’s
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U N I T l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
Q
FO LK L IT E R A T U R E Reread lines 95 - 112 . Which tw in is characterized as being more admirable? W h a t does this characterization tell you about Iroquois values?
Detail of Sky Woman (1936), Ernest Smith. Courtesy of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, Rochester, New York. 150
160
rites.2 All through the morning they gambled at this game, and all through the afternoon, and the sun went down. And when the sun went down, the game was done, and neither one had won. So they went on to battle one another at the lacrosse3 game. And they contested all day, and the sun went down, and the game was done. And neither had won. And now they battled with clubs, and they fought all day, and the sun went down, and the fight was done. But neither had won. Q And they went from one duel to another to see which one would succumb. Each one knew in his deepest mind that there was something, somewhere, that would vanquish the other. But what was it? Where to find it? Each knew somewhere in his mind what it was that was his own weak point. They talked about this as they contested in these duels, day after day, and somehow the deep mind of each entered into the other. And the deep mind of the right-handed twin lied to his brother, and the deep mind of the left-handed twin told the truth. On the last day of the duel, as they stood, they at last knew how the righthanded twin was to kill his brother. Each selected his weapon. The left-handed twin chose a mere stick that would do him no good. But the right-handed twin
FO LK LIT E R A T U R E Reread lines 146 - 156 . Note in your chart the information about Iroquois customs and rituals you learn from these lines.
2. New Year’s rites: various ceremonies to get ready for the New Year. They often included community confession of sins, the replenishing of hearths in the homes, and sacred dances, as well as the gambling ritual. 3. lacrosse: a game of Native American origin wherein participants on two teams use long-handled sticks with webbed pouches to maneuver a ball into the opposing team’s goal.
T H E W O R L D O N T H E T U R T L E S BA C K
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picked out the deer antler, and with one touch he destroyed his brother. And the left-handed twin died, but he died and he didn’t die. The right-handed twin 170 picked up the body and cast it off the edge of the earth. And some place below the world, the left-handed twin still lives and reigns. When the sun rises from the east and travels in a huge arc along the sky dome, which rests like a great upside-down cup on the saucer of the earth, the people are in the daylight realm of the right-handed twin. But when the sun slips down in the west at nightfall and the dome lifts to let it escape at the western rim, the people are again in the domain of the left-handed twin—the fearful realm of night. Having killed his brother, the right-handed twin returned home to his grandmother. And she met him in anger. She threw the food out of the cabin onto the ground and said that he was a murderer, for he had killed his brother. He grew iso angry and told her she had always helped his brother, who had killed their mother. In his anger, he grabbed her by the throat and cut her head off. Her body he threw into the ocean, and her head, into the sky. There, “Our Grandmother, the Moon” still keeps watch at night over the realm of her favorite grandson. Q The right-handed twin has many names. One of them is Sapling. It means smooth, young, green and fresh and innocent, straightforward, straight-growing, soft and pliable, teachable and trainable. These are the old ways of describing him. But since he has gone away, he has other names. He is called “He Holds Up the Skies,” “Master of Life,” and “Great Creator.” The left-handed twin also has many names. One of them is Flint. He is called 190 the devious one, the one covered with boils. Old Warty. He is stubborn. He is thought of as being dark in color. These two beings rule the world and keep an eye on the affairs of men. The right-handed twin, the Master of Life, lives in the Sky-Wo rid. He is content with the world he helped to create and with his favorite creatures, the humans. The scent of sacred tobacco rising from the earth comes gloriously to his nostrils. In the world below lives the left-handed twin. He knows the world of men, and he finds contentment in it. He hears the sounds of warfare and torture, and he finds them good. In the daytime, the people have rituals which honor the right-handed twin. 200 Through the daytime rituals, they thank the Master of Life. In the nighttime, the people dance and sing for the left-handed twin. C^>
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Q CREATION MYTHS The transformation of a character is a common element of mythology, often used to explain natural phenomena. Consider the natural feature explained in lines
172 - 183 . How does this myth explain the fact that the moon is visible mainly at night?
Comprehension
a
1. Recall How do the animals help the woman who fell from the sky?
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
LITERATURE STANDARD
2. Recall What roles do the grandmother and her daughter play in the earth’s
cuIturaTsfgniffcan^1ect10nsfor
creation? 3. Summarize What is the outcome of the battles between the twins?
Literary Analysis 4. Compare and Contrast How does this myth compare with the accounts of the
"The. VJorld on the Tu rtles d>ac.k‘
Another Creation Account
world’s origin you summarized before you read? Use a Venn diagram to record the differences and similarities between “The World on the Turtle’s Back" and one of the accounts you discussed. 5. Analyze a Creation Myth Reread lines 105 - 112. Summarize the differences between the right-handed twin and the left-handed twin. Why do you think the Iroquois honor both twins? What elements of human nature are explained by “The World on the Turtle’s Back” ?
6 . Draw Conclusions from Folk Literature Folk literature often transmits information about a people’s culture and way of life. Review the details you noted in your chart as you read. From this myth, what did you learn about the Iroquois’ • attitude toward nature? • view of their gods? • important food, games, and rituals? • beliefs about good and evil? 7. Synthesize Cultural Ideas How would you relate the Iroquois reverence for both the right-handed and left-handed twins to your own concept of good and evil? Explain your response, citing details and description from the text.
Literary Criticism 8. Critical Interpretations Creation stories often serve many purposes. According to Larry Evers and Paul Pavich, scholars of Native American literature, such stories "remind the people of who and what they are, why they are in this particular place, and how they should continue to live here.” Do you think that “The World on the Turtle’s Back” fulfills these functions? Explain, citing evidence from the text to support your interpretation.
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□
READING STANDARD
1 Analyze use of literary elements including characterization
Coyote and the Buffalo Folk Tale Retold by Mourning Dove
skills. She drafted a novel in 1912 but put it away for several years until she met Lucullus McWhorter, a Native American— rights activist, who offered to edit it.
V__________________ ✓ NOTABLE QUOTE
“Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory o f existence. ” FYI Did you know th at M ourning Dove ... • w as born in a canoe w h ile her m other was crossing a river in Idaho? • learned to read English by poring over m elodram atic dimestore novels? • w as the first w om an ever elected to the Colville tribal council?
AuthorOn|ine For more on Mourning Dove, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
___________ J
M ou rn in g D ove c. 1885-1936
Mourning Dove is the pen name of Christine Quintasket (kwen-tas'ket), who triumphed over adversity to become one of the first female Native American novelists. As a child, Quintasket was enthralled by the traditional stories told by her elders. As an adult, she worked to preserve these tales. By publishing stories that recount the history of her people, she carried on the work of the storytellers she so admired. Determined to Write Quintasket grew up
on the Colville Reservation in Washington State with her mother, the daughter of a Colville chief, and her father, an Okanogan. When Quintasket was 14, her mother died, leaving her to run the household and help raise her younger siblings. Despite her many responsibilities, Quintasket pushed herself to learn to write in English. She later attended secretarial school to learn how to type and business school to hone her grammar and writing
Battling Stereotypes Published in 1927, Mourning Dove’s novel, Cogewea, the Half-Blood, is credited with breaking down the stereotype of Native Americans as stoic, or unfeeling. “It is all wrong, this saying that Indians do not feel as deeply as whites,” the author asserted. “We do feel, and by and by some of us are going to make our feelings appreciated, and then will the true Indian character be revealed.” Chronicling Her Culture After Cogewea was published, Mourning Dove began to record traditional stories of the Okanogan and other Colville tribes. A migrant worker, she picked fruit ten hours a day but managed to do her writing at night. Coyote Stories, from which “Coyote and the Buffalo” is taken, was published in 1933. “Coyote and the Buffalo” is a folk tale once told by Okanogan storytellers in Salish, their native language. Mourning Dove’s retelling includes Salish words and place names. This story and others like it help keep the Okanogan culture alive today. Mourning Dove’s Legacy In addition to
preserving her people’s culture, Mourning Dove worked hard to promote their welfare. She fought for their rights in court, started organizations supporting Native American crafts, and paved the way for female participation on tribal councils. Worn down by chronic illness and fatigue, the writer and activist died in 1936.
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LITERARY ANALYSIS: TRICKSTER TALES You already know that a folk tale is a simple story passed orally from one generation to the next. Trickster tales are a type of folk tale that features an animal or human character who typically engages in deceit, violence, and magic. Often, trickster tales are mythic, explaining how some aspect of human nature or the natural world came to be. The opening lines of “Coyote and the Buffalo” announce what this trickster tale will explain.
No buffalo ever lived in the Swah-netk’-qhu country. That was Coyote’s fault. Tricksters are archetypal characters— character types that can be found in literary works from different cultures throughout the ages. As you read this tale, notice how the coyote demonstrates the trickster’s contradictory qualities: he is foolish yet clever, greedy yet helpful, immoral yet moral. 0 READING STRATEGY: PREDICT Tricksters are often schemers or scoundrels— they don’t usually act as other characters do. Using your background knowledge of this character’s contradictory qualities, as well as text clues, can help you predict upcoming story events. As you read, use a chart like the one shown to record Coyote’s key traits and unusual behavior. Pause occasionally to predict what will happen next. Coyotes Irarts and behavior
My Predictions
Coyote, is "foolish and are&dy-, rt is his fau lt there are. no buffalo in Swah-net/c-qhu country.
This story w ill reveal th at Coyote did something reckless or unwise to scare away the buffalo.
Explore the Key Idea
Why d o w e root f o r the
“ BAD GUY” ? Wherever they go, they ignore the rules. They stir up trouble. And yet we admire and love them despite— or maybe because of—their bad behavior. Many societies have famous villains or trickster figures, who both infuriate and inspire the people around them.
QUICKWRITE Think about movies or books in which the villain is more compelling than the hero. What qualities does such a villain typically display? Which of these traits contribute most to his or her appeal? Record your responses in a short paragraph.
Retold by Mourning Dove
BACKGROUND “ Coyote and the Buffalo” is one of many traditional stories featuring
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
the Animal People, a race of supernatural beings believed by the Okanogan to have
Describe the painting on
been the first inhabitants of the world. The Animal People had magical powers and
page 45 . How is the use
could alter their shapes. W hen human beings appeared on the earth, the Animal
of color significant? Does
People were changed into different animal species. Coyote, one of the most important
the color treatm ent cause
Animal People, is thought to have made the world habitable for humans by killing
this coyote to reflect
monsters and bringing fire and salmon.
the traits of a trickster? Explain your answer.
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No buffalo ever lived in the Swah-netk’- qhu 1country. That was Coyote s fault. If he had not been so foolish and greedy, the people beside the Swah-netk’- qhu would not have had to cross the Rockies to hunt the quas-peet-za 2 (curled-hairs). This is the way it happened: Coyote was traveling over the plains beyond the big mountains. He came to a flat. There he found an old buffalo skull. It was the skull of Buffalo Bull. Coyote always had been afraid of Buffalo Bull. He remembered the many times Bull Buffalo had scared him, and he laughed upon seeing the old skull there on the flat. “Now I will have some fun,” Coyote remarked. “I will have revenge for the times Buffalo made me run.” He picked up the skull and threw it into the air; he kicked it and spat on it; he threw dust in the eye sockets. He did these things many times, until he grew tired. Then he went his way. Soon he heard a rumbling behind him. He thought it © was thunder, and he looked at the sky. The sky was clear. Thinking he must have imagined the sound, he walked on, singing. He heard the rumbling again, only
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T R IC K S T E R T A L E S In the first paragraph, the tale ’s narrator pronounces Coyote “foolish and greedy.” Based on lines 5- 13 , w hat other character traits would you attribute to this trickster?
1. Swah-netk’-qhu (shwa-nTt'kwe): the Salish name for the Columbia River and its waterfall. 2. quas-peet-za (kwes-pet'za): a Salish word for buffalo.
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Coyote Survivor, John Nieto. U N IT 1: EA R LY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
Serigraph, 29" x 22".
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much closer and louder. Turning around, he saw Buffalo Bull pounding along after him, chasing him. His old enemy had come to life! Coyote ran, faster than he thought he could run, but Buffalo gained steadily. Soon Buffalo was right at his heels. Coyote felt his hot breath. “Oh, Squas-tenk’? help me!” Coyote begged, and his power answered by putting three trees in front of him. They were there in the wink of an eye. Coyote jumped and caught a branch of the first tree and swung out of Buffalo’s way. Buffalo rammed the tree hard, and it shook as if in a strong wind. Then Buffalo chopped at the trunk with his horns, first with one horn and then the other. He chopped fast, and in a little while over went the tree, and with it went Coyote. But he was up and into the second tree before Buffalo Bull could reach him. Buffalo soon laid that tree low, but he was not quick enough to catch Coyote, who scrambled into the third and last tree. “Buffalo, my friend, let me talk with you,” said Coyote, as his enemy hacked away at the tree’s trunk. “Let me smoke my pipe. I like the kinnikinnick} Let me smoke. Then I can die more content.” “You may have time for one smoke,” grunted Bull Buffalo, resting from his chopping. Coyote spoke to his medicine-power, and a pipe, loaded and lighted, was given to him. He puffed on it once and held out the pipe to Buffalo Bull. “No, I will not smoke with you,” said that one. “You made fun of my bones. I have enough enemies without you. Young Buffalo is one of them. He killed me and stole all my fine herd.” “My uncle,”5 said Coyote, “you need new horns. Let me make new horns for you. Then you can kill Young Buffalo. Those old horns are dull and worn.” Bull Buffalo was pleased with that talk. He decided he did not want to kill Coyote. He told Coyote to get down out of the tree and make the new horns. Coyote jumped down and called to his power. It scolded him for getting into trouble, but it gave him a flint knife and a stump of pitchwood.6 From this stump Coyote carved a pair of fine heavy horns with sharp points. He gave them to Buffalo Bull. All buffalo bulls have worn the same kind of horns since. © Buffalo Bull was very proud of his new horns. He liked their sharpness and weight and their pitch-black color. He tried them out on what was left of the pitchwood stump. He made one toss and the stump flew high in the air, and he forgave Coyote for his mischief. They became good friends right there. Coyote said he would go along with Buffalo Bull to find Young Buffalo. They soon came upon Young Buffalo and the big herd he had won from Buffalo Bull. Young Buffalo laughed when he saw his old enemy, and he walked out to meet him. He did not know, of course, about the new horns. It was not much of a fight,
3. Squas-tenk’ (skwes-tmk'): a Salish word referring to Coyote’s spirit helper. 4. kinnikinnick (kTn'T-kT-nTk'): the Salish word for the bearberry shrub. The Okanogan toasted bearberry leaves and then crumbled them and mixed them with tobacco for pipe smoking. 5. my uncle: Terms like unde, brother, sister, and cousin were sometimes used as a sign of respect. Here, Coyote is using the term to flatter Buffalo Bull. 6. pitchwood: the sap-filled wood of a pine or fir tree.
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U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
o TRICKSTER TALES This trickster tale is mythic in that it explains how something came to be— in this case, the lack of buffalo in a certain geographic area. W h a t second mythic explanation is offered in lines 39 - 4 6 ?
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that fight between Young Buffalo and Buffalo Bull. With the fine new horns, Buffalo Bull killed the other easily, and then he took back his herd, all his former wives and their children. He gave Coyote a young cow, the youngest cow, and he said: “Never kill her, Sin-ka-lip ’! 7Take good care of her and she will supply you with meat forever. When you get hungry, just slice off some choice fat with a flint knife. Then rub ashes on the wound and the cut will heal at once.” Q Coyote promised to remember that, and they parted. Coyote started back to his own country, and the cow followed. For a few suns he ate only the fat when he was hungry. But after awhile he became tired of eating fat, and he began to long for the sweet marrow-bones and the other good parts of the buffalo. He smacked his lips at the thought of having some warm liver.
Q PREDICT Consider w hat you know about the archetypal trickster character and think about Coyote’s behavior thus far. How do you think Coyote will respond to Buffalo Bull’s instructions? Give reasons for your prediction.
7. S/n-fca-//p’ (sTng'ke-ITp'):the Salish name for Coyote; it means "imitator."
Buffalo, John Nieto. Acrylic, 30"x 40".
C O Y O T E A N D T H E B U FF A L O
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“Buffalo Bull will never know,” Coyote told himself, and he took his young cow down beside a creek and killed her. As he peeled off the hide, crows and magpies came from all directions. They settled on the carcass and picked at the meat. Coyote tried to chase them away, but there were too many of them. While he was chasing some, others returned and ate the meat. It was not long until they had devoured every bit of the meat. “Well, I can get some good from the bones and marrow-fat,” Coyote remarked, and he built a fire to cook the bones. Then he saw an old woman walking toward him. She came up to the fire. “Sin-ka-lip, ” she said, “you are a brave warrior, a great chief. W hy should you do woman’s work? Let me cook the bones while you rest.” Vain Coyote! He was flattered. He believed she spoke her true mind. He stretched out to rest and he fell asleep. In his sleep he had a bad dream. It awoke him, and he saw the old woman running away with the marrow-fat and the boiled grease. He looked into the cooking-basket. There was not a drop of soup left in it. He chased the old woman. He would punish her! But she could run, too, and she easily kept ahead of him. Every once in awhile she stopped and held up the marrow-fat and shouted: “Sin-ka-lip’, do you want this?” Q Finally Coyote gave up trying to catch her. He went back to get the bones. He thought he would boil them again. He found the bones scattered all around, so he gathered them up and put them into the cooking-basket. Needing some more water to boil them in, he went to the creek for it, and when he got back, there were no bones in the basket! In place of the bones was a little pile of tree limbs! Coyote thought he might be able to get another cow from Buffalo Bull, so he set out to find him. When he came to the herd, he was astonished to see the cow he had killed. She was there with the others! She refused to go with Coyote again, and Buffalo Bull would not give him another cow. Coyote had to return to his own country without a buffalo. That is why there never have been any buffalo along the Swah-netk’-qhu.
U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
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T R IC K S T E R T A L E S W ho else, besides Coyote, plays the role of a trickster in this tale? Explain which of the trickster’s qualities this character exhibits.
Comprehension 1. Recall Why is Buffalo Bull so enraged at Coyote at the beginning of the story?
O
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
READING STANDARD
2. Recall How does Coyote convince Buffalo Bull to spare his life?
1 Analyze useof literary elements including characterization
3. Summarize According to the story, why don’t buffalo live in the
Swah-netk’-qhu country?
Literary Analysis 4. Analyze Predictions Review the chart you completed as you read. How accurate were your predictions? Did the fact that the trickster is a somewhat familiar archetypal character make it easier to predict Coyote’s actions, or did his behavior surprise you? Explain your answer, referring to both your chart and the selection. 5. Interpret Trickster Tales Trickster tales endure, in part, simply because they are fun to read. But they also often serve to teach a lesson or moral. What does “Coyote and the Buffalo” teach or explain? Support your answer with specific lines from the story. 6. Draw Conclusions Trickster tales, like other forms of folk literature, offer readers insight into a society’s way of life. What information about the following aspects of Okanogan culture did you glean from this tale? • traits or qualities the Okanogan admired as well as those they disapproved of • the traditional role of women in Okanogan society • Okanogan rituals and religious beliefs 7. Make Judgments Review the paragraph you wrote earlier about famous or compelling villains and tricksters. What qualities does Coyote have in common with these characters? In your opinion, is Coyote an admirable character? Explain, citing evidence from the text to support your opinion.
Literary Criticism 8. Critical Interpretations Critic Paul Rodin has argued that a trickster "is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes others and who is always duped himself.... He possesses no values, moral or social, is at the mercy of his passions and appetites.” Identify the ways in which Coyote fits this definition of a trickster. Cite evidence from the selection to support your answer.
C O Y O T E A N D T H E B U FF A L O
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V
O
READING & LIT STANDARDS
Read with comprehension informational materials, including recognizing organizational patterns 3
Themes Across Time from
The W ay to Rainy M ountain
Memoir by N. Scott Momaday
The Making of a Writer Growing up
Analyze literary selections for plot structure
4
NOTABLE QUOTE
“Askyourself how you would like to be known. D on’t let yourself be determined by others. ” FYI Did you know th a t N. Scott M o m a d a y ... • rode the bus 28 miles to and from school as a teenager? • taug ht both middle school and high
N. S cott M om aday born 1934
school on the Jicarilla reservation in N ew Mexico before becoming a professional w riter? • w on the Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious U.S. literary award, for his very first novel?
AuthorOn[ine For more on N. Scott Momaday, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
___________________
“The most important question one can ask is ‘Who am I?’” N. Scott Momaday (m om 's-da') has asserted. “People tend to define you. As a child, you can’t help that, but as you grow older, the goal is to garner enough strength to insist on your own definition of yourself.” In his writing, Momaday focuses on the search for identity, and he locates the key to selfunderstanding in awareness of the past. Native American Roots Momaday developed a deep sense of his own roots early on. His father, a successful artist and a member of the Kiowa (ki'a-wo') tribe, routinely told him Kiowa folk tales. His mother, an accomplished writer of French, English, and Cherokee ancestry, instructed him in traditional ways. Momaday grew up on reservations in the Southwest and often spent his summers with his grandparents and other Kiowa relatives in Oklahoma.
on reservations, Momaday developed a reverence for the land and a strong Native American identity. “I saw people,” he recalls, “who were deeply involved in their traditional life, in the memories of their blood. They had, as far as I could see, a certain strength and beauty that I find missing in the modern world at large.” The lives of these people, together with the Southwestern landscape, inspired Momaday to begin writing at an early age. With the encouragement of his parents, Momaday began composing poetry. Years of hard work and determination paid off when he was awarded a poetry fellowship by Stanford University in 1959. Voice of the Kiowa In both his poetry
and prose, Momaday pays tribute to Native American storytelling traditions and culture. His first novel, House Made o f Dawn, tells the story of one man’s struggle to recover his identity after a stint in the U.S. Army. Original in both theme and structure, the novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1969. In one of his most popular works, The Way to Rainy Mountain, Momaday mixes Kiowa myths, legends, and history with autobiographical details. In addition to his poetry and fiction, Momaday has published essays and articles on preserving the environment. He says, “Writing is a way of expressing your spirit. So there’s much more to it than the question of material success. You are out to save your soul after all, and be the best thing that you can be.”
....
Explore the Key Idea
• LITERARY ANALYSIS: MEMOIR A memoir is a form of autobiographical writing in which a person shares personal experiences along with observations of significant events or people. Memoirs give readers insight into the impact of historical events on people’s lives. They can
HERITAGE?
also be elegantly written texts containing elements such as a distinctive tone, rich sensory details, and symbols. As you read M. Scott Momaday’s memoir, note passages
KEY IDEA What makes you who you are? Part of the answer lies in your
in which he shares strictly personal experiences as well as sections in which he comments on larger historical events.
% READING SKILL: ANALYZE STRUCTURE Writers usually arrange their information using a structure that helps the reader see how the ideas are related. Momaday interweaves three distinct strands throughout his memoir:
What is y o u r
heritage, or the beliefs, traditions, and culture passed down to you from preceding generations. Think of the things you have gained or learned from older relatives— the recipe for your favorite meal, perhaps, or a sense of
• geographical details about the landscape
humor, or an attitude toward hardship. How have the things you've learned helped shape who you are today? In
• historical details about the rise and fall of the Kiowa
the selection that follows, N. Scott
• personal details about his grandmother, Aho
Momaday offers his own perspective on the importance of heritage.
As you read, use a chart like the one shown to record details about each topic. Jot down what you learn about each topic, and consider how the three separate strands are related. The Kiowa
The, Landscape
tAoimdaifs QrandMoiher
INTERVIEW Interview one of your classmates about his or her heritage. Ask your subject about a family tradition, an important belief or value, or a story about his or her family’s roots. Find out if your classmate thinks heritage has affected his or her identity.
A VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT Momaday used the following words in this exploration of his heritage. To test your knowledge, substitute one vocabulary word for the boldfaced word or phrase in each sentence. WO R D
enm ity
opaque
solstice
L IS T
inherently
pillage
tenuous
luxuriant
preeminently
nocturnal
profusion
1. My mother’s garden yields an abundance of flowers. 2. The feuding brothers eyed each other with hostility. 3. There is something intrinsically funny about seeing pictures of my father as a teenager. 4. The summer reunion is held on the longest day of the year.
T he W a y to
Rainy Mountain N. Scott Momaday
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
BACKGROUND In the 16 0 0 s, after a bitter dispute between tw o chiefs, a band of Kiowa moved from w hat is now Montana to South Dakota’s Black Hills. In around 1785 ,
Examine the portrait on
the Kiowa migrated farther south to escape attacks by neighboring tribes, settling in
page 53 , and consider the
w hat is now western Kansas and Oklahoma. W ith their Comanche allies, the Kiowa
photographer’s use of
ruled the southern Great Plains for a century. One of the last tribes to be defeated by
high-contrast lighting.
the U.S. government, the Kiowa surrendered in 1875 and were forced onto a reservation
W h a t traits are suggested by this emphasis of light
in Oklahoma, where members of the tribe still live today.
and shadow? Do you think the subject might
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A single knoll1 rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil’s edge. The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. There are green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire. Great green and yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh, and tortoises crawl about on the red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of time. Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun. Q I returned to Rainy Mountain in July. My grandmother had died in the spring, and I wanted to be at her grave. She had lived to be very old and at last infirm.
look stronger or more vulnerable in a different kind of light? Explain your answer.
Q
M E M O IR Note the descriptive language in the opening paragraph. How might a reader respond differently to this type of writing than to a more scientific description of the Oklahoma plains?
1 . knoll (nol): a small round hill.
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Edward S. Curtis Collection. Library of Congress.
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Her only living daughter was with her when she died, and I was told that in death her face was that of a child. I like to think of her as a child. When she was born, the Kiowas were living the last great moment of their history. For more than a hundred years they had controlled the open range from the Smoky Hill River to the Red, from the headwaters of the Canadian to the fork of the Arkansas and Cimarron. In alliance with the Comanches, they had ruled the whole of the southern Plains. War was their sacred business, and they were among the finest horsemen the world has ever known. But warfare for the Kiowas was preeminently a matter of disposition rather than of survival, and they never understood the grim, unrelenting advance of the U.S. Cavalry. When at last, divided and ill-provisioned, they were driven onto the Staked Plains in the cold rains of autumn, they fell into panic. In Palo Duro Canyon they abandoned their crucial stores to pillage and had nothing then but their lives. In order to save themselves, they surrendered to the soldiers at Fort Sill2 and were imprisoned in the old stone corral that now stands as a military museum. My grandmother was spared the humiliation of those high gray walls by eight or ten years, but she must have known from birth the affliction of defeat, the dark brooding of old warriors. Her name was Aho, and she belonged to the last culture to evolve in North America. Her forebears came down from the high country in western Montana nearly three centuries ago. They were a mountain people, a mysterious tribe of hunters whose language has never been positively classified in any major group. In the late seventeenth century they began a long migration to the south and east. It was a journey toward the dawn, and it led to a golden age. Along the way the Kiowas were befriended by the Crows,3 who gave them the culture and religion of the Plains. They acquired horses, and their ancient nomadic spirit was suddenly free of the ground. They acquired Tai-me, the sacred Sun Dance doll, from that moment the object and symbol of their worship, and so shared in the divinity of the sun. Not least, they acquired the sense of destiny, therefore courage and pride. When they entered upon the southern Plains they had been transformed. No longer were they slaves to the simple necessity of survival; they were a lordly and dangerous society of fighters and thieves, hunters and priests of the sun. According to their origin myth, they entered the world through a hollow log. From one point of view, their migration was the fruit of an old prophecy, for indeed they emerged from a sunless world. Although my grandmother lived out her long life in the shadow of Rainy Mountain, the immense landscape of the continental interior lay like memory in her blood. She could tell of the Crows, whom she had never seen, and of the Black Hills, where she had never been. I wanted to see in reality what she had seen more perfectly in the mind’s eye, and traveled fifteen hundred miles to begin my pilgrimage. Q 2. Fort Sill: a U.S. army post established in 1869 in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). 3. Crows: a group of Native Americans who once inhabited the region between the Platte and Yellowstone rivers in the northern Great Plains. The Crows are now settled in Montana.
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U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
preeminently (pre-em'8-nnant-le) adv. above all; most importantly pillage (pTI'Tj) n. the act of looting or plundering by force
Q ANALYZE STRUCTURE Reread lines 35 - 57. Which lines convey historical information? Which offer more personal details? Identify the key words or phrases that allowed you to distinguish between the tw o types of information.
Themes Across Time
Yellowstone, it seemed to me, was the top of the world, a region of deep lakes and dark timber, canyons and waterfalls. But, beautiful as it is, one might have the 60 sense of confinement there. The skyline in all directions is close at hand, the high wall of the woods and deep cleavages of shade. There is a perfect freedom in the mountains, but it belongs to the eagle and the elk, the badger and the bear. The Kiowas reckoned their stature by the distance they could see, and they were bent and blind in the wilderness. Descending eastward, the highland meadows are a stairway to the plain. In July the inland slope of the Rockies is luxuriant with flax and buckwheat, stonecrop and larkspur. The earth unfolds and the limit of the land recedes. Clusters of trees, and animals grazing far in the distance, cause the vision to reach away and wonder to build upon the mind. The sun follows a longer course in the day, and the sky is 70 immense beyond all comparison. The great billowing clouds that sail upon it are shadows that move upon the grain like water, dividing light. Farther down, in the land of the Crows and Blackfeet,4 the plain is yellow. Sweet clover takes hold of the hills and bends upon itself to cover and seal the soil. There the Kiowas paused on their way; they had come to the place where they must change their lives. The sun is at home on the plains. Precisely there does it have the certain character of a god. When the Kiowas came to the land of the Crows, they could see the dark lees of the hills at dawn across the Bighorn River, the profusion of light on the grain shelves, the oldest deity ranging after the solstices. Not yet would they veer southward to the caldron of the land that lay below; they must wean their blood 80 from the northern winter and hold the mountains a while longer in their view. They bore Tai-me in procession to the east. A dark mist lay over the Black Hills, and the land was like iron. At the top of a ridge I caught sight of Devil’s Tower upthrust against the gray sky as if in the birth of time the core of the earth had broken through its crust and the motion of the world was begun. There are things in nature that engender an awful quiet in the heart of man; Devil’s Tower is one of them. Two centuries ago, because they could not do otherwise, the Kiowas made a legend at the base of the rock. My grandmother said: 90
luxuriant (lug-zhoor'e-ent) adj. characterized by abundant growth
profusion (pra-fyoo'zhsn) n. abundance; lavishness solstice (sol'stTs) n. either of tw o days of the year when the sun is farthest from the celestial equator; the summer solstice is the longest day of the year, and the winter solstice is the shortest.
Eight children were there at play, seven sisters an d their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trem bled and began to run upon his hands andfeet. His fingers became claws, an d his body was covered with fur. Directly there was a bear where the boy had been. The sisters were terrified; they ran, an d the bear after them. They cam e to the stump o f a great tree, an d the tree spoke to them. It bade them clim b upon it, and as they d id so it began to rise into the air. The bear cam e to kill them, but they were ju st beyond its reach. It reared against the tree an d scored the bark all around with its claws. The seven sisters were borne into the sky, an d they becam e the stars o f the Big Dipper.
4. Blackfeet: a group of Native Americans w ho once inhabited a region now occupied by parts of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
T H E WAY T O R A IN Y M O U N T A IN
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From that moment, and so long as the legend lives, the Kiowas have kinsmen in the night sky. Whatever they were in the mountains, they could be no more. However tenuous their well-being, however much they had suffered and would suffer again, they had found a way out of the wilderness. Q My grandmother had a reverence for the sun, a holy regard that now is all but gone out of mankind. There was a wariness in her, and an ancient awe. She was a Christian in her later years, but she had come a long way about, and she never forgot her birthright. As a child she had been to the Sun Dances; she had taken part in those annual rites, and by them she had learned the restoration of her people in the presence of Tai-me. She was about seven when the last Kiowa Sun Dance was held in 1887 on the Washita River above Rainy Mountain Creek. The buffalo were gone. In order to consummate the ancient sacrifice—to impale the head of a buffalo bull upon the medicine tree—a delegation of old men journeyed into Texas, there to beg and barter for an animal from the Goodnight herd.5 She was ten when the Kiowas came together for the last time as a living Sun Dance culture. They could find no buffalo; they had to hang an old hide from the sacred tree. Before the dance could begin, a company of soldiers rode out from Fort Sill under orders to disperse the tribe. Forbidden without cause the essential act of their faith, having seen the wild herds slaughtered and left to rot upon the ground, the Kiowas backed away forever from the medicine tree. That was July 20, 1890, at the great bend of the Washita. My grandmother was there. Without bitterness, and for as long as she lived, she bore a vision of deicide.6 Now that I can have her only in memory, I see my grandmother in the several postures that were peculiar to her: standing at the wood stove on a winter morning and turning meat in a great iron skillet; sitting at the south window, bent above her beadwork, and afterwards, when her vision failed, looking down for a long time into the fold of her hands; going out upon a cane, very slowly as she did when the weight of age came upon her; praying. I remember her most often at prayer. She made long, rambling prayers out of suffering and hope, having seen many things. I was never sure that I had the right to hear, so exclusive were they of all mere custom and company. The last time I saw her she prayed standing by the side of her bed at night, naked to the waist, the light of a kerosene lamp moving upon her dark skin. Her long, black hair, always drawn and braided in the day, lay upon her shoulders and against her breasts like a shawl. I do not speak Kiowa, and I never understood her prayers, but there was something inherently sad in the sound, some merest hesitation upon the syllables of sorrow. She began in a high and descending pitch, exhausting her breath to silence; then again and again—and always the same intensity of effort, of something that is, and is not, like urgency in the human voice. Transported so in the dancing light among the shadows of her room, she seemed beyond the reach of time. But that was illusion; I think I knew then that I should not see her again. 5. Goodnight herd: a herd of Southern Plains bison established in the 1870s by Charles and Molly Goodnight for the purpose of preserving the animals from extinction.
6. a vision of deicide (de’a-sid'ha picture in her mind of the killing of a god.
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tenuous (ten'yoo-as) adj. having little substance or strength; flimsy
Q ANALYZE STRUCTURE Reread lines 98 - 10 1 . W h a t does Mom aday mean when he says that "the Kiowas have kinsmen in the night sky” ? How does the inclusion of this legend add depth to the personal elements of this memoir?
inherently (Tn-hir'ant-le') adv. related to part of something’s inmost nature
Themes Across Time
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S In your opinion, does this photograph convey the same mood that Mom aday evokes in his autobiography? Explain your answer, citing details from both the photograph and the text.
Mandan Offering the Buffalo Skull, Edward S. Curtis, photographer. McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library.
Houses are like sentinels in the plain, old keepers of the weather watch. There, 140 in a very little while, wood takes on the appearance of great age. All colors wear soon away in the wind and rain, and then the wood is burned gray and the grain appears and the nails turn red with rust. The windowpanes are black and opaque; you imagine there is nothing within, and indeed there are many ghosts, bones given up to the land. They stand here and there against the sky, and you approach them for a longer time than you expect. They belong in the distance; it is their domain. Q Once there was a lot of sound in my grandmother’s house, a lot of coming and going, feasting and talk. The summers there were full of excitement and reunion. The Kiowas are a summer people; they abide the cold and keep to themselves, but when the season turns and the land becomes warm and vital they cannot 150 hold still; an old love of going returns upon them. The aged visitors who came to my grandmother’s house when I was a child were made of lean and leather, and they bore themselves upright. They wore great black hats and bright ample shirts
opaque (o-pak') adj. not allowing light to pass through
O
M E M O IR Reread lines 120 - 145 . W h a t words and phrases give you an indication of Mom aday’s tone, or attitude toward his subject matter?
T H E WAY T O R A IN Y M O U N T A IN
57
that shook in the wind. They rubbed fat upon their hair and wound their braids with strips of colored cloth. Some of them painted their faces and carried the scars of old and cherished enmities. They were an old council of warlords, come to remind and be reminded of who they were. Their wives and daughters served them well. The women might indulge themselves; gossip was at once the mark and compensation of their servitude. They made loud and elaborate talk among themselves, full of jest and gesture, fright and false alarm. They went abroad in 160 fringed and flowered shawls, bright beadwork and German silver. They were at home in the kitchen, and they prepared meals that were banquets. There were frequent prayer meetings, and great nocturnal feasts. When I was a child I played with my cousins outside, where the lamplight fell upon the ground and the singing of the old people rose up around us and carried away into the darkness. There were a lot of good things to eat, a lot of laughter and surprise. And afterwards, when the quiet returned, I lay down with my grandmother and could hear the frogs away by the river and feel the motion of the air. Now there is a funeral silence in the rooms, the endless wake of some final word. The walls have closed in upon my grandmother’s house. When I returned 170 to it in mourning, I saw for the first time in my life how small it was. It was late at night, and there was a white moon, nearly full. I sat for a long time on the stone steps by the kitchen door. From there I could see out across the land; I could see the long row of trees by the creek, the low light upon the rolling plains, and the stars of the Big Dipper. Once I looked at the moon and caught sight of a strange thing. A cricket had perched upon the handrail, only a few inches away from me. My line of vision was such that the creature filled the moon like a fossil. It had gone there, I thought, to live and die, for there, of all places, was its small definition made whole and eternal. A warm wind rose up and purled like the longing within me. 0 180 The next morning I awoke at dawn and went out on the dirt road to Rainy Mountain. It was already hot, and the grasshoppers began to fill the air. Still, it was early in the morning, and the birds sang out of the shadows. The long yellow grass on the mountain shone in the bright light, and a scissortail hied7 above the land. There, where it ought to be, at the end of a long and legendary way, was my grandmother’s grave. Here and there on the dark stones were ancestral names. Looking back once, I saw the mountain and came away. C^>
7. 58
a scissortail hied:
a fork-tailed bird of the Southwest hied, or hurried.
U N IT l : E A R L Y A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
enm ity (en'mT-te) n. hostility; hatred
nocturnal (nok-tur'nel) adj. occurring at night
0
M E M O IR Think about how Mom aday contrasts his grandmother’s house as it was during his childhood visits w ith how it is now. W h a t might this house symbolize?
Themes Across Time
After Reading
Comprehension
a
1. Recall Where is Rainy Mountain, and why does Momaday return there? 2. Clarify What two natural phenomena are explained by the Kiowa legend about the seven sisters and their brother ?
ALABAM A STANDARDS
READING STANDARD 3 Read with comprehension
informational materials, including recognizing organizational patterns
3. Summarize What important events in Kiowa history does Momaday recount?
Literary Analysis 4. Draw Conclusions In your opinion, what is the most important insight Momaday gains about his heritage during his pilgrimage from Yellowstone to his grandmother's grave at Rainy Mountain? Support your opinion with evidence from the text. 5. Understand Memoirs Reread lines 52-101. What does Momaday’s account of the Kiowa’s migration offer you that a description in a history book might not? Explain, citing specific lines of the selection that support your answer.
6 . Analyze Structure Review the chart you created as you read, and summarize the geographical, historical, and personal details that Momaday includes in each of the three strands. How are they related? Describe the impact of Momaday’s technique of weaving the three strands together. 7. Examine Author’s Style Although best known as a novelist, Momaday is also an accomplished poet. In what way might this selection be described as poetic? In a chart like the one shown, record examples of the poetic elements
Poetic Elements Alliteration
Consonance .....
)mqerii
"The grass turns brittle, cund brovjn . . . ”
Momaday uses in his memoir. Use your completed chart to explain what you think these stylistic choices add to the selection. (Refer to the Glossary of Literary Terms on page R104 if needed.)
Literary Criticism Critical Interpretations Teacher and scholar Kenneth M. Roemer has argued that “ in The Way to Rainy Mountain, M. Scott Momaday links the survival of his people to their ability to remember, preserve and pass on stories.” Do you agree that a culture’s survival rests on this ability? Explain, using evidence from this selection to support your opinion.
T H E WAY T O R A IN Y M O U N T A IN
59
Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE
WO R D LI ST
Choose the vocabulary word that answers each riddle. 1. I refer to things that do not happen in daylight. 2. I represent extremes of time, both shortest and longest. 3. I am the opposite of friendship.
inherently luxuriant nocturnal opaque
4 . I describe something uncertain or insubstantial. 5. I mean the same thing as
enmity
chiefly.
pillage preeminently
6. I am the act of looting by force.
profusion
7. I am an adjective that could describe a field filled with wildflowers.
solstice
8. l a ma noun indicating an abundance of wildflowers.
tenuous
9 . Air filled with dense fog is one example of what I am. 10. One of my meanings is “essentially.”
VOCABULARY IN WRITING Which location, event, or person in this account do you find most memorable? Using three or more vocabulary words, write a brief description of the person, place, or event, including your own response to it. You might start this way. E X A M P L E SENTENCE
The final Sun Dance o f the Kiowa had only a
tenuous connection w ith earlier rituals.
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: SPECIALIZED VOCABULARY The Kiowa recognize the importance of seasonal events such as the solstices. There are a number of terms that describe other natural phenomena relating Earth to the sun and the moon. Some of these terms have only technical meanings, but others are also used in more general ways.
PRACTICE Match each term with its definition. Use a dictionary if you need help. Then choose the term that also has a nontechnical meaning, and write a definition for it.
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1. apogee
a.
2. equinox
b.
3. diurnal
c.
4 . perigee
d.
5. eccentric
e.
U N I T l : EA R LY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
VOCABULARY PR A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
Wrap-Up: The Native American Experience
Native American Values Stereotypes have long characterized the portrayal of Native Americans
Extension Online
in our culture. Early explorers’ and settlers’ lack of knowledge about Native American ways colored their written accounts, while later writers indulged in blatant "cowboys and Indians” stereotyping. Yet
RESEARCH Historically, many
by reading the literature written by Native American groups, both past and present, one can move past the stereotypes to gain a clearer understanding of the Native American experience.
Writing to Synthesize Make a list of the things you have in common with the Native Americans you’ve read about in this section— the things that connect us all as people. Then write one paragraph describing something that Native Americans valued in the past that many people still value today and one paragraph describing something they found objectionable with which you might also agree. Consider • the theme of each selection
university and professional sports teams have employed Native American mascots. In recent years, this practice has come under attack. With a partner, go online to research images of three such mascots and print them to share with the class. Also find out what routines or traditions each mascot has performed. Then, as a class, discuss why people might find such mascots offensive. As you discuss, be sure to take into account what you learned from your reading.
• passages that shed light on traditional Native American values • characters who are portrayed as “good” or “ bad” and what they reveal about the culture The Buffalo Chase with Bow (1832), George Catlin. The Granger Collection, New York.
Media Study
Changing Views of Native Americans Film Clips on C o) MediaSmart d vd
How do media shape
PERCEPTIONS? KEYIDEA In this unit, Native American voices from the past and present reveal their way of life and worldview. In contrast, many 20th-century films about the Old West lacked this Native American perspective, often reinforcing inaccurate stereotypes and creating new ones. In this lesson, you will watch three film clips that present images of Native Americans from three different time periods.
Background How the Western Won America’s
fascination with the Old West began with late 19th-century dime-novel westerns. These low-priced, fast-paced stories were
>Wi ■
* —
• ,st' : J S t S S S S S S ?
I
typically set in the frontier between the mid-1800s and the turn of the century. Alongside dime novels arose Wild West shows. These colorful, outdoor spectacles featured frontier figures, such as Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull, and Annie Oakley, and staged reenactments of battles. Both dime novels and Wild West shows presented simplistic morality tales. To establish order and perhaps justify the taking of Native American lands and lives, the so-called good guys—cowboys and settlers—had to overcome the alleged bad guys— rampaging Indians or marauding outlaws. Thus was born a source for stereotyping that would endure in other forms. At the start of the 20th century, as the motion picture industry evolved, the western film genre burst onto the screen. While Hollywood filmmakers glorified the frontier by shooting in spectacular locations, they recycled the simple formulas of the earlier western forms and perpetuated some of the inaccurate images. By the mid-1900s, as TV became commonplace, westerns dominated both big and small screens. At the peak of the western’s golden age, over 20 westerns were televised each week, exposing viewers to themes and images that went unquestioned. It didn’t seem to matter if an Indian’s costume wasn’t historically accurate or if his or her language wasn’t realistic. Little was said about the effects of western expansion on Native American life and culture. The Hollywood images took hold in the minds of viewers. Aware of this, filmmakers of more recent times have made deliberate efforts to bring more authentic portrayals to the screen.
msmx
Media Literacy: Images in Mass Media The western is a film and TV genre that portrays the early days of the American frontier. In many TV shows and movies, particularly classic westerns, the film and TV industry depended on stereotypes, oversimplified or inaccurate representations of people. Stereotypes can create misconceptions, especially when there are no alternative portrayals to displace them. Use your knowledge of characterization and film techniques to help you spot these stereotypes.
S T R A T E G I E S F OR A N A L Y Z I N G F I L M A N D T E L E V I S I O N S T E R E O T Y P E S
A Character’s Appearance
Look for how actors are costumed and how make up is applied. Keep in mind that most often, little historical research was done to present Native Americans accurately. Costumes and language were often a mix of different tribes.
A Character's Dialogue
Focus on how characters speak. Which characters speak dialogue in complete sentences? Which speak in simple words or phrases? Stereotypical characters are usually depicted as being somehow outside of the mainstream culture and as holding a different set of values.
A Character’s Actions
Ask yourself: Do characters behave according to a stereotype? Are the actions more negative than positive? Notice how lighting and music reinforce these impressions. How does the director film the actions? Be aware of camera placement. • Low-angle shots position the camera to look up at an object or a person. Such shots convey an imposing or powerful presence. • High-angle shots position the camera to look down, often conveying helplessness.
Other Characters’ Responses to the Character
Notice how other characters react to the individual. Do close-up shots reveal expressions of tolerance, condescension, or superiority? In w hat ways do the dialogue and the acting convey how the character is regarded?
M E D IA S T U D Y
63
Viewing Guide fo r
(o)MediaSmart dvd
Changing Views of Native Americans
• Film 1 : Stagecoach • Director: John Ford • Genre: M ovie W estern • Running Time: 2 m inutes • Film 2 : The Lone Ranger • Genre: TV W estern
Watch the first two clips to explore how Native Americans were portrayed during the glory days of the western. The scene from
• Running Time: 2 m inutes
Stagecoach (1939) brings two groups into direct contact. In the clip from The Lone RangerlM series (1949-1957), the two main characters prepare to take action. Watch the third clip to see a more recent Native American portrayal— one that challenges the old Hollywood images. In Smoke Signals (1998), friends Victor and Thomas engage in lively conversation during a road trip.
• Film 3 : Smoke Signals • Director: Chris Eyre • Rating: PG -13 • Genre: Drama • Running Time: 2.5 minutes
J
To critically analyze the clips, view them more than once. Examine the portrayals, and answer these questions. N O W V IE W r
F/f?sr VIEWING: Comprehension
1.
Recall In Stagecoach, w hat do the travelers do as soon as they spot the Native Americans?
2. Summarize Think about Victor in Smoke Signals. Summarize his view of the acceptable look and behavior fo r‘‘lndian” males.
CLOSE VIEWING: Media Literacy Identify Film Techniques Consider how the use of music and the highand low-angle shots contribute to characterization in the beginning of the Stagecoach clip. How might the effect reinforce stereotypes?
4. Analyze Stereotypes In The Lone Ranger clip, the character Tonto might be considered an improvement over past portrayals of Native Americans. However, w hat might still be stereotypical about this character?
5. Analyze Characters Recall how Victor in Smoke Signals describes "real Indian” behavior. M ight their portrayal be perceived as a step forward? W h y or w hy not? Evaluate Characterization Smoke Signals director Chris Eyre has said, " I’m interested in telling stories about Indians w ho are normal, everyday people.” How effectively do the character portrayals in the scene from his film counter the stereotypes in Stagecoach and The Lone Ranger? Base your opinion on the modern-day setting in Smoke Signals and on
Media Study
Write or Discuss Compare Portrayals What impressions of Native Americans do you get from each clip? At the time each portrayal was first presented, how might it have affected perceptions of Native Americans? Write a comparison of the three clips you’ve viewed. Consider: • the portrayals of individuals or groups • the techniques of camera position, lighting, and music • the fact that Smoke Signals was written and directed by Native Americans
Produce Your Own Media Create an Image Award Consider any films or TV shows that you think rise above the simplistic techniques of stereotyping. What character portrayals or story lines strike you as complex and true to life? How sensitively are different
&
M E D IA TOOLS
For help with devising the image award criteria, visit the Media Center at ClassZone.com.
social groups portrayed? As a class, create a name for the award and devise basic criteria forjudging the pieces. After brainstorming choices with a partner, present your nominees to the class and choose one award winner.
HERE’S HOW Follow these guidelines as you plan your presentation: • As you brainstorm choices, ask yourself: In what aspects has this work succeeded while others have missed the mark? What impact might the choice have on viewers’ perceptions over time? • As you present each of your films or shows, explain the reasons it was
Tech Tip Use presentational software to show the title and attributes of each nominee.
nominated. The choice that meets (or exceeds) most of the criteria wins the image award.
Further Exploration Hold a Native American Film Festival According to Native American filmmaker Bird Runningwater, "Filmmaking provides a new way to merge a strong oral tradition of storytelling with technology and, in the process, revitalize ourselves.’’ Research Native American films and reviews. If possible, rent movies to view as a group, and then critique them in a panel discussion. Conduct a Native American Film Study Savage warrior. Noble savage. Sage protector of the earth. One hundred years of moviemaking hasn’t begun to cover the complexity and diversity of Native American cultural groups. Research westerns ranging from the 1950s to the present. What historical inaccuracies are evident? In contemporary works, have attempts to present more positive depictions fully succeeded?
M E D IA ST U D Y
65
Historical Narratives
Literary Analysis Workshop
a
ALABAM A ST A N D A R D S
readingstandard
3.b Determine author intent
If you wanted to know what life was like for someone 400 years ago, where could you get the information? History books could give you a general account, but what if you wanted to know the details of someone’s daily life or what it was like
]
to actually be at an important historical event? In American literature, there are many personal accounts that have been published and passed down through the centuries that give unique perspectives on the events of the past.
Recordiiig the America ii Experience Europeans began voyages by ship to the Americas in the late 15th century and reported news of their explorations and settlement.These historical narratives of the survivors told gripping adventure stories, written down in journals and letters, of the the first Europeans’ experiences of coming to America. Historical narratives are accounts of real-life historical experiences, written by either a person who
Indian Summer, Regis Francois Gignoux. © Christies Images/Corbis.
experienced those events or someone who studied or observed them. In many cases, the narratives became important historical documents that now exist as our principal record of events. Historical narratives can be divided into two categories: • Primary sources are materials written by people who were either participants in or observers of the events written about. Letters, diaries, journals, speeches, autobiographies, and interviews are all primary sources. • Secondary sources are records of events written by people who were not directly involved in the events. Two typical examples of secondary sources are biographies and histories.
Bringing the Past to Life Primary sources offer valuable insights into the thinking and culture of a given time period. Use these strategies to bring the information to life: • Determine a document’s origin. • Try to understand the perspective and motives of the writer. • Note sensory details that depict people, places, and events. • Identify customs, values, or conditions of the culture or time period.
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U N IT l : EA R LY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
TH E SLAVE N A R R A T IV E
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was one of many explorers who sailed to the New World after Christopher Columbus. The historical narrative La Relation (page 70) was Cabeza de Vaca’s report to the king of Spain. Note the personal perspective he provides in this excerpt about one night in his crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.
The slave narrative is an American literary genre that portrays the daily life of slaves as w ritten by the slaves themselves after gaining their freedom. Some 6,000 slave narratives are known to exist. The Reverend Ephraim Peabody wrote in 1849 about three recently published slave narratives: We place these volumes w ithout hesitation
When night fell, only the navigator and I remained able to tend the barge. Two hours after dark he told me I must take over; he believed he was going to die that night. —Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, La Relation
am ong the m ost rem arkable productions o f the age— rem arkable as being pictures o f slavery by the slave, rem arkable as disclos ing under a new light the mixed elements o f Am erican civilization, and not less remark able as a vivid exhibition o f the force and working o f the native love o f freedom in
In 1620, the Puritans survived a journey across the Atlantic in the Mayflower and landed at Cape Cod. In 1630, William Bradford, Plymouth Colony's second governor, began writing O f Plymouth Plantation (page 100), a chronicle of his colony’s experiences. Notice the use of sensory details in Bradford’s
the individual mind. -The Reverend Ephraim Peabody Probably the most influential example of the genre is the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, N arrative o f the Life o f Frederick
description of the colony’s first winter.
Douglass, an Am erican Slave, published in 1845 .
The weather was very cold and it froze so hard as the spray of the sea lighting on their coats, they were as if they had been glazed. —William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation
Close Read Describe w hat you think were the w riter’s motives for recording the events in the first tw o primary source examples on this page.
As the American colonies expanded from the 16th through the 18th centuries, the slave trade expanded as well. Olaudah Equiano was one of the millions of Africans captured and transported to the Americas. He survived this ordeal and published his autobiography in 1789. These lines from his autobiography describe the conditions below the decks of a slave ship and his first reaction to what he saw.
When I looked round the ship too, and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate. —Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Close Read Point out details that are particularly vivid. Describe how you would visualize the scene.
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y SIS W O R K SH O P
67
Exploration and the Early Settlers
□
READING & LIT STANDARDS
Read with comprehension informational materials 4 Analyze literary selections for cultural significance 3
from
La Relation
Report by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
NOTABLE QUOTE
“Better than to exaggerate, I have lessened in all things. ” FYI Did you know th a t Cabeza deVaca ... • recorded the only accounts of some nowextinct Native American groups?
to cross North and South
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
Am erica?
c. 14 9 0 -15 5 7
• w as the first European
• w as accom panied by an enslaved African named Esteban?
Author On[ine For more on Alvar Nunez Cabeza deVaca,visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
In 1536, Spanish slave hunters raiding in northern Mexico were startled by a strange sight: a Spaniard “strangely dressed and in company with Indians.” Long given up for dead, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca had survived one of the most disastrous expeditions in the history of the Spanish conquest to become the first European to cross North America. Conquering Hero Cabeza de Vaca came
3 1 # *
from a family of Spanish conquistadors, or conquerors. He had been a soldier for nearly 20 years when, in 1527, he joined an expedition to Spanish North America. Appointed by the king of Spain, he became treasurer and second in command, assigned the task of colonizing the territory north and east of the Gulf of Mexico. Disaster Strikes Led by Panfilo de Narvaez, the expedition sailed with five ships and 600 men. Two ships were lost
in a hurricane; 200 men drowned or deserted. After landing in Tampa Bay, Narvaez sent his ships north and ordered 300 men to march to New Spain (presentday Mexico), which he guessed to be a few weeks away. Months later, the ships were gone and the desperate landing party was eating its horses to survive. Using horsehide and nails made from melted armor, they built five barges and sailed along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas, hoping to reach Spanish settlements in northern Mexico. Two barges and 80 men washed up on or near Galveston Island. Ultimately, only Cabeza de Vaca and three other men survived. Cabeza de Vaca survived by adapting to his new surroundings. For six years, he lived with dozens of Native American groups in various roles—as a captive, a trader, and a well-known healer. In 1534, the four survivors escaped, setting out across the desert in search of New Spain. In 1536, they finally reached their goal. A year later, Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain, where he wrote his account of the expedition, La Relacion (The Account), as a report to the king. Conqueror No More The king rewarded
Cabeza de Vaca by appointing him governor of a South American colony, where his humane treatment of Native Americans may have cost him his job. By 1545, he had been ousted from his position and convicted on a corruption charge in Spain. Exiled to Africa, Cabeza de Vaca was eventually pardoned. In 1552, he returned to Spain to end his days as a judge.
Explore the Key Idea
• LITERARY ANALYSIS: HISTORICAL CONTEXT When you read historical works, you may notice statements that seem strange or even offensive. These remarks might be a reflection of the work’s historical context— the ideas and details from the author’s time that influence the written work.
What’s the S TO RY behind the GLORY?
It was amazing to see these wild, untaught savages howling like brutes in compassion fo r us.
Dreams of wealth, glory, and conquest lured adventurers to the
The author’s statement reflects views about Indians that most people of his time shared. To familiarize yourself with the
Americas, but few were prepared for the harsh reality that awaited them.
historical context of La Relacion, read the author biography on page 68 and the background information on page 70. Then, as
For every hero who claimed a fortune, there were hundreds of others who died trying. Often, the greatest prize of all
you read the work, note details that reflect this context.
• READING STRATEGY: READING A PRIMARY SOURCE Unlike a history book, La Relacion is an eyewitness report of events. Such primary sources give us special insight into historical events. When using these sources, consider • the intended audience
• the author's role in events
• where and when the document was written As you read, complete a chart like the one shown. Consult the author biography and background information as needed. Questions
Answers
W h at do 1know about the author and his times? W hat details tell me about life in I6th-centurif N orth America? W h at is the relationship between the author and his audience? W h at is the authors role in the events he describes?
A VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT The following words help bring this explorer’s account to life. Choose a synonym for each word from the numbered terms. W O RD
cauterize
ingratiate
locomotion
LIST
embody
inundate
tarry
1. movement
3. burn
5. flood
2. personify
4 . seek favor
6. delay
K EY IDEA
was living to tell the tale. What enabled some to survive while others failed?
DISCUSS In a small group, share stories you’ve read or heard that describe a person’s struggle to survive in desperate circumstances, such as a shipwreck, war, or a natural disaster. Then make a list of traits that those people or characters exhibit. Decide what qualities seem essential in a survivor.
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
B A CK G R O U N D In the 1500 s, Spanish conquistadors took to the seas to claim new land for Spain. Seeking gold and silver, they explored unfamiliar territory and encountered Native American cultures they did not understand. By the time Cabeza de Vaca sailed, Spaniards had conquered the Aztecs of Mexico and the Inca of Peru, tw o of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas. Millions of Native Americans would die in this often brutal cultural encounter. In La Relation, Cabeza de Vaca finds himself unexpectedly at the mercy of the people he came to conquer.
At this point in the account, Narvdezs barge has abandoned the rest, an d Cabeza de Vaca’s barge has jo in ed one com m anded by two other officers. The next three chapters describe the shipwreck o f Cabeza de Vaca’s barge on Galveston Island an d the crew ’s encounter with the Karankawa Indians who lived there. A Sinking and a Landing Our two barges continued in company for four days, each man eating a ration of half a handful of raw corn a day. Then the other barge was lost in a storm. Nothing but God’s great mercy kept us from going down, too. It was winter and bitterly cold, and we had suffered hunger and the heavy beating of the waves for many days. Next day, the men began to collapse. By sunset, all in my barge had fallen over on one another, close to death. Few were any longer conscious. Not five could stand. When night fell, only the navigator and I remained able to tend the barge. Two hours after dark he told me I must take over; he believed he was going to die that night. Q So I took the tiller. After midnight I moved over to see if he were dead. He said no, in fact was better, and would steer till daylight. In that hour I would have welcomed death rather than see so many around me in such a condition. When I had returned the helm to the navigator, I lay down to rest—but without much rest, for nothing was farther from my mind than sleep. Near dawn I seemed to hear breakers resounding; the coast lying low, they roared louder. Surprised at this, I called to the navigator, who said he thought we
U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S W h a t details in the image convey the desperate situation of the shipwrecked men?
3
P R IM A R Y S O U R C E Describe the tone of lines
4 - 9 . In w hat ways might the author’s choice of tone be influenced by his intended audience?
Illustration by Tom McNeely.
were coming close to land. We sounded and found ourselves in seven fathoms.1 The navigator felt we should stay clear of the shore till daylight; so I took an oar and pulled it on the shore side, wheeling the stern to seaward about a league2 out. 20 As we drifted into shore, a wave caught us and heaved the barge a horseshoethrow [about 42 feet] out of the water. The jolt when it hit brought the deadlooking men to. Seeing land at hand, they crawled through the surf to some rocks. Here we made a fire and parched some of our corn. We also found rain water. The men began to regain their senses, their locomotion, and their hope. This day of our landing was November 6.
30
40
50
What Befell Oviedo with the Indians After we ate, I ordered Lope de Oviedo, our strongest man, to climb one of the trees not far off and ascertain the lay of the land. He complied and found out from the treetop that we were on an island. [This was Galveston Island.] He also said that the ground looked as if cattle had trampled it and therefore that this must be a country of Christians. 0 I sent him back for a closer look, to see if he could find any worn trails, but warned him not to risk going too far. He went and came upon a path which he followed for half a league to some empty huts. The Indians were gone to shoalflats3 [to dig roots]. He took an earthen pot, a little dog, and a few mullets4 and started back. We had begun to worry what might have happened to him, so I detailed another two men to check. They met him shortly and saw three Indians with bows and arrows following him. The Indians were calling to him and he was gesturing them to keep coming. When he reached us, the Indians held back and sat down on the shore. Half an hour later a hundred bowmen reinforced the first three individuals. Whatever their stature, they looked like giants to us in our fright. We could not hope to defend ourselves; not half a dozen of us could even stand up. The Inspector [Solis] and I walked out and greeted them. They advanced, and we did our best to placate and ingratiate. We gave them beads and bells, and each one of them gave us an arrow in pledge of friendship. They told us by signs that they would return at sunrise and bring food, having none then. The Indians’ Hospitality Before and Alter a New Calamity As the sun rose next morning, the Indians appeared as they promised, bringing an abundance of fish and of certain roots which taste like nuts, some bigger than walnuts, some smaller, mostly grubbed from the water with great labor. That evening they came again with more fish and roots and brought their women and children to look at us. They thought themselves rich with the little bells and beads we gave them, and they repeated their visits on other days. 1. W e sounded .. .fathoms: We measured the depth of the water and found it to be about 42 feet. (A fathom is equal to 6 feet, or 1.83 meters.) 2. league: a unit of distance; Cabeza de Vaca probably used the Spanish league, equal to 3.1 miles (5 kilometers). 3. shoal-flats: stretches of level ground under shallow water. 4. mullets: certain edible fish.
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locomotion
(lo'ka-mo'shan) n. the power to move from place to place
O
H IS T O R IC A L C O N T E X T In the i 500 s,“ Christians” was used as a synonym for Europeans. W hat does this suggest about how the Spaniards saw the world?
)!i f „ .
ingratiate (Tn-gra'she-at') v. to gain another’s favor by deliberate effort
Being provided with what we needed, we thought to embark again. It was a struggle to dig our barge out of the sand it had sunk in, and another struggle to launch her. For the work in the water while launching, we stripped and stowed our clothes in the craft. Quickly clambering in and grabbing our oars, we had rowed two crossbow shots from shore when a wave inundated us. Being naked and the cold intense, 60 we let our oars go. The next big wave capsized the barge. The Inspector and two others held fast, but that only carried them more certainly underneath, where they drowned. A single roll of the sea tossed the rest of the men into the rushing surf and back onto shore half-drowned. We lost only those the barge took down; but the survivors escaped as naked as they were born, with the loss of everything we had. That was not much, but valuable to us in that bitter November cold, our bodies so emaciated we could easily count every bone and looked the very picture of death. I can say for myself that from the month of May I had eaten nothing but corn, and that sometimes 70 raw. I never could bring myself to eat any of the horse-meat at the time our beasts were slaughtered; and fish I did not taste ten times. On top of everything else, a cruel north wind commenced to complete our killing. Q The Lord willed that we should find embers while searching the remnants of our former fire. We found more wood and soon had big fires raging. Before them, with flowing tears, we prayed for mercy and pardon, each filled with pity not only for himself but for all his wretched fellows. At sunset the Indians, not knowing we had gone, came again with food. When they saw us looking so strangely different, they turned back in alarm. I went after them calling, and they returned, though frightened. I explained to them by signs so that our barge had sunk and three of our number drowned. They could see at their feet two of the dead men who had washed ashore. They could also see that the rest of us were not far from joining these two. The Indians, understanding our full plight, sat down and lamented for half an hour so loudly they could have been heard a long way off. It was amazing to see these wild, untaught savages howling like brutes in compassion for us. It intensified my own grief at our calamity and had the same effect on the other victims. When the cries died down, I conferred with the Christians about asking the Indians to take us to their homes. Some of our number who had been to New Spain warned that the Indians would sacrifice us to their idols.5 But death being 90 surer and nearer if we stayed where we were, I went ahead and beseeched the Indians. They were delighted. They told us to tarry a little while, then they would do as we wished. Presently thirty of them gathered loads of wood and disappeared to their huts, which were a long walk away; while we waited with the remainder until near nightfall. Then, supporting us under our arms, they hurried us from one
inundate (Tn'un-dat') v. to cover w ith water; to overwhelm
Q PRIMARY SOURCE Reread lines 68 - 71 . W hat does the author’s reponse to his current situation tell you about his usual diet?
tarry (tar'e) v. to delay
5. New Spain .. .their idols: New Spain included what is now the southwest United States, Mexico, Central America north of Panama, and some West Indian islands. In Mexico, conquistadors had encountered Aztecs who practiced human sacrifice. LA R E L A C IO N
73
100
to another of the four big fires they had built along the path. At each fire, when we regained a little warmth and strength, they took us on so swiftly our feet hardly touched ground. ^ Thus we made their village, where we saw they had erected a hut for us with many fires inside. An hour later they began a dance celebration that lasted all night. For us there was no joy, feasting, or sleep, as we waited the hour they should make us victims. In the morning, when they brought us fish and roots and acted in every way hospitably, we felt reassured and somewhat lost our anxiety of the sacrificial knife.
G R A M M A R A N D ST Y LE Reread lines 93 - 9 8 . Note how the author uses prepositional phrases, such as "until near nightfall” and "along the path," to add important details about where and when events are
Cabeza de Vaca learned that men from one o f the other barges had also landed on the island, bringing the number o f Europeans there to about 90. In a matter o f weeks, all but 16 o f them died o f disease, which spread to the Karankawas and killed h a lf o f them as well. Some o f the Karankawas wanted to p u t the rem aining Europeans to death but were dissuaded by Cabeza de Vaca’s host. Cabeza de Vaca an d his men were later fo rced to act as healers. How We Became Medicine-Men The islanders wanted to make physicians of us without examination or a review of diplomas. Their method of cure is to blow on the sick, the breath and the layingon of hands supposedly casting out the infirmity. They insisted we should do this too and be of some use to them. We scoffed at their cures and at the idea we knew how to heal. But they withheld food from us until we complied. An Indian told no me I knew not whereof I spoke in saying their methods had no effect. Stones and other things growing about in the fields, he said, had a virtue whereby passing a pebble along the stomach could take away pain and heal; surely extraordinary men like us embodied such powers over nature. Hunger forced us to obey, but disclaiming any responsibility for our failure or success. An Indian, falling sick, would send for a medicine-man, who would apply his cure. The patient would then give the medicine-man all he had and seek more from his relatives to give. The medicine-man makes incisions over the point of the pain, sucks the wound, and cauterizes it. This remedy enjoys high repute among the Indians. I have, as a matter of fact, tried it on myself with good results. The 120 medicine-men blow on the spot they have treated, as a finishing touch, and the patient regards himself relieved. Our method, however, was to bless the sick, breathe upon them, recite a Pater noster and Ave Maria,6 and pray earnestly to God our Lord for their recovery. When we concluded with the sign of the cross, He willed that our patients should directly spread the news that they had been restored to health. Q In consequence, the Indians treated us kindly. They deprived themselves of food to give to us, and presented us skins and other tokens of gratitude. C^>
Translated by Cyclone Covey
happening.
1
isGY^s
.
embody (em-bod’e) v. to represent in human form
cauterize (ko’ts-riz') v. to burn or sear to destroy diseased tissue
o
H IS T O R IC A L C O N T E X T In Cabeza de Vaca’s time, no one had good knowledge of w hat caused disease. Reread lines
105 - 125 . In what ways did the Spanish and the Karankawas have similiar
6. Pater noster (pa'tsr nos’tsr) and Ave Maria (a'va me-re'a): the Lord’s Prayer ("Our Father”) and the Hail Mary, named for the prayers'opening words in Latin.
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ideas about healing?
After Reading
Comprehension 1. Summarize What was life like for the Spaniards on the barges? 2. Recall What happened to Cabeza de Vaca’s men when they tried to leave Galveston Island?
ALABAM A STANDARDS
a
READING STANDARD 3 Read with comprehension
informational materials
3. Clarify Why did the Karankawas enlist the Spaniards as healers?
Literary Analysis 4. Make Inferences Based on the events and reactions Cabeza de Vaca describes, what appears to be the Karankawas’view of the Spaniards? Cite details to support your answer. 5. Examine Character Traits What qualities of a survivor does Cabeza de Vaca demonstrate in each situation? • approaching Galveston Island (lines 10-17) • meeting the Karankawas (lines 41-46) • asking the Karankawas for help (lines 89-91) • adopting a new healing practice (lines 118-119)
6 . Evaluate a Primary Source Review the information you collected about La Relacion as you read. In what ways would you consider this account a valuable and reliable source of information? What are its shortcomings? Explain your conclusions. 7. Make Generalizations About Historical Context To understand the historical context of a work, you need to consult sources outside of the work for information. Identify three passages from La Relacion that reflect ideas, values, or events from the author’s time. Then, using the footnotes to the text and the background information on page 70 as sources, explain the historical context of each example. Based on your results, what generalizations can you make about 16th-century Spanish perspectives? Create a chart to organize your notes.
ExoMp/es from Text
InforMotion from Other
•
Sources
•
•
•
•
.
I
Gejieraliz-ations About Historical Context • • •
Literary Criticism 8. Biographical Context Later in life, Cabeza de Vaca spoke out against the enslavement of Native Americans. How might his experiences as a captive, trader, and healer among the Karankawas and other groups have influenced his position? Explain your answer, citing evidence from the text.
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75
Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE
WO R D LI ST
Choose the word that is not related in meaning to the other words. 1. (a) transit, (b) locomotion, (c) movement, (d) connection 2. (a) inane, (b) incompetent, (c) ingratiate, (d) inept 3. (a) deluge, (b) inundate, (c) wind, (d) overwhelm 4 . (a) cauterize, (b) sear, (c) singe, (d) weep
cauterize embody ingratiate inundate locomotion tarry
5. (a) obtain, (b) dawdle, (c) tarry, (d) linger
6. (a) embody, (b) personify, (c) actualize, (d) construct
VOCABULARY IN WRITING How do you suppose Cabeza de Vaca’s men looked to the Karankawas when they first met? Write a brief description of the crew from the Karankawas’ point of view. Include two or more vocabulary words. You could start like this. E X A M P L E SENTENCE
The, strangers on shore seeMed to embody pure Misery.
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: ETYMOLOGIES The etymology of a word, or its origin and history, can provide insight into the word’s meaning. Information about a word’s etymology will often appear near the beginning or end of a dictionary entry, as in the following example:
cau»ter»ize (ko'ta-rlz') tr.v. -ized, -iz»ing, -iz»es 1. To burn or sear with a cautery. 2. To deaden, as to feelings or moral scruples. [Middle English cauterizen, from Late Latin cauterizare, to cauterize, brand, from Latin cauterium, cautery.] —cau«ter»i«za*tion (-tar-T-za'shan) n. PRACTICE Use a dictionary to answer these questions. 1. From what language did
oratorio enter English?
2. From which Greek word is cynosure derived? What is the word’s current
meaning? 3. What is the origin of the word
malaprop?
4 . Through which languages can the history of querulous be traced?
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VOCABULARY P R A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
SK IL L S PRACTICE
Reading-Writing Connection
u
W R IT IN G P R O M P T
SELF-C H EC K
EXPLO RER’S ACCOUNT Explorers often keep journals to record their experiences. These accounts— from the
A successfuljournal entry will...
historical w ritings o f Lewis and Clark to th e reports of
• be w ritten in th e first person,
a modern astronaut— describe w h a t th e explorers see, w hen events on th eir jou rn ey occur, and h ow th e w riters are changed by th e ir experiences. W rite a two-to-four-paragraph jo u rn al en try to describe an interesting m om ent in an exploration. Your jo u rn e y can be real or fictional, physical or m ental— a trip to a n e w to w n or a new galaxy, a trek across th e desert or th e race to a new invention. Be sure to share your reactions to it.
using th e pronouns I and me • clearly recount a specific event or m om ent in th e w rite r’s exploration • vividly describe th e surround ings, people, or events influenc ing th e m om ent • reveal th e w rite r’s reactions to th e experience or event
G R A M M A R A N D STYLE
ADD NECESSARY DETAILS Review the Grammar and Style note on page 74. Cabeza de Vaca uses numerous details throughout his account to help readers visualize his amazing journey. Prepositional phrases include details about what
a
ALABAM A STANDARDS
WRITING/LANGUAGE STANDARD lO.a Editing for style
happens, as well as where, when, and how. Read this example from La Relacion:
A single roll o f the sea tossed the rest o f the men into the rushing surf and back onto shore half-drowned, (lines 63-64) PRACTICE Rewrite each sentence, adding prepositional phrases that modify the boldfaced words. Follow the directions in parentheses. An example has been done for you. EX A M P LE
The barges, filled with half-starved men, drifted for days. (Tell where they drifted.) The barges, filled w ith h a Jf starved Men, drifted on the stormi/ seas for days.
1. They told us they would return and bring us food. (Tell when they will return.) 2. We traveled through the woods to the village. (Add two phrases. Tell how long they traveled and where the village was located.) 3. We waited anxiously for news. (Tell what kind of news was expected.)
£
W R IT IN G T O O LS For prewriting, revision, and editing tools, visit the W riting Center at ClassZone.com.
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77
Exploration and the Early Settlers
a 2
READING & LIT STANDARDS
Analyze use of imagery
4 Analyze literary selections for cultural significance
fromThe Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Slave Narrative by Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah E q u ia n o ...
Instead, in 1762 he was sold again, to Quaker merchant Robert King, who trained him in business. In 1766, after 21 years as a slave, Equiano bought back his freedom, moved to London, and promptly launched his business career. But by 1773, he was at sea again, first on an expedition to find a northwest passage, and later traveling to Central America and Turkey.
• w as a best-selling
Turning Points In the late 1770s, Equiano
author in Britain?
returned to London where he got involved in antislavery efforts and converted to Christianity. In 1789, as public debate over abolishing the slave trade began in Britain, Equiano wrote, self-published, and promoted his narrative. Equiano’s life story exposed the cruelty of the slave trade and made him an important public figure. He died in 1797, just ten years before Britain abolished the slave trade.
N O TA BL E QUOTE
“Every new thing that I observed I treasured up in my memory. ” FYI Did you know th at
• ow ned slaves in Central Am erica? • married an English w om an and raised tw o
Olaudah Equiano
daughters?
c. 1 7 4 5 -1 7 9 7
• died a w ea lth y m an?
Author On[ine For more on Olaudah Equiano, visit the Literature Center at
ClassZone.com.
______ J
Soldier, sailor, North Pole explorer— Olaudah Equiano led a remarkable life by the standards of any age. Writing as a former slave in the 1700s, Equiano left powerful testimony on the brutality of enslavement that became the model for a new genre, the slave narrative. Ocean Crossings According to his
Diagram of the cargo hold of a fully loaded slave ship
autobiography, Equiano was born a chief s son in the Ibo (or Igbo) culture of present-day Nigeria. When he was 11, he was captured and sold as a slave to a series of African masters before making the miserable journey to the Americas known as the Middle Passage. Sold in the West Indies to British navy officer Michael Pascal, Equiano returned to sea with his new owner, who renamed him Gustavus Vassa. Equiano spent years fighting for Britain, hoping to be freed for good service.
Historians Look More Closely Equiano’s narrative includes a wealth of specific details, most of which check out against other sources. But, in 1999, English professor Vincent Carretta uncovered two documents that suggested Equiano was not born in Africa: his baptismal record from England and a ship’s passenger list, both of which identify Equiano’s birthplace as South Carolina. Historians continue to debate the evidence and how, if at all, it changes the value of The Interesting Narrative. Carretta himself points out that even if the narrative is based on the oral accounts of other slaves, its descriptions still provide a valuable portrait of early African life and the Middle Passage.
Explore the Key Idea
• LITERARY ANALYSIS: SLAVE NARRATIVE Few of us can imagine what slavery was really like. Slave narratives, the life stories of people who survived slavery, help us understand the grim realities of this experience. Olaudah Equiano wrote The Interesting Narrative at a time when many Africans remembered their lives before enslavement. Like other 18th-century slave narratives, his work • portrays the culture shock of a newly captured African • focuses criticism on slave traders, not slave owners • includes religious and moral appeals against slavery As you read, note how the author develops these topics.
What does it mean to he a SLAVE? KEY IDEA
From the 1500s to the 1800s,
millions of Africans were enslaved to work in the Americas. Their experiences have been documented in books and portrayed in films. What do you know about the realities of slavery?
TEST YOURSELF Decide whether each statement is true or false. Think about
% READING SKILL: ANALYZE DETAILS Equiano’s readers had little contact with slavery. He chose powerful descriptive details to bring the experience to life.
the facts or impressions that helped you choose your answer.
The closeness o f the place, and the heat o f the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us.
S LA V E RY:
Fact or Fiction
■ i. Slavery was a common practice in Africa.
To reach his readers, Equiano uses
□
• sensory details, ones that appeal to the five senses
TRUE
O
FAtsE
2 . No Africans participated willingly in the slave trade.
• descriptions of his own reactions
□
TRUE
O
FAlSE
• anecdotes, brief stories that support his points 3 . M ost enslaved Africans were brought
As you read, use a chart like the one shown to record effective examples of each kind of detail. Sensory Details
Reactions
j
to North America. □
TRUE
O
FALSE
4 . Captured Africans were packed like
Anecdotes
cargo into slave ships. □
TRUE
O
|!ALSE
5 . Slave traders typically sold families j
A VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT
as a single group. □
TRUE
O
FALSE
Equiano used the following words in his argument against slavery. Restate each phrase, using a different word or words for the boldfaced term.
1 . copious amounts of rain, causing a flood 2. the nominal boss, but with no real authority 3. her countenance betraying her fear 4. cruel rulers acting without worry or scruple 5. to our consternation, revealed all our plans
6. deadly effects of pestilential beetles 79
T
he
In t e r e st in g N a r r a t iv e
°fthe Life of Qlaudah Equiano O l a u d a h Eq u i a n o
B A C K G R O U N D As European colonies in the Americas expanded, so did the slave trade. Slaves were captured in Africa, then taken by ship to the W est Indies— a journey called the Middle Passage. For tw o months, Africans lay tightly chained in storage compartments w ith hardly enough air to breathe. Millions died from bad food, harsh treatment, disease, and despair. Olaudah Equiano is one of the few to describe this horrific journey.
When Olaudah Equiano was 11 years old, he and his sister were kidnapped while the adults in his village were working in the fields. After being fo rced to travelfo r several days, Equiano and his sister were separated. For the next six or seven months, Equiano was sold several times to African masters in different countries. He was eventually taken to the west coast o f Africa and carried aboard a slave ship bound fo r the West Indies.
10
80
The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board. I was immediately handled, and tossed up to see if I were sound, by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions, too, differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke (which was very different from any I had ever heard), united to confirm me in this belief. © Indeed, such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to
U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S Describe the mood of this painting. W h a t does the image reveal about the conditions on board a slave ship?
S L A V E N A R R A T IV E Note Equiano’s use of
first-person point of view in lines 1 - 8 . In w hat ways might this description be startling to Equiano’s mostly European audience?
Detail o f The Slave Ship (1956), Robert Riggs. N.A. Courtesy of Les Mansfield, Cincinnati, Ohio.
have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave1 in my own country. When I looked round the ship too, and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate; and, quite overpowered with horror and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted. When I recovered a little, I found some black people about me, who I believed were some of those who had brought me on board, and had been receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer me, but all in vain. I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, 20 and long hair. They told me I was not, and one of the crew brought me a small portion of spirituous liquor in a wine glass; but, being afraid of him, I would not take it out of his hand. One of the blacks, therefore, took it from him and gave it to me, and I took a little down my palate, which, instead of reviving me, as they thought it would, threw me into the greatest consternation at the strange feeling it produced, having never tasted any such liquor before. Soon after this, the blacks who brought me on board went off, and left me abandoned to despair. Q I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present 30 situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ig norance of what I was to undergo. I was not long suffered to indulge my grief; I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, 1 became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eat ables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across, I think, the windlass,2 and tied my feet, while the other flogged3 me severely. I had never experienced anything of this kind before, and, although not 40 being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet, nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings,4 1 would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water; and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut, for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case with myself. In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own na tion, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. I inquired of these what was to be done with us? They gave me to understand, we were to be carried to these white people’s country to work for them. I then was a little revived, and thought, if 50 it were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate; but still I feared 1. the meanest slave:
the poorest or most wretched slave.
2 . windlass (wTnd'las): a device for raising and lowering a ship’s anchor.
3. flogged: beat with a whip or rod. 4. nettings: networks of small ropes on the sides of a ship that were used for various purposes, such as stowing sails. On slave ships, the nettings helped keep the slaves from jumping overboard.
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countenance (koun'ta-nans) n. appearance, especially the expression of the face
consternation (kon'star-na'shan) n. a state of paralyzing dismay; fear
Q ANALYZE DETAILS Reread lines 1 - 26 . W h at details reinforce Equiano’s impression that he has been captured by bad spirits?
I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only shown towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves. One white man in particular I saw, when we were permitted to be on deck, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast,5 that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute. This made me fear these people the more; and I expected nothing less <0 than to be treated in the same manner. I could not help expressing my fears and ap prehensions to some of my countrymen; I asked them if these people had no coun60 try, but lived in this hollow place (the ship)? They told me they did not, but came from a distant one. “Then,” said I, “how comes it in all our country we never heard of them?” They told me because they lived so very far off. I then asked where were their women? had they any like themselves? I was told they had. “And why,” said I, “do we not see them?” They answered, because they were left behind. I asked how the vessel could go? They told me they could not tell; but that there was cloth put upon the masts by the help of the ropes I saw, and then the vessel went on; and the white men had some spell or magic they put in the water when they liked, in order to stop the vessel. I was exceedingly amazed at this account, and really thought they were spirits. I therefore wished much to be from amongst them, for I expected they 70 would sacrifice me; but my wishes were vain—for we were so quartered that it was impossible for any of us to make our escape. . . . © At last, when the ship we were in, had got in all her cargo, they made ready with many fearful noises, and we were all put under deck, so that we could not see how they managed the vessel. But this disappointment was the least of my sorrow. The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which 80 was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died. . . . This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling6 of the chains. . . . The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps, for myself, I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck; and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began 90 to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. . . . Q One day they had taken a number of fishes; and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who
G R A M M A R A N D STYLE Reread lines 54 - 57. Note how Equiano uses adverb
clauses, such as “ when we were permitted to be on deck,” to modify verbs and adverbs in the sentence.
©
S L A V E N A R R A T IV E Look back at lines 48 - 52 . W h at does Equiano’s reaction reveal about the w ay he regards slavery?
pestilential (pes'ts-len'shal) adj. deadly; poisonous
copious (ko'pe-as) adj. in large amounts; abundant
Q
A N A L Y Z E D E T A ILS W h a t details in lines
7 5 -8 5 does Equiano use to describe conditions below decks?
5. foremast (for'masththe mast (tall pole that supports sails and rigging) nearest the forward end of a sailing ship. 6 . galling: rubbing or chafing, enough to produce sores.
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100
were on deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat, as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity, when they thought no one saw them, of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings. One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea; immediately, another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ship’s crew, who were instantly alarmed. . . .
During the rest o f his voyage to the West Indies, Equiano continued to endure hardships. After the ship anchored on the coast o f Barbados, Equiano an d the other slaves were brought ashore an d herded together in a slave m erchant’s ya rd to be sold.
110
120
We were not many days in the merchant’s custody, before we were sold after their usual manner, which is this: On a signal given (as the beat of a drum), the buyers rush at once into the yard where the slaves are confined, and make choice of that parcel7 they like best. The noise and clamor with which this is attended, and the eagerness visible in the countenances of the buyers, serve not a little to increase the apprehension of terrified Africans, who may well be supposed to consider them as the ministers of that destruction to which they think themselves devoted. In this manner, without scruple, are relations and friends separated, most of them never to see each other again. I remember, in the vessel in which I was brought over, in the men’s apartment, there were several brothers, who, in the sale, were sold in different lots; and it was very moving on this occasion, to see and hear their cries at parting. O, ye nominal Christians! might not an African ask you—Learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends, to toil for your luxury and lust of gain? Must every tender feeling be likewise sacrificed to your avarice? Are the dearest friends and relations now rendered more dear by their separation from their kindred, still to be parted from each other, and thus prevented from cheering the gloom of slavery, with the small comfort of being together, and mingling their sufferings and sorrows? W hy are parents to lose their children, brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives? Surely, this is a new refinement in cruelty, which . . . thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery. Q
7. 84
parcel:
a group of slaves offered for sale as one "package."
U N IT I : E A R L Y A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
scruple (skroo'pal) n. feeling of uneasiness or guilt that keeps a person from doing something
nominal (nom'a-nel) adj. in name but not in reality
Q
S L A V E N A R R A T IV E W h a t point is Equiano making in lines 116 - 118 ? To w hat emotions is he appealing?
After Reading
Comprehension 1. Recall Who has brought Equiano to the slave ship? 2. Recall What does Equiano think will happen to him when he is brought
□
ALABAM A STANDARDS
LITERATURE STANDARD 4 Analyze literary selections for
cultural significance
on board ship? 3. Clarify What does Equiano mean when he refers to "nominal Christians” ?
Literary Analysis 4. Analyze Descriptive Details Review the chart you made while reading. Identify the details that had the strongest impact on you as a reader. Why were those details so effective? 5. Make Inferences About Cultural Context Equiano portrays himself as an African encountering Europeans for the very first time. By describing his shocked and confused responses to the men of this different culture, Equiano reveals clues about African beliefs and customs. In each example, what inferences can you make about the narrator’s cultural context? • his fears of white men (lines 18-20) • how he responds to fellow Africans (lines 20-23) • his questions about the ship (lines 59-68) • his reactions to cruelty around him (lines 50-57 and 91-95) 6. Compare and Contrast Like Cabeza de Vaca, Equiano describes a journey to the Americas. In what ways does his narrative resemble La Relacion? Identify at least two similarities and two differences. 7. Synthesize Information Review your answers to the quiz about slavery that you took before reading Equiano’s narrative. What facts or details in his account most surprised you? Correct your quiz answers to reflect what you learned.
8. Evaluate a Slave Narrative Some historians have questioned whether Equiano’s narrative is authentic. Read the information on this debate in the author’s biography on page 78. Based on the issues raised, what you have learned about slave narratives, and your own reading, make an argument for or against the historical value of Equiano’s account. Support your answer with details.
Literary Criticism Biographical Context In 1775, just 14 years before writing his life story, Equiano bought slaves to work on his Central American plantation. He explained his actions by saying he did what he could "to comfort the poor creatures, and render their condition easy.” Do you find this explanation consistent with the views of slavery put forth in The Interesting Narrative? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
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Vocabulary in Context WO R D LI ST
V O C A B U L A R Y P R A C T IC E
consternation
Choose the letter of the phrase that defines or is related to the boldfaced word.
copious
1 . countenance: (a) a sad expression, (b) a well-toned body, (c) a cash register
countenance
2. consternation: (a) a freight ship, (b) a serious accident, (c) a peace treaty
nominal
3. copious: (a) a nest of baby birds, (b) a xerographic machine, (c) a 20-inch snowfall
pestilential scruple
4. pestilential: (a) a contagious disease, (b) a cooking implement, (c) a vegetarian meal 5. scruple: (a) an attack of conscience, (b) a two-handed card game, (c) a ruffle on a skirt 6. nominal: (a) a stretch limousine, (b) a word derived from a foreign language, (c) a leader with no real power V O C A B U L A R Y IN W R I T I N G
Imagine yourself as an observer at a slave auction in early America. Using three or more vocabulary words, write a brief description of what you might have observed. Here is a sample beginning.
ALABAM A STANDARDS
□
READING STANDARD 3.c Applying context clues and
structural analysis to determine word meaning E X A M P L E SENTENCE
On the countenance o f every prisoner to be sold at the auction was an expression o f terror and panic,
V O C A B U L A R Y S T R A T E G Y : T H E L A T IN R O O T n o m
The vocabulary word nominal contains the Latin root nom, which means "name.” This root is found in a number of English words. To understand words with nom, use
ignominious nom inal
context clues as well as your knowledge of the root.
PRACTICE Choose the word from the word web that best completes each sentence. Consider what you know about the Latin root nom and other word parts shown. If necessary, consult a dictionary. 1. The president decided to
a young woman to fill the job.
2. It is a real______to call this stringy meat “tenderloin.” 3. Scientific_____often makes use of Latin words.
4. The 20-dollar bill is a 5. After that
86
_ that is frequently counterfeited,
defeat, he was ashamed to show his face.
U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
VOCABULARY PR A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
SK IL L S PRACTICE
Reading-Writing Connection
a
WRITING PROMPT
SELF-CHECK
W RITE A PERSONAL LETTER Equiano w rites about his
A successful letter will...
experiences for readers w h o did not know him personally.
• be w ritte n in th e first person,
By contrast, in a personal letter, th e relationship betw een the w rite r and the audience influences th e language and details chosen by th e w rite r to convey his or her message. Choose an experience or a scene you w a n t to describe. W rite a one-page personal letter to com m unicate your observations to som eone close to you. Include details th a t
using the pronouns I or me • address a fam iliar audience • include language appropriate to th e audience • conform to standard letterw ritin g form ats
are especially m eaningful to your audience.
G R A M M A R AND STYLE
ADD DESCRIPTIVE DETAILS Review the Grammar and Style note on page 83. Equiano uses elaborate and richly detailed sentences to describe his experiences. Some of the details are contained in adverb clauses, as in this example:
a
ALABAM A STANDARDS
w ritin g /la n g u a g e stan d ard
10-a Editing for style
These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board, (lines 2-4) In this sentence, the adverb clause modifies filled, describing when the action occurred. Adverb clauses also help answer the questions where, why, how, or to
what degree. Like other subordinate clauses, adverb clauses include a subject and a predicate, but they cannot stand alone as independent sentences. They are often introduced with words such as as if, because, since, so that, until, while,
when, or where. PRACTICE Add adverb clauses to the following sentences to modify the boldfaced words, as instructed in parentheses. A sample answer has been done for you. EXAM PLE
He saw the ship for the first time. (Tell when he saw it.) He saw "the ship for the firs t tiwe when he arrived at the harbor.
1. The men on the ship had been captured. (Tell why they were captured.) 2. The prisoners were kept in the ship’s hold. (Tell how long they were kept there.) 3. Many slaves became ill. (Add two details. Tell why and when the slaves became ill.)
W R IT IN G TOOLS
For prewriting, revision, and editing tools, visit the W riting Center at ClassZone.com.
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from
READING STANDARDS
1 Analyze use of literary elements including point of view
The General History of Virginia
Historical Narrative by John Smith
Read with comprehension informational materials 3
first president died and the next two were deposed; colonists mutinied and deserted the colony, living in the nearby woods. Smith took control of the colony in 1608. As he tells it, he focused on survival—safety, shelter, and food—and led forcefully, pushing settlers of all social levels to work as hard as he did. History tells us a slightly different story: Smith was nearly executed for the deaths of two colonists on an expedition he led. It also tells us, however, that Jamestown thrived under his command and fell into greed, chaos, and starvation after his departure in 1610.
NOTABLE QUOTE
“He that will not work, shall not eat. ” FYI Did you know that John Sm ith ... • coined the nam e "N e w England” ? • offered to accom pany the Pilgrims— w ho chose M iles Standish
John Smith
instead?
c. 1580-1631
• w rote a how-to m anual on establishing
The author of one of the earliest works of American literature continues to inspire widely varied reactions among historians. Called a boastful bully by some and an early American hero by others, John Smith created a legend around himself that lasts to this day.
colonies? • left the Jam estow n colony after tw o years and never w e n t back?
AuthorOnjine For more on John Smith, visit the Literature Cen ter at ClassZone.com.
Great Adventures At age 16, Smith left
J
Replicas of Jam estown ships
England to become a soldier for hire and occasional pirate. In 1605, after traveling to Austria, Turkey, and North Africa, he returned to England. Smith’s military experience made him a good leader in the eyes of the Virginia Company, the group of investors hoping for huge profits from their New World venture. They hired him to help run the Jamestown colony, where he arrived in 1607. Struggles for Control Conflicts broke out
in Jamestown almost immediately. The
Fact or Fiction? Shortly after arriving in Virginia, John Smith was captured by the Powhatan Indians. Smith writes several times of his 1607 capture and of being brought before the tribe’s leader, Powhatan. Only in the final version, the 1624 General History o f Virginia, does Smith mention his rescue by Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas, who would have been ten years old at the time. The story may have been an attempt by Smith to cash in on Pocahontas’s later fame: she had visited England in 1616 and become a celebrity.
In the meantime, Smith had fallen on hard times. After one early success, his attempts to colonize New England were dismal failures. Smith wanted to prove that hard work was the smartest way to develop a colony, but he never got his chance. He made his living from tales of his adventurous life and died unemployed in London in 1631.
iS i
■
#
Explore the Key Idea
L IT E R A R Y A N A L Y S IS : N A R R A T O R
A narrator is the voice that tells a story. The voice an author chooses shapes the way readers perceive the events described. Most nonfiction authors write about themselves in the first person. John Smith writes about himself mostly in the third person, using a voice that sounds like an objective observer. As you read, notice how Smith uses the narrator to portray himself and his role in events. Consider how the third-person point of view affects your perceptions of the account. 0
What makes a
LEADER? KEY IDEA In some societies, like 17thcentury Britain, leaders were chosen on the basis of their social status.
Reading centuries-old texts can be like reading a foreign language. Here are some strategies you can use to confront common difficulties in reading older texts:
But men used to luxury and privilege didn’t thrive in the Jamestown colony, where hard work and scarce supplies were facts of daily life. In this context, where leaders needed common sense and determination to succeed, a new
• Replace unclear pronouns with names.
standard of leadership emerged.
• Simplify difficult syntax (word order) by paraphrasing. For
DISCUSS Working with a small group,
R E A D IN G S T R A T E G Y : R E A D IN G O L D E R T E X T S
a difficult sentence, first establish who is doing what. Then sort out the meaning in the phrases and clauses. • Use footnotes or side notes to translate archaic expressions, words and phrases no longer in use. • Focus on key details by setting a purpose for reading.
brainstorm examples of strong leaders who demonstrate different leadership styles. Use your examples to debate the pros and cons of each style. Is any one style best in all situations?
In this case, your purpose for reading is to make sense of the conflicts among the Jamestown colonists. Use a chart like the one shown to take notes about these key individuals. Individuals
Connection to Smith
L ta d e r
Actions Style.
Vre.side.ni VJingfi&ld Captain Kendall
^
Robinson and &Mr\j
Vos
1
Cons
George Cass&n
A
V O C A B U L A R Y IN C O N T E X T
Choose words from the list to complete the phrases below. WORD LI ST
depose
industry
entreaty
interim
mollify
1. a corrupt leader whom they voted to _______ 2. a peacemaker trying t o 3. a desperate
the unruly crowd
for our assistance
4 . admired by co-workers for her_______
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th e
G e n e ra l H is to ry of V i r g i n i a John Smith
B A C K G R O U N D The Jam estown colony was modeled after a military expedition,
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
transplanting about 100 hardy men into the Virginia wilderness in M ay 1607 .
Which details of this map do not
Five members of Jam estown’s ruling council— Edward Wingfield, Bartholom ew
seem realistic? Explain what
Gosnold.John Ratcliffe, George Kendall, and John Sm ith— soon found themselves
helps you distinguish accurate
wrestling for control of the colony. As Sm ith’s account opens, the colonists’ ships
details from fictitious ones.
have returned to England for supplies, leaving the men to survive on their own.
10
90
The Struggle for Jamestown Being thus left to our fortunes, it fortuned that within ten days, scarce ten amongst us could either go or well stand, such extreme weakness and sickness oppressed us. And thereat none need marvel if they consider the cause and reason which was this: While the ships stayed, our allowance was somewhat bettered by a daily proportion of biscuit which the sailors would pilfer to sell, give, or exchange with us for money, sassafras, furs, or love. But when they departed, there remained neither tavern, beer-house, nor place of relief but the common kettle. Had we been as free from all sins as [we were free from] gluttony and drunkenness we might have been canonized for saints, but our President [Edward Wingfield] would never have been admitted for engrossing to his private, oatmeal, sack, oil, aqua vitae, beef, eggs, or what not but the kettle; that indeed he allowed equally to be distributed, and that was half a pint of wheat and as much barley boiled with water for a man a day, and this, having fried some twenty-six weeks in the ship’s hold, contained as many worms as grains so that we might truly call it rather so much bran than corn; our drink was water, our lodgings castles in the air. Q U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
6 sassafras: A kind of tree believed to have medical properties. 8 common kettle: food that was . available to everyone.
11 engrossing to his private: taking for his private use; sack: wine; aqua vitae: brandy.
Q
O LD ER TEXTS Using the side notes, restate lines 8 -1 2 in modern English. W h a t joke is Smith making?
Arrival o f the English in Virginia (1585-1588), Theodore de Bry. Engraving © Giraudon/A * Resource, New York.
uenoRe
.oano
With this lodging and diet, our extreme toil in bearing and planting palisades so strained and bruised us and our continual labor in the extremity 20 of the heat had so weakened us, as were cause sufficient to have made us as miserable in our native country or any other place in the world. From May to September, those that escaped lived upon sturgeon and sea crabs. Fifty in this time we buried; the rest seeing the President’s projects to escape these miseries in our pinnace by flight (who all this time had neither felt want nor sickness) so moved our dead spirits as we deposed him and established Ratcliffe in his place (Gosnold being dead), Kendall deposed. Smith newly recovered, Martin and Ratcliffe were by his care preserved and relieved, and the most of the soldiers recovered with the skillful diligence of Master Thomas Wotton our surgeon general. Q 30 But now was all our provision spent, the sturgeon gone, all helps abandoned, each hour expecting the fury of the savages, when God, the patron of all good endeavors, in that desperate extremity so changed the hearts of the savages that they brought such plenty of their fruits and provision as no man wanted. The new President [Ratcliffe] and Martin, being little beloved, of weak judgment in dangers, and less industry in peace, committed the managing of all things abroad to Captain Smith, who, by his own example, good words, and fair promises, set some to mow, others to bind thatch, some to build houses, others to thatch them, himself always bearing the greatest task 40 for his own share, so that in short time he provided most of them lodgings, neglecting any for himself. . . . ©
walls made of tall, pointed wooden stakes.
19 palisades:
24 pinnace:
a small sailing ship.
depose (dT-poz') v. to remove from rule
o
O LD ER TEXTS Reread lines 27 - 28 . Clarify the pronoun referent for the word his in line 27. W ho is responsible for healing Martin and Ratcliffe?
industry (Tn'da-stre) n. hard work; diligence 37 abroad:
Q
outside the palisades.
NARRATOR Reread lines 35 - 41 . Do Sm ith’s
A Surprise Attack Smith, perceiving (notwithstanding their late misery) not any regarded but from hand to mouth, (the company being well recovered) caused the pinnace to be provided with things fitting to get provision for the year following, but in the interim he made three or four journeys and discovered the people of Chickahominy, yet what he carefully provided the rest carelessly spent. Wingfield and Kendall, living in disgrace strengthened themselves with the sailors and other confederates to regain their former credit and authority, 50 or at least such means aboard the pinnace (being fitted to sail as Smith had appointed for trade), to alter her course and to go for England. Smith, unexpectedly returning, had the plot discovered to him, much trouble he had to prevent it, till with the store of saker and musket shot he forced them [to] stay or sink in the river: which action cost the life of Captain Kendall. These brawls are so disgustful, as some will say they are better forgotten, yet all men of good judgment will conclude it were better their baseness should be manifest to the world, than the business bear the scorn and shame of their excused disorders.
92
U N IT l : EA R LY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
claims sound more or less credible than they would if stated by a first-person narrator? Give reasons for your answer. interim (Tn'tar-Tm) n. period in between; interval 46 Chickahom iny
(chT'ke-ha'me-ne):
a river in Virginia.
52 discovered: 53 saker:
revealed.
cannon shot.
Kendall was executed for mutiny in 1607 . 55 Captain Kendall:
is better to reveal the troublemakers than to have the "business” of the colony get a bad name. 57-59 it w e r e . . . disorders: It
Illustration of Jamestown Fort, Virginia, about 1608. Getty Images. 60
70
80
The President and Captain Archer not long after intended also to have abandoned the country, which project also was curbed and suppressed by Smith. The Spaniard never more greedily desired gold than he [Smith] victual, nor his soldiers more to abandon the country than he to keep it. But [he found] plenty of corn in the river of Chickahominy, where hundreds of savages in divers places stood with baskets expecting his coming. And now the winter approaching, the rivers became so covered with swans, geese, ducks, and cranes that we daily feasted with good bread, Virginia peas, pumpkins, and putchamins, fish, fowl, and divers sort of wild beasts as fast as we could eat them, so that none of our tuftaffety humorists desired to go for England. But our comedies never endured long without a tragedy, some idle exceptions being muttered against Captain Smith for not discovering the head of Chickahominy river and [he being] taxed by the Council to be too slow in so worthy an attempt. The next voyage he proceeded so far that with much labor by cutting of trees asunder he made his passage, but when his barge could pass no farther, he left her in a broad bay of danger of shot, commanding none should go ashore till his return, himself with two English and two savages went up higher in a canoe, but he was not long absent but his men went ashore, whose want of government gave both occasion and opportunity to the savages to surprise one George Cassen whom they slew and much failed not to have cut off the boat and all the rest.
1
Gabriel Archer had abandoned the colony and then returned. He did not support Smith.
60 Captain Archer:
63 victual: food.
69 putchamins:
persimmons.
70 tu ftaffety humorists:
unreliable
lace-wearers
73 exceptions:
objections.
the men’s lack of discipline in going ashore led to the surprise attack on Cassen; only by some failure on the attackers’ side did the others survive. 80-82 whose w a n t . . . the rest:
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Smith little dreaming of that accident, being got to the marshes at the river’s head twenty miles in the desert, had his two men [Robinson and Emry] slain (as is supposed) sleeping by the canoe, while himself by fowling sought them victual, who finding he was beset with 200 savages, two of them he slew, still defending himself with the aid of the savage his guide, whom he bound to his arms with his garters and used him as a buckler, yet he was shot in his thigh a little, and had many arrows that stuck in his 90 clothes but no great hurt, till at last they took him prisoner. . . . 0
84 desert: wilderness; 85-86 by fow ling. . . victual: hunted birds to find them food.
88 garters: shirtlaces; buckler:
shield. ©
NARRATOR Reread lines 83 - 9 0 . W h a t details
At Powhatan’s Court At last they brought him to Werowocomoco, where was Powhatan, their Emperor. Here more than two hundred of those grim courtiers stood wondering at him, as [if] he had been a monster, till Powhatan and his train had put themselves in their greatest braveries. Before a fire upon a seat like a bedstead, he sat covered with a great robe made of raccoon skins and all the tails hanging by On either hand did sit a young wench of sixteen or eighteen years and along on each side [of] the house, two rows of men and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders painted red, many of their heads bedecked with the white down of birds, but every ioo one with something, and a great chain of white beads around their necks. At his entrance before the King, all the people gave a great shout. The Queen of Appomattoc was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands, and another brought him a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel, to dry them; having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan; then as many as could, laid hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head and being ready with their clubs to beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the King’s dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms and laid her own upon 110 his to save him from death, whereat the Emperor was contended he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper, for they thought him as well of all occupations as themselves. For the King himself will make his own robes, shoes, bows, arrows, pots; plant, hunt, or do anything so well as the rest. Two days after, Powhatan, having disguised himself in the most fearfulest manner he could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth to a great house in the woods and there upon a mat by the fire to be left alone. Not long after, from behind a mat that divided the house, was made the most dolefulest noise he ever heard; then Powhatan more like a devil than a man, 120 with some two hundred more as black as himself, came unto him and told him now that they were friends, and presently he should go to Jamestown to send him two great guns and a grindstone for which he would give him the country of Capahowasic and forever esteem him as his son Nantaquoud. So to Jamestown with twelve guides Powhatan sent him. That night they quartered in the woods, he still expecting (as he had done all this long time of his imprisonment) every hour to be put to one death or other, for all 94
U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
does the narrator include that suggest Smith is not responsible for the deaths of the tw o men?
94 greatest braveries: fanciest clothes.
102 the Queen of Appomattoc (ap'8-mat'0 k):the leader of the nearby village of Appomattoc.
entreaty (en-tre'te) n. plea
112 as w e ll... themselves: The Indians thought Smith had varied skills as they did.
122-123 the country of Capahowasic (cap'e-hou'a-sTk'). . . Nantaquoud (non'ts-kwood1): Powhatan would give Smith control of a nearby village and also promised to think as highly of him as he did of his own son.
their feasting. But almighty God (by His divine providence) had mollified the hearts of those stern barbarians with compassion. The next morning betimes they came to the fort, where Smith having used the savages with what kindness he could, he showed Rawhunt, Powhatan’s trusty servant, two demi-culverins and a millstone to carry [to] Powhatan; they found them somewhat too heavy, but when they did see him discharge them, being loaded with stones, among the boughs of a great tree loaded with icicles, the ice and branches came so tumbling down that the poor savages ran away half dead with fear. But at last we regained some conference with them and gave them such toys and sent to Powhatan, his women, and children such presents as gave them in general full content. Q Now in Jamestown they were all combustion, the strongest preparing once more to run away with the pinnace; which, with the hazard of his life, with saker falcon and musket shot, Smith forced now the third time to stay or sink. Some, no better than they should be, had plotted with the President the next day to have him put to death by the Levitical law, for the lives of Robinson and Emry; pretending the fault was his that had led them to their ends; but he quickly took such order with such lawyers that he laid them by the heels till he sent some of them prisoners for England. Now every once in four or five days, Pocahontas with her attendants brought him so much provision that saved many of their lives, that else for all this had starved with hunger. His relation of the plenty he had seen, especially at Werowocomoco, and of the state and bounty of Powhatan (which till that time was unknown), so revived their dead spirits (especially the love of Pocahontas) as all men’s fear was abandoned. Thus you may see what difficulties still crossed any good endeavor; and the good success of the business being thus oft brought to the very period of destruction; yet you see by what strange means God hath still delivered it.
mollify (mol'a-fi") v. to soothe; to reduce in intensity
131 demi-culverins
(dem'e-kul'vsr-Tnz): large cannons.
Q
O LD ER TEXTS Reread lines 128 - 137. Paraphrase this passage to clarify its meaning. W h at does Smith do to keep his promise to Powhatan?
According to the Book of Leviticus in the Bible,“He that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.” 143 Levitical law :
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Comprehension 1. Recall Why does Ratcliffe become the leader of Jamestown? 2. Recall What leads to the killing of Captain Kendall?
a
READING STANDARD
1 Analyze use of literary elements including point of view
3. Clarify How does Smith become Powhatan’s captive? 4. Summarize What happens to Smith during his stay with Powhatan?
Literary Analysis 5. Draw Conclusions About Attitudes In each example, what conclusions can you draw about each man’s idea of leadership? • Wingfield’s distribution of supplies (lines 10-14) • Smith’s criticism of the colonists (lines 42-47) • Smith’s determination in dire circumstances (lines 63-64) • Powhatan’s assumption about Smith’s abilities (lines 111-114)
6 . Interpret Older Texts Review the character chart you made. Consider Smith's connection to each character. What motives might have influenced Smith’s portrayal of his fellow colonists? Cite details to support your answer. 7. Make Inferences About Historical Context Reread lines 91- 102 . Notice that Smith uses the terms Emperor, King, Queen, and courtiers to describe Native American tribal structures. What does this tell you about the time and place in which he lived?
8 . Examine a Historical Narrative Smith’s account of his explorations along the Chickahominy River is filled with details that suggest he is a hero. But if you read closely, he reveals that he was severely criticized for the way he performed. Reread lines 72-90, and record the coflicting information in a chart like the ^M^^l s ^ars'on Accusations AgainstHim one shown. What accusations is Smith defending himself against? 9. Evaluate Narrator Consider Smith’s use of third-person point of view as well as the motives that influenced his writing. Given these factors, is Smith a credible narrator? Evaluate the reliability of Smith’s narrative as a source on the following topics. Give reasons for your answers. daily life in Jamestown
Smith’s own actions
Native American culture
conflicts in Jamestown
Literary Criticism 10. Different Perspectives If Wingfield had written a report, how might it have differed from Smith’s description of these events? Cite details to support your answer.
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ALABAM A STANDARDS
Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE
WO R D LI ST
Decide whether the words in each pair are synonyms or antonyms.
depose entreaty
1. depose/appoint
industry
2. interim/gap
interim
3. mollify/anger
mollify
4 . industry/diligence 5. entreaty/plea
VOCABULARY IN WRITING Write a brief explanation of the animosity and hard feelings that sprang up among members of Smith’s expedition. Use two or more vocabulary words in your explanation. You might begin like this. EX A M P L E SENTENCE
W ithin Sm ith's expedition it was not uncommon to for ones problems.
depose a. leader or blajme oth&rs
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: MULTIPLE MEANINGS Many words have more than one meaning. To make sense of what you read, you need to make sure you understand which meaning a writer intends. This is particularly true with words that are used as more than one part of speech, or with words that occur in older texts. For example, the noun industry usually refers to a specific branch of manufacture or trade. Smith uses it to mean “dedication to a task.”
a
ALABAM A STANDARDS
READING STANDARD 3.c Applying context clues to
determine word meaning
PRACTICE Determine the meaning of each boldfaced word as it is used in the sentence. Refer to a dictionary if you need to. 1. Was John Smith a contemporary of Olaudah Equiano? 2. The gravity of the situation required the presence of several police officers. 3. What accommodations have the two leaders managed to reach? 4 . The governor intends to commute several prisoners’ sentences. 5. At this point we cannot countenance any more delays.
6 . The hotel employees agitated for better working conditions.
VOCABULARY PR A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
T H E G E N E R A L H IS T O R Y O F V IR G IN IA
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P
LITERATURE STANDARD 4 Analyze literary
>ns for cultural significance
from
Of Plymouth Plantation
Chronicle by William Bradford
on the ship Mayflower. Facing the journey with typical resolve, Bradford described the group as “pilgrims,” or religious wanderers, the name we use for them today. NOTABLE QUOTE
A Natural Leader Although the Pilgrims
“The difficulties were many, but not invincible. ” FYI Did you know th a t W illiam B rad fo rd ... • lost his first w ife to drow ning shortly after the M a yflo w e r landed? • sold one o f his farms to help pay Plym outh Colony’s debts? • w as elected governor of Plym outh 30 tim es?
Author On[ine For more on William Bradford, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
_____________ J
Plymouth Plantation today
William Bradford c. 1590-1657
Long before there were holiday legends of Pilgrims and Indians, a group of English Puritans set off to create a new, pure society in the North American wilderness. Their leader was William Bradford. Early Rebel Born into a time of religious upheaval in England, Bradford joined the crusade for religious reform at age 12. He was inspired by the ideals of the Puritans, a Protestant religious group that wanted to purify the Church of England and create simpler, more democratic ways to worship. By 17, Bradford had joined the radical Puritans known as Separatists, who called for a total break with the official church.
Not surprisingly, the Separatists clashed with the king of England, who also headed the church. Emigration to North America offered the hope of freedom, and Bradford helped plan and finance the voyage across the Atlantic. In 1620, Bradford and his wife, Dorothy, left behind their four-yearold son to join nearly 40 other Separatists
initiated the voyage, they made up fewer than half of the ship’s 102 passengers. During the long, difficult journey, disagreements broke out among the group, and Bradford took decisive action. He helped craft the Mayflower Compact, often called the first U.S. Constitution. Signed by the 41 men on board, the compact was an agreement to work together for the good of the entire group. And they kept their promise. In April 1621, when the Mayflower returned to England, not one colonist left Plymouth Colony—a tribute to Bradford’s sound leadership. Bradford was also effective in forging alliances with local Native American tribes such as theWampanoag (w am 'pe-no'ag), a union of tribes led by Massasoit (m as'e-soit'). The Wampanoag, who had lost 80 percent of their people to smallpox shortly before the Pilgrims’ arrival, faced their own struggle to survive. Out of mutual need, Bradford and Massasoit created a strong alliance that lasted throughout their lifetimes. Historian in the Making With a historian’s
instinct, Bradford saved many documents from the trip’s planning phase. During his 30 years as governor, he continued to document the challenges of the growing colony, which owed its survival to his energy, vision, and expert diplomacy. His chronicle, O f Plymouth Plantation, is our best history of these adventurous times.
#
LITERARY ANALYSIS: CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
Explore the Key Idea
Many texts, especially those about community life, reflect the cultural characteristics of the communities they describe, such as their shared beliefs, values, and goals. O f Plymouth Plantation is a record of the Pilgrims’ efforts to create a model Puritan society. In it, William Bradford describes the outcome of an Indian attack.
Thus it pleased Cod to vanquish their enemies and give them deliverance; and by His special providence so to dispose that not any one o f them were either hurt or hit __ Bradford’s description makes it clear that the Pilgrims see the victory as a gift from God. As you read, consider what else Bradford’s descriptions and sometimes subtle word choice reveal about Puritan ideals. 0 READING STRATEGY: S U M M A R I Z E When you summarize, you restate the main ideas and the most important details of what you read. This process will help you sift through Bradford’s long, complex sentences for key information. This excerpt from O f Plymouth Plantation has five sections. As you read each section, record • the date or time of year events occur
When does
HARDSHIP unite us? KEY IDEA Hard times can bring people together or tear them apart. For example, in a blackout after a serious storm, people could respond by sharing supplies or by stealing what they need from unprotected homes. When does facing hardship become a source of strength and unity rather than one of distrust and division?
DISCUSS Working with a small group, list events you know from history or from the news that imposed great hardships on a community. Compare situations that had a unifying effect with those that divided the community. Identify factors that may account for the different responses.
• a one- or two-sentence summary of the section Section•Their Safe A rrival at Cape Cod Tim o f Year: Suimuzri/• •
A
VOCAB UL ARY IN CONTEXT The following boldfaced words help tell the story of the founding of Plymouth Colony. Use context clues to guess the meaning of each word, then write a brief definition. 1. found solace in the peaceful woodland setting
2. her survival was an act of providence 3. will tender her resignation in a letter 4. chose a rendezvous convenient for everyone 5. tried to procure enough food for the family
6 . an illness feigned in order to avoid work
'
A'
of
^Plymouth Plantation William Bradford
B A C K G R O U N D By the time the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod, the local Native American tribes had had 10 0 years of contact and conflict w ith European explorers. Squanto, who became the Pilgrims’ interpreter, had learned English w hen he w as kidnapped by an English expedition in 1605 . The Nauset Indians, w ho attacked the Pilgrims shortly after their arrival, had survived years of skirmishes w ith English explorers, including a 1609 battle with John Smith of Jam estown fame. Keep these events in mind as you read Bradford’s account.
10
Their Safe Arrival at Cape Cod But to omit other things (that I may be brief) after long beating at sea they1 fell with that land which is called Cape Cod; the which being made and certainly known to be it, they were not a little joyful. . . . Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. . . . © But here I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed at this poor people’s present condition; and so I think will the reader, too, when he well considers the same. Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation (as may be remembered by that which went before), they had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weatherbeaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for
1.
100
they:
Bradford refers to the Pilgrims in the third person, even though he is one of them.
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A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S Describe the landscape that awaits the travellers. W h a t emotional response might they have had to this sight?
©
C U LTURA L C H A R A C T E R IS T IC S Reread lines 4 - 7. W h at does this paragraph reveal about the w ay Puritans viewed God?
The Landing o f the Pilgrims (1803-1806), Michael Felice Corne. Tempera on canvas. Pilgrim Hall Museum. Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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20
30
succor.2 It is recorded in Scripture as a mercy to the Apostle and his shipwrecked company, that the barbarians showed them no small kindness in refreshing them,3 but these savage barbarians, when they met with them (as after will appear) were readier to fill their sides full of arrows than otherwise. And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search an unknown coast. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men—and what multitudes there might be of them they knew not. Neither could they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah4 to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes; for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to the heavens) they could have little solace or content in respect of any outward objects. For summer being done, all things stand upon them with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue. If they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed and was now as a main bar and gulf to separate them from all the civil parts of the world. . . . Q 2 . to seek for succor: to look for help or relief.
3. It is . .. refreshing them: a reference to the Biblical account of the courteous reception given to Paul ("the Apostle”) and his companions by the inhabitants of Malta (Acts 27 :41- 28 :2). 4. Pisgah: the mountain from whose peak Moses saw the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 34 :1- 4 ).
The First Winter o f the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, 1620 (1800s). Colored engraving. The Granger Collection, New York.
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solace (sol'Ts) n. comfort in sorrow or distress Q
S U M M A R IZ E Reread lines 16 - 30 . W h at challenges confronted the colonists when they arrived at Cape Cod?
The First Encounter Being thus arrived at Cape Cod the 11th of November, and necessity calling them to look out a place for habitation (as well as the master’s and mariners’ importunity); they having brought a large shallop5 with them out of England, stowed in quarters in the ship, they now got her out and set their carpenters to work to trim her up; but being much bruised and shattered in the ship with foul weather, they saw she would be long in mending. Whereupon a few of them tendered themselves to go by land and discover those nearest places, whilst the shallop was in mending; . . . After this, the shallop being got ready, they set out again for the better discovery 40 of this place, and the master of the ship desired to go himself. So there went some thirty men but found it to be no harbor for ships but only for boats. There was also found two of their [the Indians’] houses covered with mats, and sundry of their implements in them, but the people were run away and could not be seen. Also there was found more of their corn and of their beans of various colors; the corn and beans they [the English] brought away, purposing to give them [the Indians] full satisfaction when they should meet with any of them as, about some six months afterward they did, to their good content.6 And here is to be noted a special providence of God, and a great mercy to this poor people, that here they got seed to plant them corn the next year, or else they 50 might have starved, for they had none nor any likelihood to get any till the season had been past, as the sequel did manifest.7 Neither is it likely they had had this, if the first voyage had not been made, for the ground was now all covered with snow and hard frozen; but the Lord is never wanting unto His in their greatest needs; let His holy name have all the praise. Q The month of November being spent in these affairs, and much foul weather falling in, the 6th of December they sent out their shallop again with ten of their principal men and some seamen, upon further discovery, intending to circulate that deep bay of Cape Cod. The weather was very cold and it froze so hard as the spray of the sea lighting on their coats, they were as if they had been 60 glazed. . . . [The next night they landed and] made them a barricado8 as usually they did every night, with logs, stakes, and thick pine boughs, the height of a man, leaving it open to leeward,9 partly to shelter them from the cold and wind (making their fire in the middle and lying round about it) and partly to defend them from any sudden assaults of the savages, if they should surround them; so being very weary, they betook them to rest. But about midnight they heard a hideous and great cry, and their sentinel called “Arm! arm!” So they bestirred them and stood to their arms and shot off a couple of muskets, and then the noise
tender (ten'dar) v. to offer formally
providence (prov'T-dens) n. an instance of divine care
Q
CU LTURA L C H A R A C T E R IS T IC S Reread lines 48 - 54 . W hat belief helps Bradford justify taking the corn?
5. shallop (shal'ap): an open boat usually used in shallow waters. 6. purposing. .. content: intending to repay the Nauset Indians for the corn and beans they took, as they in
fact did, to the Indians’ satisfaction, six months later. 7. as the sequel did manifest: as the events that followed proved to be the case. 8 . barricado (bar'T-ka'do): a barrier for defense.
9. to leeward: on the side sheltered from the wind.
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ceased. They concluded it was a company of wolves or such like wild beasts, for one of the seamen told them he had often heard such a noise in Newfoundland. 70 So they rested till about five of the clock in the morning; for the tide, and their purpose to go from thence, made them be stirring betimes. So after prayer they prepared for breakfast, and it being day dawning it was thought best to be carrying things down to the boat. But some said it was not best to carry the arms down, others said they would be the readier, for they had lapped them up in their coats from the dew; but some three or four would not carry theirs till they went themselves. Yet as it fell out, the water being not high enough, they laid them down on the bank side and came up to breakfast. But presently, all on the sudden, they heard a great and strange cry, which they knew to be the same voices they heard in the night, though they varied 80 their notes; and one of their company being abroad came running in and cried, “Men, Indians! Indians!” And withal, their arrows came flying amongst them. Their men ran with all speed to recover their arms, as by the good providence of God they did. In the meantime, of those that were there ready, two muskets were discharged at them, and two more stood ready in the entrance of their rendezvous but were commanded not to shoot till they could take full aim at them. And the other two charged again with all speed, for there were only four had arms there, and defended the barricado, which was first assaulted. The cry of the Indians was dreadful, especially when they [the Indians] saw their men [the English] run out of the rendezvous toward the shallop to recover their arms, the Indians wheeling 90 about upon them. But some running out with coats of mail on, and cutlasses in their hands, they [the English] soon got their arms and let fly amongst them [the Indians] and quickly stopped their violence. . . . Thus it pleased God to vanquish their enemies and give them deliverance; and by His special providence so to dispose that not any one of them were either hurt or hit, though their arrows came close by them and on every side [of] them; and sundry of their coats, which hung up in the barricado, were shot through and through. Afterwards they gave God solemn thanks and praise for their deliverance, and gathered up a bundle of their arrows and sent them into England afterward by the master of the ship, and called that place the First Encounter. . . .
ioo
The Starving Time But that which was most sad and lamentable was, that in two or three months’ time half of their company died, especially in January and February, being the depth of winter, and wanting houses and other comforts; being infected with the scurvy10 and other diseases which this long voyage and their inaccommodate condition had brought upon them. So as there died some times two or three of a day in the foresaid time, that of 100 and odd persons, scarce fifty remained. And of these, in the time of most distress, there was but six or seven sound persons who to their great commendations, be it spoken, spared no pains night nor day, but with abundance of toil and hazard of their own health fetched them wood, made them fires, dressed them meat, made their beds, washed their loathsome clothes, 10.
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scurvy
(skur've): a disease caused by lack of vitamin C.
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rendezvous (ran'da-voo) n. a gathering place
The First Thanksgiving (1914), Jennie Augusta Brownscombe. © Burstein Collection/Corbis.
no clothed and unclothed them. . . . In a word, did all the homely and necessary offices for them which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear named; and all this willingly and cheerfully, without any grudging in the least, showing herein their true love unto their friends and brethren; a rare example and worthy to be remembered. Two of these seven were Mr. William Brewster, their reverend Elder, and Myles Standish, their Captain and military commander, unto whom myself and many others were much beholden in our low and sick condition. And yet the Lord so upheld these persons as in this general calamity they were not at all infected either with sickness or lameness. . . . (j)
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S Contrast the scenery in this image w ith the landscape on page 10 2 . How has the view of nature changed?
©
CU LTURA L C H A R A C T E R IS T IC S
Indian Relations All this while the Indians came skulking about them, and would sometimes show 120 themselves aloof off, but when any approached near them, they would run away; and once they [the Indians] stole away their [the colonists’] tools where they had been at work and were gone to dinner. But about the 16th of March, a certain Indian came boldly amongst them and spoke to them in broken English, which they could well understand but marveled at it. At length they understood by discourse with him, that he was not of these parts, but belonged to the eastern parts where some English ships came to fish, with whom he was acquainted and could name sundry of them by their names, amongst whom he had got his language. He became profitable to them in acquainting them with many things concerning the state of the country in the east parts where he lived, which was 130 afterwards profitable unto them; as also of the people here, of their names, number and strength, of their situation and distance from this place, and who was chief amongst them. His name was Samoset. He told them also of another Indian whose name was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in England and could speak better English than himself.
Reread lines 10 6 - 114 . W h a t values are demonstrated by the seven colonists’ responses to their ailing companions?
O F P L Y M O U T H P L A N T A T IO N
105
140
150
160
170
Being, after some time of entertainment and gifts dismissed, a while after he came again, and five more with him, and they brought again all the tools that were stolen away before, and made way for the coming of their great Sachem,11 called Massasoit. Who, about four or five days after, came with the chief of his friends and other attendance, with the aforesaid Squanto. With whom, after friendly entertainment and some gifts given him, they made a peace with him (which hath now continued this 24 years) in these terms: Q 1. That neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of their people. 2. That if any of his did hurt to any of theirs, he should send the offender, that they might punish him. 3. That if anything were taken away from any of theirs, he should cause it to be restored; and they should do the like to his. 4. If any did unjustly war against him, they would aid him; if any did war against them, he should aid them. 5. He should send to his neighbors confederates to certify them of this, that they might not wrong them, but might be likewise comprised in the conditions of peace.12 6. That when their men came to them, they should leave their bows and arrows behind them. After these things he returned to his place called Sowams,13 some 40 miles from this place, but Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation. He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish, and to procure other commodities, and was also their pilot to bring them to unknown places for their profit, and never left them till he died. First Thanksgiving They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports. C^>
11. Sachem (sa'cham): chief. 12 He should send . .. peace: Massasoit was to send representatives to other tribes to let them know about the treaty with the Pilgrims. 13. Sowams (so’emz): near the site of present-day Barrington, Rhode Island.
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Q SUMMARIZE Reread lines 122 - 141 . W h a t events led to the treaty w ith Massasoit?
procure (pro-kydor') v. to get by special effort; to obtain
feigned (fand) adj. not real; pretended feign v.
After Reading
Comprehension
□
1. Recall What happens to the colonists during “the starving time” ?
ALABAM A STANDARDS
LITERATURE STANDARD
4 Analyze literary selections for
2. Recall Who is Squanto?
cultural significance
3. Clarify In what ways did the Wampanoag help the colonists survive?
Literary Analysis 4. Make Inferences About Cultural Characteristics Bradford’s word choice and his choice of details provide subtle clues to Puritan beliefs. Reread Bradford’s account of the arrival at Cape Cod (lines 4-30). What does his description reveal about Puritan attitudes toward nature? Use a chart like the one shown to gather evidence and make inferences. Details
• • •
Inferences
• • •
-------------->
Adjectives
< --------------
• • •
5. Analyze Outcomes Using the summary chart you created as you read, review the events of the first year at Plymouth. How did events change the colonists’ • prospects for survival?
• impressions of Native Americans?
• attitude toward the region?
• sense of providence?
6 . Analyze Form A chronicle is a chronological, objective account of historical events. What features of Bradford’s narrative might have changed had he written a personal account of his experiences? 7. Make Judgments Review the terms of the treaty between the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag (lines 142-154). Notice which terms apply to both parties equally and which do not. In your opinion, is the treaty fair? Explain your answer.
8. Evaluate Motivations Which of the following most contributed to the colonists’willingness to face hardships together? Support your answer with details from Bradford's account and from the historical background provided. • Puritan values
• fears of Indian attack
• landscape and climate
• the events of "the starving time”
Literary Criticism 9. Different Perspectives How might a Wampanoag historian’s version of events differ from Bradford’s? Choose an episode from O f Plymouth Plantation and cite specific details that might change to reflect this different perspective.
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Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE
WO R D LI ST
Show you understand the vocabulary words by answering these questions. 1. If you wanted to procure something, would you go to a store or go swimming? 2. If someone’s sorrow is feigned, is it genuine or bogus? 3. Is a rendezvous a good place to be alone? 4. What would be a sign of providence— an unexpected victory or a deadly accident?
feigned procure providence rendezvous solace tender
5. Who would be in more need of solace— a person who has just won a race or someone whose grandmother has just died?
6 . To tender yourself as a mayoral candidate, would you write a letter to the election board or tell a friend about your idea?
VOCABULARY IN WRITING What experiences might have convinced the Pilgrims that their struggle was worthwhile? Using two or more vocabulary words, write a brief paragraph identifying a few positive things that happened. Here is a sample beginning. E X A M P L E SENTENCE
Despite Many hardships, several events did provide solace, for the VUgriMS.
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: WORDS FROM FRENCH Rendezvous is one of a number of words in English that comes directly from French. The meaning of some French words and terms may change slightly in English; rendezvous, for example, means “ present yourself’ in French. Other terms keep the same meaning. If you are not sure of the meaning of a French term when you hear or read it, it is a good idea to check a dictionary.
PRACTICE Create a three-column chart with these headings: Term, Original Meaning, and Meaning in English. Then, using a dictionary that contains etymologies, fill in the chart for each of the following terms.
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1. laissezfaire
5. faux pas
2. vis-a-vis
6. coup de grace
3. hors d’oeuvre
7. esprit de corps
4 . noblesse oblige
8. savoir-faire
U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
VOCABULARY PR A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
Wrap-Up: Exploration and the Early Settlers
Personal Accounts of Exploration and Settlement
IS
The selections in this section not only provide information about life in early America but are also sources of insight into the personal challenges and moral conflicts that shaped so much of our colonial culture. Because they are all firsthand accounts, the reader’s understanding of the events, places, and people described is colored by the very personal feelings of each writer. Their fears, opinions, and doubts help bring this long-past world to life, as shown here.
“In that hour, I w ou ld have w elcom ed death rather than see so m any arou nd m e in such a condition. ” —Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
“I was soon p u t down under the decks, an d there I received a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that, with the loathsomeness o f the stench, an d crying together, I becam e so sick an d low that I was not able to eat. —Olaudah Equiano
“That night they quartered in the woods, he still expecting (as he had done all this long tim e o f his imprisonm ent) every hour to be p u t to one death or other, fo r all their feasting. ” —Captain John Smith
“Besides, w hat co u ld they see but a hideous a n d desolate wilderness, f u ll o f w ild beasts a n d w ild m en—a n d w hat m ultitudes there m ight be o f them they knew not. ”
Extension SPEAKING & LISTENING In a group of four students debate the following statement: The narrators of the selections in this section are unreliable because of their personal and emotional involvement in the events and experiences they relate.
—William Bradford
Writing to Evaluate Review the selections beginning on page 68 and choose the one that gives you the most complete picture of an event, experience, or person. In a brief essay, describe the elements that help bring that selection to life. Consider • which selection had the greatest impact on you • descriptive details, images, and dialogue that enhance meaning and aid visualization • what the writer’s personal feelings and opinions add to your understanding and interest in the work W R A P -U P
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READING & LIT STANDARDS 2 5 Evaluate use of language
Analyze use of figurative language, including hyperbole, metaphor, personification
To My Dear and Loving Husband and Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666 Poetry by Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet 1612-1672 NOTABLE QUOTE
“Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish. ”
Anne Bradstreet was essentially the first notable American poet, man or woman. Considering that Puritan women were not encouraged to improve their minds—let alone express their ideas—this achievement is remarkable.
After her privileged upbringing, Anne Bradstreet was not prepared for the harsh living conditions of colonial America. Her religious faith helped her endure these hardships—as did writing poetry.
Coming to America Anne Dudley
primarily on the realities of her life—her husband, her eight children, and her house. In 1650, without her knowledge, Bradstreet’s brother-in-law had some of her verses published in London in a volume titled The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. It was the first book of poetry ever published by an American colonist.
Bradstreet was born in England and raised on an estate, which her father managed for the Earl of Lincoln. With access to the earl’s library, she received a good education. In 1628, 16-year-old Anne married Simon Bradstreet. Two years later, the young couple sailed for Massachusetts.
Edward Taylor
Huswifery
i642?-i729
Poetry by Edward Taylor
NOTABLE QUOTE
For over 200 years, the work of Edward Taylor, one of colonial America’s most inventive poets, remained unread. His poetry did not come to light until the 1930s when his long-forgotten manuscripts were discovered in the Yale University Library.
“Oh! That I ever felt what I profess. / ’Twould make me then the happi’st man alive. ”
Frontier Parson and Poet Bom in England, Taylor came to America in 1668 to escape religious persecution in his homeland. In 1671, after graduating from Harvard University, Taylor became the minister of a church in Westfield, Massachusetts. He held that position until his death 58 years later.
The wilderness town of Westfield presented many challenges to the highly
Personal Poetry Bradstreet focused
intellectual Taylor. But he undertook his roles as farmer, physician, and minister with energy. He even called his flock to worship by beating a drum. Like Anne Bradstreet—a volume of whose work he owned—Taylor wrote his poetry to glorify God. He found his subjects in human life, nature, and everyday activities. His poems on these topics served as a form of worship.
AuthorOn|ine For more on Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
LITERARY ANALYSIS: FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Like all poets, Puritan poets used figurative language to communicate ideas beyond the literal meaning of words. Figurative language helped the Puritan poets convey ideas about their religious faith and their personal lives. As you read, look for the following types of figurative language, also called figures of speech, in the poems by Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor: • A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things without using like or as. (Our house is our nest.) • An extended metaphor is one that draws the comparison out and compares the two things at length and in many ways.
(Our house is our nest; we fly away only to return to its snug protection.)
Explore the Key Idea
What do you VALUE most? KEY IDEA The things that we value in life may be actual objects or they may be less tangible. For instance, a person
might prize a favorite CD or jacket. On the other hand, the gift of family may outweigh more material possessions. The Puritan poets you are about to read valued family life and their religious
• Personification is a figure of speech in which an object, animal, or idea is given human characteristics. (Our house wraps ourfam ily in a warm embrace.)
faith above all things. What do you prize most in your life?
• Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis. (Our house means more to us than all the money in the world.)
show has offered you the chance to win a million dollars. The catch is that you will have to give up an object, a person,
READING STRATEGY: CLARIFY MEANING IN OLDER POETRY
or a belief that you truly value. Assume that you are not willing to make the sacrifice. Write a brief letter to explain why you must turn down the money.
When reading works from the Puritan era, it is important to stop and clarify meaning by rereading and restating difficult passages as needed in order to fully appreciate the literature. Be aware of the following as you read the Puritan poets:
• Archaic language— words that were once in common use but that are now considered old-fashioned or out-of-date
• Inverted syntax— sentence structure in which the expected order of words is reversed As you read each poem, use a chart like the one shown to record and restate examples of archaic language and inverted syntax. "Upon -the burning o f Our House’ Archaic Language.
Inverted Syntax
"blest' Cblessed)
"when rest 1took' (when 1took rest)
QUICKWRITE Imagine that a reality
Anne Bradstreet
5
10
If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quench, Q Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense.1 Thy love is such I can no way repay, The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere2 That when we live no more, we may live ever. Q
©
F IG U R A T IV E LAN G UAG E Reread lines 5- 7. How does the poet use
hyperbole in these lines to emphasize her feelings for her husband?
o
C L A R IF Y M E A N IN G Use conventional word order to restate the
inverted syntax in lines 11 - 12 . W h a t relationship do the lines suggest between earthly love and eternal life? A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S M any Puritan women stitched samplers like the one shown here. The samplers often depicted nature scenes or stories
1. recompense (rek'am-pens'): payment in return for something, such as a service.
from the Bible. W h at
2. persevere: In Bradstreet’s time, persevere would have been pronounced pur-ssv'sr, which rhymes with ever.
the subject m atter of the sampler?
U N I T l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
values are suggested by
T O M Y D E A R A N D L O V IN G H U S B A N D
I
Up on the
urning ofO ur July loth, 1666
5
ouse,
Anne Bradstreet
In silent night when rest I took For sorrow near I did not look I wakened was with thund’ring noise And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice. That fearful sound of “Fire!” and “Fire!’ Let no man know is my desire. Q
C L A R IF Y M E A N IN G Paraphrase lines 1 - 6 to
10
15
I, starting up, the light did spy, And to my God my heart did cry To strengthen me in my distress And not to leave me succorless.1 Then, coming out, beheld a space The flame consume my dwelling place. And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took,2 That laid my goods now in the dust: Yea, so it was, and so ’twas just. It was His own, it was not mine, Far be it that I should repine;3 1 . succorless (suk'sr-ITs): without help or relief.
2. I ... took: an allusion to Job 1:21 in the Bible—"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 3. repine: to complain or fret; to long for something.
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clarify their meaning. How does the poet use contrast to convey a sense of fear?
20
25
30
35
He might of all justly bereft, But yet sufficient for us left. When by the ruins oft I past, My sorrowing eyes aside did cast, And here and there the places spy Where oft I sat and long did lie: Here stood that trunk and there that chest, There lay that store I counted best. My pleasant things in ashes lie, And them behold no more shall I. Under thy roof no guest shall sit, Nor at thy table eat a bit. No pleasant tale shall e’er be told, Nor things recounted done of old. No candle e’er shall shine in thee, Nor bridegrooms voice e’er heard shall be. In silence ever shalt thou lie; Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity.4Q
©
F IG U R A T IV E LAN G UAG E
40
W h a t does the use of
Then straight I ’gin my heart to chide,5 And did thy wealth on earth abide? Didst fix thy hope on mold’ring dust? The arm of flesh didst make thy trust? Raise up thy thoughts above the sky That dunghill mists away may fly. Q
personification in lines 2 9 -3 6 reveal about the speaker’s feelings for her house?
Q
C L A R IF Y M E A N IN G Use contemporary
45
vocabulary to restate the
Thou hast an house on high erect, Framed by that mighty Architect, W ith glory richly furnished, Stands permanent though this be fled. It’s purchased and paid for too By Him who hath enough to do. Q
archaic language in lines 37- 40 . W h a t does the speaker chide, or scold, herself for?
©
F IG U R A T IV E LA N G U A G E
50
Reread lines 43 - 4 8 .
A price so vast as is unknown Yet by His gift is made thine own; There’s wealth enough, I need no more, Farewell, my pelf,6 farewell my store. The world no longer let me love, My hope and treasure lies above.
W h at tw o things does Bradstreet compare in the
metaphor in these lines?
4. all’s vanity: an allusion to Ecclesiastes 1:2 in the Bible—"All is vanity," meaning that all is temporary and meaningless. 5. chide: to scold mildly so as to correct or improve. 6 . pelf: wealth or riches, especially when dishonestly acquired.
U P O N T H E B U R N IN G O F O U R H O U S E
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5
Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete. Thy holy word my distaff make for me. Make mine affections Thy swift flyers2 neat, And make my soul Thy holy spool to be. My conversation make to be Thy reel, And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy wheel. Q
0
C L A R IF Y M E A N IN G Huswifery means
10
15
Then clothe therewith mine understanding, will, Affections, judgment, conscience, memory; My words and actions, that their shine may fill My ways with glory and Thee glorify. Then mine apparel shall display before Ye That I am clothed in holy robes for glory. ©
staff on a spinning wheel for holding the wool or flax to be spun.
1. distaff:
2. flyers: parts of spinning wheels that twist fibers into yarn. 3. quills: rods or spindles used to wind and hold yarn. 4. fulling mills: machines that beat and process woven cloth to make it denser and more compact. 5. pinked: decorated.
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"housekeeping." W hat
Make me Thy loom then, knit therein this twine: And make Thy holy spirit, Lord, wind quills:3 Then weave the web Thyself. The yarn is fine. Thine ordinances make my fulling mills.4 Then dye the same in heavenly colors choice, All pinked5 with varnished flowers of paradise.
U N IT l : EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
housekeeping activity is being described in lines i-6 ?
Q
F IG U R A T IV E LAN G UAG E W h a t extended
metaphor does Taylor use throughout the poem to express his relationship to God?
Comprehension 1. Recall In “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” what does the speaker value
□
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
READING STANDARD
more than gold?
2 Analyze use of figurative language,
2. Recall When the speaker in “ Upon the Burning of Our House” wakes up
including metaphor
to find her house on fire, what is her initial reaction? 3. Clarify The speaker in Taylor’s “ Huswifery” compares himself to a loom.
Who or what is compared to the weaver?
Literary Analysis 4. Clarify Meaning Review the examples of archaic language and inverted syntax you recorded as you read the poems. How would you restate lines 19-20 of “ Upon the Burning of Our House’V'He might of all justly bereft,/ But yet sufficient for us left” ?
5. Draw Conclusions Use details from the two poems by Anne Bradstreet to explain what she reveals about her • marriage
• religious beliefs
• daily life
6. Make Inferences What did Bradstreet value more than her house? How did this help her accept the loss of her house by fire?
7. Analyze Figurative Language How do the “ holy robes for glory” mentioned in line 18 of "Huswifery” complete the poem’s extended metaphor? 8. Evaluate Description Why do you think Taylor used a typical Puritan housekeeping activity to express his religious faith?
9. Compare Literary Works What do the poems by Bradstreet and Taylor have in common? What distinguishes one poet’s work from the other’s? In a chart like the one shown, compare and contrast the poets’ work, noting the religious views expressed, the formality of each poet’s style, and the personality
d>radstreet
Taylor
Religious Views S ty e VersonaJrhj
revealed. Use specific details from the poems to complete the chart.
Literary Criticism 10. Examine Social Context The Puritans strongly disapproved of women writers. A Puritan minister even wrote a letter to his sister in England saying, “Your printing of a book, beyond the custom of your sex, doth rankly smell.” In spite of this disapproval, do you think the Puritan community would have considered any aspects of Anne Bradstreet’s poetry praiseworthy? Explain your answer.
T O MY D E A R
... I
U PO N TH E BU RN IN G . . . /
H USW IFERY
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The Puritan Tradition
□
READING STANDARDS
2 Analyze use of
figurative language and imagery
fromSinners in the Hands of an Angry God Sermon by Jonathan Edwards
3.b Determine author intent
N O TA BLE Q UOTE
“[I wish] to lie low before God, as in the dust; that I might be nothing, and that God might be all, that I might become as a little child. ” FY I Did you know th at Jonathan Edwards ... • w rote a paper on spiders at age 11?
Jonathan Edwards 17 0 3 -17 5 8
• died as a result o f a smallpox inoculation? • w as the grandfather o f Aaron Burr, vicepresident under Thomas Jefferson?
For more on Jonathan Edwards, visit the Literature Center at
ClassZone.com.
'S-.K
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When Jonathan Edwards delivered a sermon, with its fiery descriptions of hell and eternal damnation, people listened. Edwards believed that religion should be rooted in emotion rather than reason. Although 19th-century editors tried to tone down his style, Edwards is recognized today as a masterful preacher. In fact, he is considered by many to be America’s greatest religious thinker. A Spiritual Calling Born in East Windsor, Connecticut, Edwards was a child prodigy and entered what is now Yale University at the age of 12. While a graduate student there, Edwards experienced a spiritual crisis that led to what he later described as “religious joy.” He came to believe that such an intense religious experience was an important step toward salvation. In 1722, after finishing his education, Edwards followed the path of his father and grandfather and became a Puritan minister. In 1726, Edwards began assisting
his grandfather, who was the minister at the parish church in Northampton, Massachusetts. When his grandfather died three years later, Edwards became the church’s pastor. Religious Revivalist Edwards soon became an effective preacher. In 1734 and 1735, he delivered a series of sermons that resulted in a great number of conversions. The converts believed they had felt God’s grace and were “born again” when they accepted Jesus Christ. Edwards’s sermons helped trigger the Great Awakening, a religious revival that swept through New England from 1734 to 1750. The movement grew out of a sense among some Puritan ministers that their congregations had grown too selfsatisfied. Delivered at the height of the Great Awakening, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is the most famous of Edwards’s nearly 1,200 sermons. Last Years Although Edwards inspired thousands, his church dismissed him in 1750 because he wanted to limit membership to those who had undergone conversion. A year later, Edwards went to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he became a missionary in a Native American settlement. In 1757, he accepted an appointment as president of what is now Princeton University. By the time of Edwards’s death the following year, the extremism of the Great Awakening had been rejected. However, his vision of humanity suspended, like a spider, over the burning pit of hell still maintains its emotional impact.
Explore the Key Idea
• LITERARY AN A LYSIS: SERMON A sermon is a form of religious persuasion in which a speaker exhorts listeners to behave in a more spiritual and moral fashion. Like all sermons, Jonathan Edwards’s is shaped by
• purpose— why Edwards delivers the sermon
What keeps you
IN LINE? KEY IDEA
• audience— whom Edwards is addressing • context— when and where Edwards delivers the sermon As you read Edwards’s sermon, look for passages that reveal his purpose, his audience, and the context for his delivery.
READING SKILL: ANALYZE EM OTIONAL APPEALS Emotional appeals are messages designed to persuade an audience by creating strong feelings rather than by providing
A sense of morality probably keeps you from cheating on a test. In other words, you know cheating is wrong. But there are other reasons for behaving morally. Some people are anxious to please. Others fear the consequences of breaking the rules. Jonathan Edwards uses fear to get his point across in the sermon you're about
facts and evidence. Writers often use tone, imagery, and figurative language to make these types of emotional appeals:
to read. Is fear the best motivator?
• appeal to fear, which taps into people’s fear of losing their
role-playing a conversation with a child
safety or security
• appeal to pity, which takes advantage of people’s sympathy and compassion for others
• appeal to vanity, which relies on people’s desire to feel good about themselves
ROLE-PLAY With a partner, take turns who has been stealing. Your mission is to persuade him or her to stop. Before you begin, consider how best to keep the child in line. For example, you might frighten or shame the child or appeal to his or her pride.
As you read, use a chart like the one shown to record examples of language used to appeal to the audience’s emotions. Examples
Emotioned Appeals
"arrows o f death f/ij unseen
appeals to fear by creating anxiety, unease
A VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT Jonathan Edwards uses the listed words to help convey his spiritual message. Choose a word from the list that is a synonym for each of the numbered words.
WORD
abhor
deliverance
mitigation
LIST
abominable
discern
w het
appease
incense
ascribe
induce
1. detest
3. sharpened
2. easing
4 . anger greatly
5. attribute
Sinners ino f anthe Hands
Angry God Jonathan Edwards
B A C K G R O U N D Jonathan Edwards delivered his sermon “ Sinners in the Hands of an
A N A LYZE V ISU A LS
Angry Cod” in 1741 to a congregation in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards read the sermon,
This painting by
as he always did, in a composed style, with few gestures or movements. However, the
Italian artist Giuseppe
sermon had a dramatic effect on his parishioners, many of whom w ept and moaned.
Arcimboldo presents an
Some even considered suicide.
allegory of fire. W h a t lesson or message does the painting seem to suggest about the
We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by; thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell. . . . They1are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as angry as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth; yea, doubtless, with many 10 that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell. ©
meaning of fire?
SERM O N Reread lines 8-11. Notice that Edwards directly addresses his audience in these lines. How do you imagine the audience responded to these words?
1. they: Earlier in the sermon, Edwards refers to alTunconverted men,” whom he considers God’s enemies. Unconverted men are people who have not been “born again," meaning that they have not accepted Jesus Christ. Fire, allegory (1566), Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Painted for Emperor
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Maximillian II. Limewood, 66.5 cm x 51 cm. Inv. 1585. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. © Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York.
So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them. . . . Q Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are 20 innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noonday; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment. . . . So that, thus it is that natural men2 are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually 30 suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell; and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain3 lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator,4 there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of. . . . Q The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but 40 the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets,5 and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. . . . Q 50 The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his
whet (hwet) adj. sharpened whetv. Q
E M O TIO N A L APPEA LS Reread lines 14-18. W h at
imagery does Edwards use to appeal to fear in these lines?
discern (dT-surn') v. to perceive or recognize something
appease (e-pez') v. to bring peace, quiet, or calm to; to soothe
Q
E M O T IO N A L APPEALS Loaded language, or words w ith strong emotional associations, can be used to influence an audience’s attitude. W h at examples of loaded language do you see in lines 27-30?
Q
SERM O N Note that Edwards reveals the purpose of his sermon in lines 42-46. W h y is he delivering this sermon?
abhor (ab-hor') v. to regard with disgust
2 . natural men: people who have not been born again.
3. would fain: would rather. 4. Mediator: Jesus Christ, who mediates, or is the means of bringing about, salvation. 5. closets: private rooms for meditation.
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Babylon Burning. From the Apocalypse o f Saint John (Revelations 18). Luther Bible, First Edition. 1530. Private collection. Photo © Art Resource, New York.
wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered6 to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be 60 given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship.
abominable (s-bom'a-na-bel) adj. thoroughly detestable
ascribe (a-skrlb') v. to attribute to a specified cause or source
6. you was suffered: you were permitted.
S I N N E R S I N T H E H A N D S O F AN A N G R Y G O D
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Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell. Q O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the 70 flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder;7 and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. . . . It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite8 horrible misery. W hen you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your 7. burn it asunder (s-sun'der): burn it into separate parts or pieces. 8. exquisite (ek'skwT-zTt): intensely felt.
Detail of Hell, Hendrik met de Bles, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. © Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York.
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Q
E M O T IO N A L APPEA LS Notice the use of the
simile, or comparison, in lines 50-65. In w hat w ay does comparing the audience to a spider appeal to both fear and vanity?
incense (Tn-sens') v. to cause to be extremely angry
induce (Tn-doos') v. to succeed in persuading someone to do something
thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having 80 any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For “who knows the power of God’s anger: y How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of 90 this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. . . . Q And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming10 from the east, west, north, and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing 100 in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? . . . Q Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. . . .
deliverance (dT-ITv'ar-sns) n. rescue from danger
mitigation (mTt-T-ga'shan) n. lessening of something that causes suffering
Q
SERM O N Keep in mind that Edwards delivers his sermon in the context of his own tim e and place. In lines 90-92, in w hat w ay does he acknowledge the Puritan heritage of his listeners?
Q
E M O T IO N A L APPEALS Reread lines 93-104 and note the change in tone. How might the change in tone appeal to the audience’s pity and vanity?
9. “ who k n o w s... anger?” : an allusion to Psalm 90:11 in the Bible—“Who knoweth the power of thine anger?" 10. M a n y .. .coming: a reference to the hundreds of people who were being converted during the Great Awakening. S IN N E R S IN T H E H A N D S OF AN ANGRY GOD
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Comprehension 1. Recall According to Jonathan Edwards’s sermon, what is a constant threat to all human beings?
a
READING STANDARD 2 Analyze use of figurative language
and imagery
2. Clarify In Edwards's view, what must sinners do to save themselves? 3. Summarize What key image does Edwards use to frighten his audience?
Literary Analysis 4. Analyze Emotional Appeals Review the examples of words, phrases, and images you recorded as you read. How does this language effectively appeal to the audience’s emotions and get Edwards’s message across?
5. Analyze the Sermon Why do you think Edwards felt it was necessary to terrify his Puritan audience into action? 6. Draw Conclusions How would you describe Jonathan Edwards’s view of the following? Cite specific examples for each. • God
• Christ
• humanity
7. Make Judgments Do you believe that Edwards’s sermon resulted in improving the morality of his congregation? Explain why or why not. 8. Compare Literary Works Use a chart like the one shown to compare some of Jonathan Edwards’s and Anne Bradstreet’s attitudes and beliefs. Cite specific details from their writings to support your ideas.
Edwards
bradstreet
Eternal L/Vc (bod’s Relation to People Religious beliefs Humoji F ra jltij
Literary Criticism 9. Historical Context In the 18th century, many people died at a much younger age than they do today. How might awareness of the fragility of life have affected people’s receptiveness to Edwards’s sermon?
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A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE
WORD LIST abhor
Decide whether the boldfaced words make the statements true or false.
1. 2. 3. 4.
abominable
If a movie is said to be abominable, you should expect to hate it.
appease
A good way to appease a friend is to criticize her.
ascribe
Feeding the hungry would result in the mitigation of their suffering.
deliverance
If you discern a difference between two documents,you notice that they are
discern
not alike.
5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
incense
A person who abhors you is probably a close friend. When you ascribe a motive to a crime, you explain why someone did it. One way to incense someone is to say something complimentary. If you have trouble cutting a steak, it might help to whet your knife. An example of deliverance is the rescue of passengers from a sinking ship. If I induce you to help me do a hard job, I have managed to persuade you.
induce mitigation w het
VOCABULARY IN W RITING How would people today react to a sermon like Edwards’s? Using at least four vocabulary words, briefly explain your opinion and why you feel as you do. You might start like this. EX A M P LE SE N T EN C E
I think that hearing a sermon like Bdwardss would induce, people to think seriously about their lives.
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: CONNOTATION Though some words may have the same definition, their connotations, or shades of meaning, can vary. In Edwards’s sermon, for example, the word incense (page 124) suggests a stronger feeling than anger. Being aware of words’ shades of meaning can strengthen your writing as well as your reading comprehension.
PRACTICE Choose a more intense word from the following list to replace the boldfaced word in each sentence. antipathy
disconsolate
induce
momentous
negligible
persuade him to run for president. Getting a college degree was a very important event in Mom’s life. They expressed their dislike for the new law with a huge protest march. Because I enjoyed myjob so much, I was sad when I lost it. The wishes of the stockholders had a slight effect on the board’s decision.
1. Nothing could
2. 3. 4. 5.
^
0
VO CABULARY P R A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the V o cabulary Center at ClassZone.com .
S IN N E R S IN T H E H A N D S OF AN ANGRY GOD
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Literary Analysis Workshop
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A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
READING STANDARD
1 Analyze use of literary elements including characterization, setting, mood, plot
American Drama Have you ever gone to the theater or a movie and felt as if life were unfolding before you? Dramas that realistically portray events have a way of hitting a nerve. American playwrights, in particular, are known for writing dramas that reveal the truth of our everyday experience, and sometimes our not-so-everyday experience.
The Rise of American Drama Though drama is one of the oldest forms of literature, it was one of the last of the literary genres to develop in the United States. The Puritans in New England regarded theatrical performances as frivolous, so few plays were staged in the 1600s. During the 18th and 19th centuries, drama gradually became an accepted form of entertainment. However, most of the plays performed in the United States were imported from Europe or were adapted from novels. In 1920 the Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon marked a turning point in presenting true-to-life characters who were struggling to understand their lives. Building on O’Neill’s achievement, American playwrights
EUGENE (WEILL'S
Thornton Wilder, Lillian Heilman,Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller created dramas in the 1930s and 1940s that met with critical and popular success. Following World War II, American dramatists Edward Albee and Lorraine Hansberry made significant contributions to the theater. Arthur Miller’s 1953 The Crucible (page 134) is an example of a modern drama that portrays events from Puritan times.
MARTIN BECK THEATRE
Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh became an American classic.
Conventions of Drama The two main types of drama are tragedy and comedy. A tragedy recounts the downfall of a main character, and a comedy is light and humorous in tone, usually ending happily. Many dramas combine elements of both. In addition, most dramas follow similar conventions, or rules, in how they are presented. An understanding of basic dramatic conventions can help you imagine the performance as you read.
PL O T A N D S T R U C T U R E The plot in drama, as in fiction, introduces events and character interactions that produce a conflict, or struggle between opposing forces. The conflict builds as the action intensifies throughout the play’s acts and scenes, finally reaching a peak and then resolution. Each scene serves as a building block in the stages of the plot: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. 128
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T Y P E S OF C H A R A C T E R S Drama has many of the same types of characters that are found in fiction. The
protagonist is the central character of the play. This character is at the center of the conflict and often undergoes radical changes during the course of the play. The antagonist often opposes the protagonist, giving rise to the central conflict of the play. Some plays also include a foil, a minor character who provides a striking contrast to another character. Interplay among these characters heightens the dramatic tension as the play develops. The names of all a play’s characters are listed in the cast of characters at the beginning of the play.
SPEECH DEVICES In drama, the playwright develops the story line through the characters’ actions and dialogue. Virtually everything of consequence— from the plot details to the character revelations—flows from dialogue, or conversation between characters. Other speech devices used by playwrights include
• monologue: a long speech spoken by a single character to the audience or another character
• soliloquy: a reflective speech in which a character speaks his or her private thoughts aloud, unheard by other characters.
• aside: a short speech or comment that is delivered by a character to the audience, but that is not heard by other characters who are present
STAGE A N D SETTIN G Stage directions are the italicized instructions in a play. The playwright includes the stage directions in order to describe the setting, props, lighting, scenery, sound effects, and costumes. Stage directions also describe the entrances and exits of characters and how the characters look, speak, and react to events or to others. These stage directions from The Crucible describe the stage set at the beginning of Act Four.
(A cell in Salem jail, that fall.) (At the back is a high barred window; near it, a great, heavy door. Along the walls are two benches.) (The place is in darkness but for the moonlight seeping through the bars. It appears empty. Presently footsteps are heard coming down a corridor beyond the wall, keys rattle, and the door swings open. Marshal Herrick enters with a lantern.)
Close Read W h y is the description of the cell important to this scene? W h a t effect does it have on the m ood the scene evokes?
—Arthur Miller, The Crucible
L ITER AR Y ANALYSIS W O R K SH O P
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READING STANDARD
1 Analyze use of literary elements including characterization, setting, plot
NOTABLE QUOTE
“I don’t see how you can write anything decent without using as your basis the question of right or wrong. ” FYI Did you know th at A rthur M ille r ... • w as once rejected by the University o f M ichigan because o f low grades? • w as once married to film star M arilyn M onroe? • w rote Death o f a Salesm an in six w eeks?
Author Online For more on Arthur Miller, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com .
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The Crucible Drama by Arthur Miller
(1947), was produced when Miller was still in his early 30s. However, it was his masterpiece Death of a Salesman that made Miller a star. The play won a Pulitzer Prize in 1949 and earned rave reviews from both critics and the public. Dramatic Years Miller’s rise to fame occurred during a difficult period in American history. In the 1940s and 1950s, a congressional committee was conducting hearings to identify suspected Communists in American society. Miller himself was called before the congressional committee and questioned about his activities with Arthur Miller the American Communist Party. Although 19 15 -2 0 0 5 Miller admitted that he had attended a few meetings years earlier, he refused Arthur Miller once paid playwright to implicate others. For his refusal, he Edward Albee a compliment, saying that was cited for contempt of Congress—a his plays were “necessary.” Albee replied: conviction that was later overturned. “I will go one step further and say that The hearings provided the inspiration Arthur’s plays are ‘essential.’” Miller’s plays for his 1953 play The Crucible, set during explore family relationships, morality, the Salem, Massachusetts, witch trials and personal responsibility. Many critics of 1692. Miller wrote the play to warn consider him the greatest American against mass hysteria and to plead for dramatist of the 20th century. freedom and tolerance. A Born Playwright Miller was born in The Curtain Closes In the 1970s, Miller’s New York City in 1915 into an uppermiddle-class family. However, the family’s career declined a bit. The plays he wrote did not earn the critical or popular success comfortable life ended in the 1930s when of his earlier work. In the 1980s and Miller’s businessman father was hit hard by the Great Depression. Unable to afford 1990s, however, he enjoyed a resurgence with revivals of Death o f a Salesman on college, Miller worked in a warehouse Broadway. He even directed a production to earn tuition money. He eventually of the play in Beijing. attended the University of Michigan. To the end of his life, Miller continued While in college, Miller won several to write. “It is what I do,” he said in an awards for his plays. These successes interview. “I am better at it than I ever inspired him to pursue a career in the was. And I will do it as long as I can.” theater. His first Broadway hit, All My Sons
Explore the Key Idea
# LITERARY AN ALYSIS: CONVENTIONS OF DRAMA Drama is literature in play form. It is meant to be performed and seen. However, an understanding of dramatic conventions can help you picture the performance when you read a script.
Whatfuels a MOB?
As you read The Crucible, be aware of these drama conventions:
Visualize a mob of people rampaging through the streets, whipped into a frenzy by hysteria. The
• Stage directions, which Miller uses not only to describe settings and characters but also to provide historical background in the form of expository mini-essays
• Dialogue, the lifeblood of drama, which moves the plot forward and reveals character traits
• Types of characters— heroes, villains, and foils— which Miller uses to heighten the tension of his drama
• Plot, which is driven by conflict that builds throughout
mob? What are some of the results of mob action? Think about news reports or historical accounts of mobs that you’ve come across. In a small group, discuss what caused these mobs to
■ READING SKILL: DRAW CONCLUSIONS ABOUT CHARACTERS Characters in drama reveal their personality traits through their words and actions. The descriptions in the stage directions can also provide insight into these characters. As you read The Crucible, draw conclusions about the play’s main characters. Record their important traits and the evidence that reveals these traits in a chart like the one shown. Be sure to add characters to the chart as you encounter them.
Trasks
John Proctor
proud
assertive.
Reverend John Hale
i
Evidence.
A VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT Arthur Miller uses the words shown here to help convey the atmosphere of the Salem witch trials. Place them in the following categories: words that describe character traits, words that describe actions, and words that are concepts. W ORD LIST
adamant
corroborate
immaculate
ameliorate
deference
imperceptible
anarchy
deposition
iniquity
conciliatory
dissembling
subservient
contentious
effrontery
trepidation
fear, anger, and panic produced by hysteria can make otherwise reasonable people do irrational things. In The Crucible, for example, the hysteria created by the Salem witch trials makes neighbor turn against neighbor.
DISCUSS What makes people act as a
each act
Abigail Wi/liaMS
KEY IDEA
form and how they behaved.
'zxr%w
Arthur Miller
Themes Across Time
BACKGROUND
The Crucible is based on th e w itch trials th a t took place in the
Puritan com m unity of Salem , M assachusetts, in 1692. At these trials, spectral evidence— the testim on y o f a church m em ber w h o claim ed to have seen a person’s spirit perform ing w itch craft— w as enough to sentence th e accused to death. M iller studied th e court records o f the trials to gain insight into his characters— all of w hom w ere real people— and get a feel for th e Puritan w ay o f speaking. Above all, he w an ted to capture the mood o f a tim e w h en no one w as safe.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
(in order of appearance)
Mrs. Ann Putnam
Ezekiel Cheever
Reverend Samuel Parris
Thomas Putnam
Marshal Herrick
Betty Parris
Mercy Lewis
Judge Hathorne
Tituba
Mary Warren
Martha Corey
Abigail Williams
Rebecca Nurse
John Proctor
Giles Corey
Deputy Governor Danforth
Elizabeth Proctor
Reverend John Hale
Girls of Salem
Susanna Walcott
Francis Nurse
Sarah Good
ActOne An O verture
(A small upper bedroom in the home o f Reverend Samuel Parris, Salem, Massachusetts, in the spring o f the year 1692. There is a narrow window at the left. Through its leaded panes the morning sunlight streams. A candle still burns near the bed, which is at the right. A chest, a chair, and a small table are the other furnishings. A t the back a door opens on the landing o f the stairway to the ground floor. The room gives o ff an air o f clean spareness. The roof rafters are exposed, and the wood colors are raw and unmellowed. As the curtain rises, Reverend Parris is discovered kneeling beside the bed, evi dently in prayer. His daughter, Betty Parris, aged ten, is lying on the bed, inert.)
A
t the time of these events Parris was in his middle forties. In history he cut a villainous path, and there is very little good to be said for him. He believed he was being persecuted wherever he went, despite his best efforts to win people and God to his side. In meeting, he felt insulted if someone rose to shut the door without first asking his permis sion. He was a widower with no interest in children, or talent with them. He regarded them as young adults, and until this strange crisis he, like the rest of Salem, never conceived that the children were anything but thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak. His house stood in the “town”— but we today would hardly call it a village. The meeting house1was nearby, and from this point outward— toward the bay or inland— there were a few small-windowed, dark houses snuggling against the raw Massachusetts winter. Salem had been established hardly forty years
before. To the European world the whole province was a barbaric frontier inhabited by a sect of fanatics who, nevertheless, were shipping out products of slowly increasing quantity and value. No one can really know what their lives were like. They had no novelists— and would not have permit ted anyone to read a novel if one were handy. Their creed forbade anything resembling a theater or “vain enjoyment.” They did not celebrate Christmas, and a holiday from work meant only that they must con centrate even more upon prayer. Which is not to say that nothing broke into this strict and somber way of life. When a new farm house was built, friends assembled to “raise the roof,” and there would be special foods cooked and prob ably some potent cider passed around. There was a good supply of ne’er-do-wells in Salem, who dallied at the shovelboard2 in Bridget Bishop’s tavern. Prob ably more than the creed, hard work kept the morals of the place from spoiling, for the people were forced
1. meeting house: the most important building in the Puritan community, used both for worship and for meetings. 2 . shovelboard: a game in which a coin or disc is shoved across a board by hand.
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Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor
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to fight the land like heroes for every grain of corn, and no man had very much time for fooling around. That there were some jokers, however, is indi cated by the practice of appointing a two-man patrol whose duty was to “walk forth in the time of God’s worship to take notice of such as either lye about the meeting house, without attending to the word and ordinances, or that lye at home or in the fields without giving good account thereof, and to take the names of such persons, and to present them to the magistrates, whereby they may be accordingly proceeded against.” This predilection for minding other people’s business was time-honored among the people of Salem, and it undoubtedly created many of the suspicions which were to feed the com ing madness. It was also, in my opinion, one of the things that a John Proctor would rebel against, for the time of the armed camp had almost passed, and since the country was reasonably— although not wholly— safe, the old disciplines were beginning to rankle. But, as in all such matters, the issue was not clear-cut, for danger was still a possibility, and in unity still lay the best promise of safety. The edge of the wilderness was close by. The American continent stretched endlessly west, and it was full of mystery for them. It stood, dark and threatening, over their shoulders night and day, for out of it Indian tribes marauded from time to time, and Reverend Parris had parishioners who had lost relatives to these heathen. 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.
For these reasons, among others, they carried about an air of innate resistance, even of persecu tion. Their fathers had, of course, been persecuted in England. So now they and their church found it necessary to deny any other sect its freedom, lest their New Jerusalem3 be defiled and corrupted by wrong ways and deceitful ideas. They believed, in short, that they held in their steady hands the candle that would light the world. We have inherited this belief, and it has helped and hurt us. It helped them with the discipline it gave them. They were a dedicated folk, by and large, and they had to be to survive the life they had chosen or been born into in this country. The proof of their belief’s value to them may be taken from the opposite character of the first Jamestown settlement, farther south, in Virginia. The Englishmen who landed there were motivated mainly by a hunt for profit. They had thought to pick off the wealth of the new country and then return rich to England. They were a band of indi vidualists, and a much more ingratiating group than the Massachusetts men. But Virginia destroyed them. Massachusetts tried to kill off the Puritans, but they combined; they set up a communal society which, in the beginning, was little more than an armed camp with an autocratic and very devoted leadership. It was, however, an autocracy by consent, for they were united from top to bottom by a com monly held ideology whose perpetuation was the reason and justification for all their sufferings. So their self-denial, their purposefulness, their suspicion of all vain pursuits, their hard-handed justice, were altogether perfect instruments for the conquest of this space so antagonistic to man. But the people of Salem in 1692 were not quite the dedicated folk that arrived on the Mayflower. A vast differentiation had taken place, and in their own time a revolution had unseated the royal gov ernment and substituted a junta which was at this
3. New Jerusalem: in Christianity, a heavenly city and the last resting place of the souls saved by Jesus. It was considered the ideal city, and Puritans modeled their communities after it.
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Themes Across Time
moment in power.4 The times, to their eyes, must have been out of joint, and to the common folk must have seemed as insoluble and complicated as do ours today. It is not hard to see how easily many could have been led to believe that the time of confusion had been brought upon them by deep and darkling forces. No hint of such speculation appears on the court record, but social disorder in any age breeds such mystical suspicions, and when, as in Salem, wonders are brought forth from below the social surface, it is too much to expect people to hold back very long from laying on the victims with all the force of their frustrations. The Salem tragedy, which is about to begin in these pages, developed from a paradox. It is a para dox in whose grip we still live, and there is no pros pect yet that we will discover its resolution. Simply, it was this: for good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a com bine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies. It was forged for a necessary purpose and accomplished that purpose. But all organization is and must be grounded on the idea of exclusion and prohibition, just as two objects cannot occupy the same space. Evidently the time came in New England when the repressions of order were heavier than seemed warranted by the dangers against which the order was organized. The witch-hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom. When one rises above the individual villainy dis played, one can only pity them all, just as we shall be pitied someday. It is still impossible for man to orga nize his social life without repressions, and the bal ance has yet to be struck between order and freedom. The witch-hunt was not, however, a mere repres sion. It was also, and as importantly, a long overdue
opportunity for everyone so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins, under the cover of accu sations against the victims. It suddenly became possible— and patriotic and holy— for a man to say that Martha Corey had come into his bedroom at night, and that, while his wife was sleeping at his side, Martha laid herself down on his chest and “nearly suffocated him .” O f course it was her spirit only, but his satisfaction at confessing himself was no lighter than if it had been Martha herself. One could not ordinarily speak such things in public. Long-held hatreds of neighbors could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken, despite the Bible’s charitable injunctions. Land-lust which had been expressed before by constant bickering over boundaries and deeds, could now be elevated to the arena of morality; one could cry witch against one’s neighbor and feel perfectly justified in the bargain. Old scores could be settled on a plane of heavenly combat between Lucifer and the Lord; suspicions and the envy of the miserable toward the happy could and did burst out in the general revenge. (Reverend Parris is praying now, and, though we can not hear his words, a sense o f his confusion hangs about him. He mumbles, then seems about to weep; then he weeps, then prays again; but his daughter does not stir on the bed. The door opens, and his Negro slave enters. Tituba is in her forties. Parris brought her with him from Barbados, where he spent some years as a merchant before entering the ministry. She enters as one does who 10 can no longer bear to be barredfrom the sight o f her beloved, but she is also very frightened because her slave sense has warned her that, as always, trouble in this house eventually lands on her back) Tituba (already taking a step backward). My Betty be hearty soon? 1
4. a junta (hoon'ts)... power: Junta is a Spanish term meaning "a small, elite ruling council.” The reference here is to the group that led England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688- 1689 .
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Out of here! Tituba (backing to the door). My Betty not goin’ die . . . Parris (scrambling to his feet in a fury). O ut of my 20 sight! {She is gone)) Out of my— {He is overcome with sobs. He clamps his teeth against them and closes the door and leans against it, exhausted.) Oh, my God! God help me! {Quaking with fear, mumbling to himselfthrough his sobs, he goes to the bed and gently takes Betty i hand.) Betty. Child. Dear child. Will you wake, will you open up your eyes! Betty, little one . . . {He is bending to kneel again when his niece, Abigail Williams, seventeen, enters— a strikingly beautiful girl, 30 an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling. Now she is all worry and apprehension and propriety.) Abigail. Uncle? {He looks to her.) Susanna Walcott’s here from Doctor Griggs. Parris. Oh? Let her come, let her come. Abigail {leaning out the door to call to Susanna, who is down the hall a few steps). Come in, Susanna. (Susanna Walcott, a little younger than Abigail, a nervous, hurried girl, enters.) Parris {eagerly). W hat does the doctor say, child? 40 Susanna {craning around Parris to get a look at Betty). He bid me come and tell you, reverend sir, that he cannot discover no medicine for it in his books. Parris. Then he must search on. Susanna. Aye, sir, he have been searchin’ his books since he left you, sir. But he bid me tell you, that you might look to unnatural things for the cause of it. Parris {his eyes going wide). No — no. There be no unnatural cause here. Tell him I have sent for Rever end Hale of Beverly, and Mr. Hale will surely con50 firm that. Let him look to medicine and put out all thought of unnatural causes here. There be none. Susanna. Aye, sir. He bid me tell you. {She turns to go.) Abigail. Speak nothin’ of it in the village, Susanna. Parris.
5. trafficked with: met with.
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Parris. Go
directly home and speak nothing of unnatural causes. Susanna. Aye, sir. I pray for her. {Shegoes out.) Abigail. Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself. The parlor’s packed with people, sir. I’ll sit with her. 60 Parris {pressed, turns on her). And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathen in the forest? Abigail. Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it— and I’ll be whipped if I must be. But they’re speakin’ of witchcraft. Betty’s not witched. Parris. Abigail, I cannot go before the congregation when I know you have not opened with me. W hat did you do with her in the forest? Abigail. We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped 70 out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the whole of it. Parris. Child. Sit you down. Abigail {quavering, as she sits). I would never hurt Betty. I love her dearly. Parris. Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with5 spir its in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it. Abigail. But we never conjured spirits. 80 Parris. Then why can she not move herself since midnight? This child is desperate! (Abigail lowers her eyes.) It must come out— my enemies will bring it out. Let me know what you done there. Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies? Abigail. I have heard of it, uncle. Parris. There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit. Do you understand that? Abigail. I think so, sir. Parris. Now then, in the midst of such disruption, 90 my own household is discovered to be the very cen ter of some obscene practice. Abominations are done in the forest—
Themes Across Time
Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams
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It were sport, uncle! Parris (pointingat Betty). You call this sport? (She lowers her eyes. He pleads.) Abigail, if you know something that may help the doctor, for God’s sake tell it to me. (She is silent.) I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when I came on you. Why was she doing that? And I heard a screeching and gibberish 100 coming from her mouth. She were swaying like a dumb beast over that fire! Abigail. She always sings her Barbados songs, and we dance. Parris. I cannot blink what I saw, Abigail, for my ene mies will not blink it. I saw a dress lying on the grass. Abigail (innocently). A dress? Parris (It is very hard to say). Aye, a dress. And I thought I saw— someone naked running through the trees! no Abigail (in terror). No one was naked! You mistake yourself, uncle! Parris (with anger). I saw it! (He moves from her. Then, resolved) Now tell me true, Abigail. And I pray you feel the weight of truth upon you, for now my ministry’s at stake, my ministry and perhaps your cousin’s life. Whatever abomination you have done, give me all of it now, for I dare not be taken unaware when I go before them down there. 120 Abigail. There is nothin’ more. I swear it, uncle. Parris (studies her, then nods, half convinced). Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character. I have given you a home, child, I have put clothes upon your back— now give me upright answer. Your name in the town— it is entirely white, is it not? Abigail (with an edge o f resentment). Why, I am sure 130 it is, sir. There be no blush about my name.6 Abigail.
6 . There be ... my name: There is nothing wrong with my reputation.
7. Goody: short for Coodwife, the Puritan equivalent of Mrs.
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(to the point). Abigail, is there any other cause than you have told me, for your being discharged from Goody7 Proctor’s service? I have heard it said, and I tell you as I heard it, that she comes so rarely to the church this year for she will not sit so close to something soiled. W hat signified that remark? Abigail. She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, snivel ing woman, and I will not work for such a woman! 140 Parris. She may be. And yet it has troubled me that you are now seven month out of their house, and in all this time no other family has ever called for your service. Abigail. They want slaves, not such as I. Let them send to Barbados for that. I will not black my face for any of them! (with ill-concealed resentment at him) Do you begrudge my bed, uncle? Parris. No— no. Abigail (in a temper). My name is good in the vil150 lage! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar! (Enter Mrs. Ann Putnam. She is a twisted soul o f forty-five, a death-ridden woman, haunted by dreams.) Parris (as soon as the door begins to open). No— no, I cannot have anyone. (He sees her, and a certain deference springs into him, although his worry remains.) Why, Goody Putnam, come in. Mrs. Putnam (full o f breath, shiny-eyed). It is a mar vel. It is surely a stroke of hell upon you. 160 Parris. No, Goody Putnam, it is— Mrs. Putnam (glancingat Betty). How high did she fly, how high? Parris. No, no, she never flew— Mrs. Putnam (verypleased with it). Why, it’s sure she did. Mr. Collins saw her goin’ over Ingersoll’s barn, and come down light as bird, he says! Parris. Now, look you, Goody Putnam, she never— Parris
(Enter Thomas Putnam, a well-to-do, hard-handed landowner, near fifty.) Oh, good morning, Mr. 170 Putnam. Putnam. It is a providence the thing is out now! It is a providence. (Hegoes directly to the bed.) Parris. W hat’s out, sir, what’s— ? (Mrs. Putnam goes to the bed.) Putnam (looking down at Betty). Why, her eyes is closed! Look you, Ann. Mrs. Putnam. Why, that’s strange, (to Parris) Ours is open. Parris (shocked). Your Ruth is sick? 180 Mrs. Putnam (with vicious certainty). I’d not call it sick; the Devil’s touch is heavier than sick. It’s death, y’know, it’s death drivin’ into them, forked and hoofed. Parris. Oh, pray not! Why, how does Ruth ail? Mrs. Putnam. She ails as she must— she never waked this morning, but her eyes open and she walks, and hears naught, sees naught, and cannot eat. Her soul is taken, surely. (Parris is struck.) 190 Putnam (as though for further details). They say you’ve sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly? Parris (with dwindling conviction now). A precaution only. He has much experience in all demonic arts, and I— Mrs. Putnam. He has indeed; and found a witch in Beverly last year, and let you remember that. Parris. Now, Goody Ann, they only thought that were a witch, and I am certain there be no element of witchcraft here. 200 Putnam. No witchcraft! Now look you, Mr. Parris— Parris. Thomas, Thomas, I pray you, leap not to witchcraft. I know that you— you least of all, Thomas, would ever wish so disastrous a charge laid upon me. We cannot leap to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house.
A
word about Thomas Putnam. He was a man with many grievances, at least one of which appears justified. Some time before, his wife’s brother-in-law, James Bayley, had been turned down as minister of Salem. Bayley had all the qualifica tions, and a two-thirds vote into the bargain, but a faction stopped his acceptance, for reasons that are not clear. Thomas Putnam was the eldest son of the rich est man in the village. He had fought the Indians at Narragansett,8 and was deeply interested in parish affairs. He undoubtedly felt it poor payment that the village should so blatantly disregard his candi date for one of its more important offices, especially since he regarded himself as the intellectual superior of most of the people around him. His vindictive nature was demonstrated long before the witchcraft began. Another former Salem minis ter, George Burroughs, had had to borrow money to pay for his wife’s funeral, and, since the parish was remiss in his salary, he was soon bankrupt. Thomas and his brother John had Burroughs jailed for debts the man did not owe. The incident is important only in that Burroughs succeeded in becoming minister where Bayley, Thomas Putnam’s brother-in-law, had been rejected; the motif of resentment is clear here. Thomas Putnam felt that his own name and the honor of his family had been smirched by the village, and he meant to right matters however he could. Another reason to believe him a deeply embit tered man was his attempt to break his father’s will, which left a disproportionate amount to a step brother. As with every other public cause in which he tried to force his way, he failed in this. So it is not surprising to find that so many accu sations against people are in the handwriting of Thomas Putnam, or that his name is so often found as a witness corroborating the supernatural testi mony, or that his daughter led the crying-out at the most opportune junctures of the trials, especially when— But we’ll speak of that when we come to it.
8 . fought the Indians at Narragansett: The Puritans fought a series of battles against the Narragansett
Indians over territory that both groups had settled on.
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Putnam (At the moment he is intent upon getting Parris, for whom he has only contempt, to move toward the abyss). Mr. Parris, I have taken your part in all contention here, and I would continue; but I cannot 210 if you hold back in this. There are hurtful, vengeful spirits layin’ hands on these children. Parris. But, Thomas, you cannot— Putnam. Ann! Tell Mr. Parris what you have done. Mrs. Putnam. Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth. Believe me, sir, you never saw more hearty babies born. And yet, each would wither in my arms the very night of their birth. I have spoke nothin’, but my heart has clamored intimations.9 And now, this year, my Ruth, my only— I see her turning 220 strange. A secret child she has become this year, and shrivels like a sucking mouth were pullin’ on her life too. And so I thought to send her to your Tituba— Parris. To Tituba! W hat may Tituba— ? Mrs. Putnam. Tituba knows how to speak to the dead, Mr. Parris. Parris. Goody Ann, it is a formidable sin to conjure up the dead! Mrs. Putnam. I take it on my soul, but who else may surely tell us what person murdered my babies? 230 Parris (horrified). Woman! Mrs. Putnam. They were murdered, Mr. Parris! And mark this proof! Mark it! Last night my Ruth were ever so close to their little spirits; I know it, sir. For how else is she struck dumb now except some power of darkness would stop her mouth? It is a marvelous sign, Mr. Parris! Putnam. Don’t you understand it, sir? There is a murdering witch among us, bound to keep herself in the dark. (Parris turns to Betty, a frantic terror rising 240 in him.) Let your enemies make of it what they will, you cannot blink it more. Parris (to Abigail). Then you were conjuring spirits last night. Abigail (whispering). Not I, sir— Tituba and Ruth.
9.
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Parris (turns now, with new fear, and goes to Betty, looks down at her, and then, gazing o ff) . Oh, Abigail, what proper payment for my charity! Now I am undone. Putnam. You are not undone! Let you take hold 250 here. Wait for no one to charge you— declare it yourself. You have discovered witchcraft— Parris. In my house? In my house, Thomas? They will topple me with this! They will make of it a— (Enter Mercy Lewis, the Putnams’servant, a fat, sly, merciless girl o f eighteen.) Mercy. Your pardons. I only thought to see how Betty is. Putnam. Why aren’t you home? W ho’s with Ruth? Mercy. Her grandma come. She’s improved a little, 260 I think— she give a powerful sneeze before. Mrs. Putnam. Ah, there’s a sign of life! Mercy. I’d fear no more, Goody Putnam. It were a grand sneeze; another like it will shake her wits together, I’m sure. (She goes to the bed to look.) Parris. Will you leave me now, Thomas? I would pray a while alone. Abigail. Uncle, you’ve prayed since midnight. Why do you not go down and— Parris. No— no. (to Putnam) I have no answer for 270 that crowd. I’ll wait till Mr. Hale arrives, (to get Mrs. Putnam to leave) If you will, Goody Ann . . . Putnam. Now look you, sir. Let you strike out against the Devil, and the village will bless you for it! Come down, speak to them— pray with them. They’re thirsting for your word, Mister! Surely you’ll pray with them. Parris (swayed). I’ll lead them in a psalm, but let you say nothing of witchcraft yet. I will not discuss it. The cause is yet unknown. I have had enough con280 tention since I came; I want no more. Mrs. Putnam. Mercy, you go home to Ruth, d’y’hear? Mercy. Aye, mum. (Mrs. Putnam goes out.)
clamored intimations (klam'ard Tn'te-ma'shsnz): nagging suspicions.
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Themes Across Time
Parris (to Abigail). If she starts for the window, cry for me at once. Abigail. I will, uncle. Parris (to Putnam). There is a terrible power in her arms today. (He goes out with Putnam.) Abigail (with hushed trepidation). How is Ruth sick? 290 Mercy. It’s weirdish, I know not— she seems to walk like a dead one since last night. Abigail (turns at once and goes to Betty, and now, with fear in her voice). Betty? (Betty doesn’t move. She shakes her.) Now stop this! Betty! Sit up now! (Betty doesn’t stir. Mercy comes over.) Mercy. Have you tried beatin’ her? I gave Ruth a good one and it waked her for a minute. Here, let me have her. Abigail (holding Mercy back). No, he’ll be cornin’ up. 300 Listen, now; if they be questioning us, tell them we danced— I told him as much already. Mercy. Aye. And what more?
He knows Tituba conjured Ruth’s sisters to come out of the grave. Mercy. And what more? Abigail. He saw you naked. Mercy (clapping her hands together with a frightened laugh). Oh, Jesus! (Enter Mary Warren, breathless. She is seventeen, 310 a subservient, naive, lonely girl.) Mary Warren. W hat’ll we do? The village is out! I just come from the farm; the whole country’s talkin’ witchcraft! They’ll be callin’ us witches, Abby! Mercy (pointing and looking at Mary Warren). She means to tell, I know it. Mary Warren. Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two year ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things! 320 Abigail. Oh, we’l l be whipped! Mary Warren. I never done none of it, Abby. I only looked! Abigail.
Villagers gathering to gossip
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Mercy (moving menacingly toward Mary).
Oh, you’re a great one for lookin’, aren’t you, Mary Warren? W hat a grand peeping courage you have! ( Betty, on the bed, whimpers. Abigail turns to her at once.) Abigail. Betty? (Shegoes to Betty.) Now, Betty, dear, wake up now. It’s Abigail. (She sits Betty up and 330 furiously shakes her.) I’ll beat you, Betty! (Betty whimpers.) My, you seem improving. I talked to your papa and I told him everything. So there’s nothing to— Betty (darts off the bed, frightened 0/Abigail, and flat tens herselfagainst the wall). I want my mama! Abigail (with alarm, as she cautiously approaches Betty). What ails you, Betty? Your mama’s dead and buried. Betty. I:11 fly to Mama. Let me fly! (She raises her arms as though to fly, and streaks for the window, gets 340 one leg out.) Abigail (pulling her away from the window). I told him everything; he knows now, he knows everything we— Betty. You drank blood, Abby! You didn’t tell him that! Abigail. Betty, you never say that again! You will never— Betty. You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor! Abigail (smashes her across the face). Shut it! Now 350 shut it! Betty (collapsing on the bed). Mama, Mama! (She dis solves into sobs.) Abigail. Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.10 And you know I can do it; I saw 360 Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow
next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! (She goes to Betty and roughly sits her up.) Now, you— sit up and stop this! (But Betty collapses in her hands and lies inert on the bed.) Mary Warren (with hystericalfright). W hat’s got her? (Abigail stares in fright at Betty.) Abby, she’s going to die! It’s a sin to conjure, and we— 370 Abigail (startingfor Mary). I say shut it, Mary Warren! (Enter John Proctor. On seeing him, Mary Warren leaps in fright.)
10 . bring ... shudder you: inflict a terrifying punishment on you. 11 . marked for calumny (kal'em-ne): singled out to have lies told about him.
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roctor was a farmer in his middle thirties. He need not have been a partisan of any faction in the 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 resent ment. In Proctor’s presence a fool felt his foolishness instantly— and a Proctor is always marked for calumny" therefore. But as we shall see, the steady manner he displays does not spring from an untroubled soul. He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct. These people had no ritual for the washing away of sins. It is another trait we inherited from them, and it has helped to discipline us as well as to breed hypocrisy among us. Proctor, respected and even feared in Salem, has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud. But no hint of this has yet appeared on the surface, and as he enters from the crowded parlor below it is a man in his prime we see, with a quiet confidence and an unexpressed, hidden force. Mary Warren, his servant, can barely speak for embarrassment and fear.
Themes Across Time
Oh! I’m just going home, Mr. Proctor. Proctor. Be you foolish, Mary Warren? Be you deaf? I forbid you leave the house, did I not? Why shall I pay you? I am looking for you more often than my cows! Mary Warren. I only come to see the great doings in the world. Proctor. I’ll show you a great doin’ on your arse one 380 of these days. Now get you home; my wife is waitin’ with your work! (Trying to retain a shred o f dignity, she goes slowly out.) Mercy Lewis (both afraid o f him and strangely titil lated). I’d best be off. I have my Ruth to watch. Good morning, Mr. Proctor. (Mercy sidles out. Since Proctor s entrance, Abigail has stood as though on tiptoe, absorbing his presence, wideeyed. He glances at her, then goes to Betty on the bed.) Abigail. Gah! I’d almost forgot how strong you are, 390 John Proctor! Proctor (looking at Abigail now, the faintest suggestion of a knowing smile on hisface). W hat’s this mischief here? Abigail (with a nervous laugh). Oh, she’s only gone silly somehow. Proctor. The road past my house is a pilgrimage to Salem all morning. The town’s mumbling witchcraft. Abigail. Oh, posh! (Winningly she comes a little closer, with a confidential, wicked air.) We were dancin’ in the woods last night, and my uncle leaped in on us. 400 She took fright, is all. Proctor (his smile widening). Ah, you’re wicked yet, aren’t y’! (A trill o f expectant laughter escapes her, and she dares come closer, feverishly looking into his eyes.) You’ll be clapped in the stocks before you’re twenty. (He takes a step to go, and she springs into his path) Abigail. Give me a word, John. A soft word. (Her concentrated desire destroys his smile.) Proctor. No, no, Abby. That’s done with. Abigail (tauntingly). You come five mile to see a silly 410 girl fly? I know you better. Mary Warren.
(setting her firmly out o f his path). I come to see what mischief your uncle’s brewin’ now. (with final emphasis) Put it out of mind, Abby. Abigail (grasping his hand before he can release her). John— I am waitin’ for you every night. Proctor. Abby, I never give you hope to wait for me. Abigail (now beginning to anger— she can’t believe it). I have something better than hope, I think! Proctor. Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be 420 cornin’ for you more. Abigail. You’re surely sportin’ with me. Proctor. You know me better. Abigail. I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near! O r did I dream that? It’s she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now! Proctor. Abby, that’s a wild thing to say— 430 Abigail. A wild thing may say wild things. But not so wild, I think. I have seen you since she put me out; I have seen you nights. Proctor. I have hardly stepped off my farm this sevenmonth. Abigail. I have a sense for heat, John, and yours has drawn me to my window, and I have seen you look ing up, burning in your loneliness. Do you tell me you’ve never looked up at my window? Proctor. I may have looked up. 440 Abigail (now softening). And you must. You are no wintry man. I know you, John. I know you. (She is weeping.) I cannot sleep for dreamin’; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I’d find you cornin’ through some door. (She clutches him desperately). Proctor (gently pressing her from him, with great sympathy but firmly). Child— Abigail (with a flash o f anger). How do you call me child! Proctor
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450 Proctor. Abby,
I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby. Abigail. Aye, but we did. Proctor. Aye, but we did not. Abigail (with a bitter anger). Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be— Proctor (,angered—at himself as well). You’ll speak nothin’ of Elizabeth! 460 Abigail. She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a— Proctor (shaking her). Do you look for whippin’? (A psalm is heard being sung below.) Abigail (in tears). I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted12 men! And now you 470 bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! (He turns abruptly to go out. She rushes to him.) John, pity me, pity me! (The words “going up to Jesus”are heard in the psalm, and Betty claps her ears suddenly and whines loudly.) Abigail. Betty? (She hurries to Betty, who is now sit ting up and screaming. Proctor goes to Betty as Abigail is trying to pull her hands down, calling “Betty!”) Proctor (growing unnerved). W hat’s she doing? Girl, 480 what ails you? Stop that wailing! (The singing has stopped in the midst o f this, and now Parris rushes in.) Parris. W hat happened? W hat are you doing to her? Betty! (He rushes to the bed, crying, “Betty, Betty!” Mrs. Putnam enters, feverish with curiosity, and with her Thomas Putnam and Mercy Lewis. Parris, at the
bed, keeps lightly slapping Betty sface, while she moans and tries to get up.) Abigail. She heard you singin’ and suddenly she’s up 490 and screamin’. Mrs. Putnam. The psalm! The psalm! She cannot bear to hear the Lord’s name! Parris. No. God forbid. Mercy, run to the doctor! Tell him what’s happened here! (Mercy Lewis rushes out.) Mrs. Putnam. Mark it for a sign, mark it! (Rebecca Nurse, seventy-two, enters. She is whitehaired, leaning upon her walking-stick.) Putnam (pointing at the whimpering Betty). That is a notorious sign of witchcraft afoot, Goody Nurse, 500 a prodigious sign! Mrs. Putnam. My mother told me that! When they cannot bear to hear the name of— Parris (trembling). Rebecca, Rebecca, go to her, we’re lost. She suddenly cannot bear to hear the Lord’s— (Giles Corey, eighty-three, enters. He is knotted with muscle, canny, inquisitive, and still powerful.) Rebecca. There is hard sickness here, Giles Corey, so please to keep the quiet. Giles. I’ve not said a word. No one here can testify I’ve 510 said a word. Is she going to fly again? I hear she flies. Putnam. Man, be quiet now! (Everything is quiet. Rebecca walks across the room to the bed. Gentleness exudes from her. Betty is quietly whimpering, eyes shut. Rebecca simply stands over the child, who gradually quiets) nd while they are so absorbed, we may put a word in for Rebecca. Rebecca was the wife of Francis Nurse, who, from all accounts, was one of those men for whom both sides of the argument had to have respect. He was called upon to arbitrate disputes as though he were an unofficial judge, and
12. covenanted (kuv'e-nen-tTd): In Puritan religious practice, the men of a congregation would make an agreement, or covenant, to govern the community and abide by its beliefs and practices.
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Themes Across Time
Rebecca also enjoyed the high opinion most people had for him. By the time of the delusion,13 they had three hundred acres, and their children were settled in separate homesteads within the same estate. How ever, Francis had originally rented the land, and one theory has it that, as he gradually paid for it and raised his social status, there were those who resented his rise. Another suggestion to explain the systematic cam paign against Rebecca, and inferentially against Fran cis, is the land war he fought with his neighbors, one of whom was a Putnam. This squabble grew to the proportions of a battle in the woods between parti sans of both sides, and it is said to have lasted for two days. As for Rebecca herself, the general opinion of her character was so high that to explain how anyone dared cry her out for a witch— and more, how adults could bring themselves to lay hands on her—we must look to the fields and boundaries of that time. As we have seen, Thomas Putnam’s man for the Salem ministry was Bayley. The Nurse clan had been in the faction that prevented Bayley’s taking office. In addition, certain families allied to the Nurses by blood or friendship, and whose farms were contigu ous with the Nurse farm or close to it, combined to break away from the Salem town authority and set up Topsfield, a new and independent entity whose existence was resented by old Salemites. That the guiding hand behind the outcry was Putnam’s is indicated by the fact that, as soon as it began, this Topsfield-Nurse faction absented them selves from church in protest and disbelief. It was Edward and Jonathan Putnam who signed the first complaint against Rebecca; and Thomas Putnam’s little daughter was the one who fell into a fit at the hearing and pointed to Rebecca as her attacker. To top it all, Mrs. Putnam— who is now staring at the bewitched child on the bed— soon accused Rebecca’s spirit of “tempting her to iniquity,” a charge that had more truth in it than Mrs. Putnam could know.
(astonished). W hat have you done? (Rebecca, in thought, now leaves the bedside and sits.) Parris (wondrous and relieved). W hat do you make of it, Rebecca? 520 Putnam (eagerly). Goody Nurse, will you go to my Ruth and see if you can wake her? Rebecca (sitting). I think she’ll wake in time. Pray calm yourselves. I have eleven children, and I am twenty-six times a grandma, and I have seen them all through their silly seasons, and when it come on them they will run the Devil bowlegged keep ing up with their mischief. I think she’ll wake when she tires of it. A child’s spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand 530 still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back. Proctor. Aye, that’s the truth of it, Rebecca. Mrs. Putnam. This is no silly season, Rebecca. My Ruth is bewildered, Rebecca; she cannot eat. Rebecca. Perhaps she is not hungered yet. (to Parris) I hope you are not decided to go in search of loose spirits, Mr. Parris. I’ve heard promise of that outside. Parris. A wide opinion’s running in the parish that the Devil may be among us, and I would satisfy them that they are wrong. 540 Proctor. Then let you come out and call them wrong. Did you consult the wardens14 before you called this minister to look for devils? Parris. He is not coming to look for devils! Proctor. Then what’s he coming for? Putnam. There be children dyin’ in the village, Mister! Proctor. I seen none dyin’. This society will not be a bag to swing around your head, Mr. Putnam, (to Parris) Did you call a meeting before you— ? Mrs. Putnam
Putnam. I
am sick o f m eetin g s; c a n n o t th e m an tu rn
550 his h ead w ith o u t he h ave a m eeting?
He may turn his head, but not to Hell! Rebecca. Pray, John, be calm. (Pause. He defers to her.) Mr. Parris, I think you’d best send Reverend Proctor.
13. the time of the delusion: the era of the witchcraft accusations and trials. 14. wardens: officers appointed to keep order.
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Hale back as soon as he come. This will set us all to arguin’ again in the society, and we thought to have peace this year. I think we ought rely on the doctor now, and good prayer. Mrs. Putnam. Rebecca, the doctor’s baffled! Rebecca. If so he is, then let us go to God for the 560 cause of it. There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits. I fear it, I fear it. Let us rather blame ourselves and— Putnam. How may we blame ourselves? I am one of nine sons; the Putnam seed have peopled this prov ince. And yet I have but one child left of eight— and now she shrivels! Rebecca. I cannot fathom that. Mrs. Putnam (with a growing edge o f sarcasm). But I must! You think it God’s work you should never 570 lose a child, nor grandchild either, and I bury all but one? There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires! Putnam (to Parris). When Reverend Hale comes, you will proceed to look for signs of witchcraft here. Proctor (to Putnam). You cannot command Mr. Par ris. We vote by name in this society, not by acreage. Putnam. I never heard you worried so on this society, Mr. Proctor. I do not think I saw you at Sabbath meeting since snow flew. 580 Proctor. I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any more. Parris (now aroused). Why, that’s a drastic charge! Rebecca. It’s somewhat true; there are many that quail to bring their children— Parris. I do not preach for children, Rebecca. It is not the children who are unmindful of their obliga590 tions toward this ministry. Rebecca. Are there really those unmindful? Parris. I should say the better half of Salem village— Putnam. And more than that!
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Parris. Where is my wood? My contract provides I be supplied with all my firewood. I am waiting since November for a stick, and even in November I had to show my frostbitten hands like some London beggar! Giles. You are allowed six pound a year to buy your wood, Mr. Parris. 600 Parris. I regard that six pound as part of my salary. I am paid little enough without I spend six pound on firewood. Proctor. Sixty, plus six for firewood— Parris. The salary is sixty-six pound, Mr. Proctor! I am not some preaching farmer with a book under my arm; I am a graduate of Harvard College. Giles. Aye, and well instructed in arithmetic! Parris. Mr. Corey, you will look far for a man of my kind at sixty pound a year! I am not used to this 610 poverty; I left a thrifty business in the Barbados to serve the Lord. I do not fathom it, why am I per secuted here? I cannot offer one proposition but there be a howling riot of argument. I have often wondered if the Devil be in it somewhere; I cannot understand you people otherwise. Proctor. Mr. Parris, you are the first minister ever did demand the deed to this house— Parris. Man! Don’t a minister deserve a house to live in? 620 Proctor. To live in, yes. But to ask ownership is like you shall own the meeting house itself; the last meeting I were at you spoke so long on deeds and mortgages I thought it were an auction. Parris. I want a mark of confidence, is all! I am your third preacher in seven years. I do not wish to be put out like the cat whenever some majority feels the whim. You people seem not to comprehend that a minister is the Lord’s man in the parish; a minister is not to be so lightly crossed and contradicted— 630 Putnam. Aye! Parris. There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning! Proctor. Can you speak one minute without we land in Hell again? I am sick of Hell!
V
Behind the Curtain
Scene Selection The film scenes pictured here show a m eeting betw een John Proctor and Abigail th a t never took place in the play, and th e girls dancing in th e forest, w hich occurs before th e play begins. W h y do you th in k such scenes w ere left o u t o f the original play? Identify th e advantages and disadvantages o f presenting these scenes in th e film version.
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Parris. It
is not for you to say what is good for you
morning without you clap him for defamation?17 to hear! You’re old, Giles, and you’re not hearin’ so well as you did. Proctor. I may speak my heart, I think! Giles (He cannot be crossed). John Proctor, I have only Parris (in a fury). What, are we Quakers?15 We are last month collected four pound damages for you pub not Quakers here yet, Mr. Proctor. And you may tell licly sayin’ I burned the roof off your house, and I— 640 that to your followers! Proctor (laughing). I never said no such thing, but Proctor. My followers! I’ve paid you for it, so I hope I can call you deaf Parris (Now he’s out with it). There is a party in this without charge. Now come along, Giles, and help church. I am not blind; there is a faction and a party. 680 me drag my lumber home. Proctor. Against you? Putnam. A moment, Mr. Proctor. W hat lumber is Putnam. Against him and all authority! that you’re draggin’, if I may ask you? Proctor. Why, then I must find it and join it. Proctor. My lumber. From out my forest by the (There is shock among the others.) riverside. Rebecca. He does not mean that. Putnam. Why, we are surely gone wild this year. W hat anarchy is this? That tract is in my bounds, Putnam. He confessed it now! it’s in my bounds, Mr. Proctor. 650 Proctor. I mean it solemnly, Rebecca; I like not the Proctor. In your bounds! (indicating Rebecca) I smell of this “authority.” bought that tract from Goody Nurse’s husband five Rebecca. No, you cannot break charity16 with your 690 months ago. minister. You are another kind, John. Clasp his Putnam. He had no right to sell it. It stands clear in hand, make your peace. my grandfather’s will that all the land between the Proctor. I have a crop to sow and lumber to drag river and— home. (He goes angrily to the door and turns to Corey Proctor. Your grandfather had a habit of willing land with a smile.) W hat say you, Giles, let’s find the that never belonged to him, if I may say it plain. party. He says there’s a party. Giles. That’s God’s truth; he nearly willed away Giles. I’ve changed my opinion of this man, John. my north pasture but he knew I’d break his fingers 660 Mr. Parris, I beg your pardon. I never thought you before he’d set his name to it. Let’s get your lumber had so much iron in you. home, John. I feel a sudden will to work coming on. Parris (surprised). Why, thank you, Giles! 700 Putnam. You load one oak of mine and you’ll fight Giles. It suggests to the mind what the trouble to drag it home! be among us all these years, (to all) Think on it. Giles. Aye, and we’ll win too, Putnam— this fool Wherefore is everybody suing everybody else? Think and I. Come on! (He turns to Proctor and starts out.) on it now, it’s a deep thing, and dark as a pit. I have been six time in court this year— Putnam. I’ll have my men on you, Corey! I’ll clap a writ on you! Proctor (familiarly, with warmth, although he knows he is approaching the edge o f Giles’tolerance with this). (Enter Reverend John Hale o f Beverly.) 670 Is it the Devil’s fault that a man cannot say you good 15. Quakers: a radical English religious sect—much hated by the Puritans—who often “spoke their heart” during their religious meetings. 16. break charity: break off; end the relationship. 17. clap... defamation (def'e-ma'shan): imprison him for slander.
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Rob Campbell as Reverend Hale
M
r. Hale is nearing forty, a tight-skinned, eager-eyed intellectual. This is a beloved errand for him; on being called here to ascertain witchcraft he felt the pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has at last been publicly called for. Like almost all men of learning, he spent a good deal of his time pondering the invisible world, espe cially since he had himself encountered a witch in his parish not long before. That woman, however, turned into a mere pest under his searching scrutiny, and the child she had allegedly been afflicting recov ered her normal behavior after Hale had given her his kindness and a few days of rest in his own house. However, that experience never raised a doubt in his mind as to the reality of the underworld or the existence of Lucifer’s many-faced lieutenants. And his belief is not to his discredit. Better minds than Hale’s were— and still are— convinced that there
is a society of spirits beyond our ken. One cannot help noting that one of his lines has never yet raised a laugh in any audience that has seen this play; it is his assurance that “We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise.” Evidently we are not quite certain even now whether diabolism is holy and not to be scoffed at. And it is no accident that we should be so bemused. Like Reverend Hale and the others on this stage, we conceive the Devil as a necessary part of a respectable view of cosmology.18 Ours is a divided empire in which certain ideas and emotions and actions are of God, and their opposites are of Luci fer. It is as impossible for most men to conceive of a morality without sin as of an earth without “sky.” Since 1692 a great but superficial change has wiped out God’s beard and the Devil’s horns, but the world is still gripped between two diametrically opposed
18. cosmology (koz-mol's-jeh a branch of philosophy dealing with the structure of the universe.
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absolutes. The concept of unity, in which positive and negative are attributes of the same force, in which good and evil are relative, ever-changing, and always joined to the same phenomenon— such a concept is still reserved to the physical sciences and to the few who have grasped the history of ideas. 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 used time and time again in every age to whip men into a surrender to a particular church or church-state. Our difficulty in believing the— for want of a better word— political inspiration of the Devil is due in great part to the fact that he is called up and damned not only by our social antagonists but by our own side, whatever it may be. The Catholic Church, through its Inquisition,19 is famous for cul tivating Lucifer as the arch-fiend, but the Church’s enemies relied no less upon the Old Boy to keep the human mind enthralled. Luther20 was himself accused of alliance with Hell, and he in turn accused his enemies. To complicate matters further, he believed that he had had contact with the Devil and had argued theology with him. I am not surprised at this, for at my own university a professor of his tory— a Lutheran, by the way— used to assemble his graduate students, draw the shades, and commune in the classroom with Erasmus.21 He was never, to my knowledge, officially scoffed at for this, the rea son being that the university officials, like most of us, are the children of a history which still sucks at
the Devil’s teats. At this writing, only England has held back before the temptations of contemporary diabolism. In the countries of the Communist ide ology, all resistance of any import is linked to the totally malign capitalist succubi,22 and in America any man who is not reactionary in his views is open to the charge of alliance with the Red hell. Political opposition, thereby, is given an inhumane overlay which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized intercourse. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence. Once such an equation is effectively made, society becomes a congerie of plots and counterplots, and the main role of government changes from that of the arbiter to that of the scourge of God. The results of this process are no different now from what they ever were, except sometimes in the degree of cruelty inflicted, and not always even in that department. Normally the actions and deeds of a man were all that society felt comfortable in judging. The secret intent of an action was left to the ministers, priests, and rabbis to deal with. When diabolism rises, however, actions are the least important manifests of the true nature of a man. The Devil, as Reverend Hale said, is a wily one, and, until an hour before he fell, even God thought him beautiful in Heaven.23 The analogy, however, seems to falter when one considers that, while there were no witches then, there are Communists and capitalists now, and in each camp there is certain proof that spies of each side are at work undermining the other. But this is a snobbish objection and not at all warranted by the facts. I have no doubt that people were commun ing with, and even worshiping, the Devil in Salem,
19. Inquisition: a former tribunal in the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to the discovery and punishment of heresy. 20. Luther: Martin Luther (1483- 1546), the German theologian who led the Protestant Reformation. 21. Erasmus (T-raz'mas): Desiderius Erasmus (1466 ?—1536), a Dutch scholar who sought to restore Christian faith by a study of the Scriptures and classical texts. 22. succubi (suk'ya-bl): demons that assume female form. Demons that assume male form are called incubi (Tn'kya-bT). 23. The D e vil... beautiful in Heaven: According to Christian belief, Lucifer was God’s favorite angel until the angel rebelled and was cast out of Heaven.
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and if the whole truth could be known in this case, as it is in others, we should discover a regular and conventionalized propitiation of the dark spirit. One certain evidence of this is the confession of Tituba, the slave of Reverend Parris, and another is the behavior of the children who were known to have indulged in sorceries with her. There are accounts of similar klatches in Europe, where the daughters of the towns would assemble at night and, sometimes with fetishes, sometimes with a selected young man, give themselves to love, with some bastardly results. The Church, sharp-eyed as it must be when gods long dead are brought to life, condemned these orgies as witchcraft and inter preted them, rightly, as a resurgence of the Dionysiac forces24 it had crushed long before. Sex, sin, and the Devil were early linked, and so they continued to be in Salem, and are today. From all accounts there are no more puritanical mores in the world than those enforced by the Communists in Russia, where women’s fashions, for instance, are as prudent and all-covering as any American Baptist would desire. The divorce laws lay a tremendous responsi bility on the father for the care of his children. Even the laxity of divorce regulations in the early years of the revolution was undoubtedly a revulsion from the nineteenth-century Victorian immobility of mar riage and the consequent hypocrisy that developed from it. If for no other reasons, a state so powerful, so jealous of the uniformity of its citizens, cannot long tolerate the atomization of the family. And yet, in American eyes at least, there remains the convic tion that the Russian attitude toward women is lascivious. It is the Devil working again, just as he is working within the Slav25 who is shocked at the very idea of a woman’s disrobing herself in a burlesque show. Our opposites are always robed in sexual sin, and it is from this unconscious conviction that demonology gains both its attractive sensuality and its capacity to infuriate and frighten.
Coming into Salem now, Reverend Hale con ceives of himself much as a young doctor on his first call. His painfully acquired armory of symptoms, catchwords, and diagnostic procedures are now to be put to use at last. The road from Beverly is unusu ally busy this morning, and he has passed a hundred rumors that make him smile at the ignorance of the yeomanry in this most precise science. He feels himself allied with the best minds of Europe— kings, philosophers, scientists, and ecclesiasts of all churches. His goal is light, goodness and its preser vation, and he knows the exaltation of the blessed whose intelligence, sharpened by minute examina tions of enormous tracts, is finally called upon to face what may be a bloody fight with the Fiend himself. (He appears loaded down with half a dozen heavy books.) Hale. Pray you, someone take these! 710 Parris (delighted). Mr. Hale! Oh! it’s good to see you again! (taking some books) My, they’re heavy! Hale (setting down his books). They must be; they are weighted with authority. Parris (a little scared). Well, you do come prepared! Hale. We shall need hard study if it comes to track ing down the Old Boy. (noticing Rebecca) You can not be Rebecca Nurse? Rebecca. I am, sir. Do you know me? Hale. It’s strange how I knew you, but I suppose you 720 look as such a good soul should. We have all heard of your great charities in Beverly. Parris. Do you know this gentleman? Mr. Thomas Putnam. And his good wife Ann. Hale. Putnam! I had not expected such distinguished company, sir.
24. Dionysiac (dY'0-nTs'e-ak') forces: forces associated with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy. 25. Slav: a generic reference to Russians and other Slavic-speaking peoples of Eastern Europe who were under the control of the Soviet Union.
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{pleased). It does not seem to help us today, Mr. Hale. We look to you to come to our house and save our child. Hale. Your child ails too? 730 Mrs. Putnam. Her soul, her soul seems flown away. She sleeps and yet she walks . . . Putnam. She cannot eat. Hale. Cannot eat! (Thinks on it. Then, to Proctor and Giles Corey.) Do you men have afflicted children? Parris. No, no, these are farmers. John Proctor— Giles Corey. He don’t believe in witches. Proctor {to Hale). I never spoke on witches one way or the other. Will you come, Giles? Giles. No— no, John, I think not. I have some few 740 queer questions of my own to ask this fellow. Proctor. I’ve heard you to be a sensible man, Mr. Hale. I hope you’ll leave some of it in Salem. (Proctor goes. Hale stands embarrassedfor an instant.) Parris {quickly). Will you look at my daughter, sir? {leads Hale to the bed) She has tried to leap out the window; we discovered her this morning on the highroad, waving her arms as though she’d fly. Hale {narrowing his eyes). Tries to fly. Putnam. She cannot bear to hear the Lord’s name, 750 Mr. Hale; that’s a sure sign of witchcraft afloat. Hale {holding up his hands). No, no. Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone, and I must tell you all that I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no bruise of hell upon her. Parris. It is agreed, sir— it is agreed— we will abide by your judgment. Hale. Good then. {Hegoes to the bed, looks down 760 at Betty. To Parris.) Now, sir, what were your first warning of this strangeness? Parris. Why, sir— I discovered her— {indicating Abigail) and my niece and ten or twelve of the other girls, dancing in the forest last night. Hale {surprised). You permit dancing? Putnam
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Parris. No,
no, it were secret— Mrs. Putnam {unable to wait). Mr. Parris’s slave has knowledge of conjurin’, sir. Parris {to Mrs. Putnam). We cannot be sure of that, 770 Goody Ann— Mrs. Putnam {frightened, very softly). I know it, sir. I sent my child— she should learn from Tituba who murdered her sisters. Rebecca {horrified). Goody Ann! You sent a child to conjure up the dead? Mrs. Putnam. Let God blame me, not you, not you, Rebecca! I’ll not have you judging me any more! {to Hale) Is it a natural work to lose seven children before they live a day? 780 Parris. Sssh! (Rebecca, with great pain, turns her face away There is a pause?) Hale. Seven dead in childbirth. Mrs. Putnam {softly). Aye. {Her voice breaks; she looks up at him. Silence. Hale is impressed. Parris looks to him. He goes to his books, opens one, turns pages, then reads. All wait, avidly.) Parris {hushed). W hat book is that? Mrs. Putnam. W hat’s there, sir? 790 Hale {with a tasty love o f intellectual pursuit). Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calcu lated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Here are all your familiar spir its— your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea; your wizards of the night and of the day. Have no fear now—we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face! {He startsfor the bed.) Rebecca. Will it hurt the child, sir? 800 Hale. I cannot tell. If she is truly in the Devil’s grip we may have to rip and tear to get her free. Rebecca. I think I’ll go, then. I am too old for this. {She rises.) Parris {striving for conviction). Why, Rebecca, we may open up the boil of all our troubles today!
Themes Across Time
Rebecca. Let us hope for that. I go to God for you, sir. Parris (with trepidation— and resentment). I hope you do not mean we go to Satan here! (slight pause) 8io Rebecca. I wish I knew. (She goes out; they feel resent fu l o f her note o f moral superiority.) Putnam (abruptly). Come, Mr. Hale, let’s get on. Sit you here. Giles. Mr. Hale, I have always wanted to ask a learned man— what signifies the readin’ of strange books? Hale. W hat books? Giles. I cannot tell; she hides them. Hale. Who does this? Giles. Martha, my wife. I have waked at night many 820 a time and found her in a corner, readin’ of a book. Now what do you make of that? Hale. Why, that’s not necessarily— Giles. It discomfits me! Last night— mark this— I tried and tried and could not say my prayers. And then she close her book and walks out of the house, and suddenly— mark this— I could pray again!
the Devil in an animal’s shape. “W hat frighted you?” he was asked. He forgot everything but the word “frighted,” and instantly replied, “I do not know that I ever spoke that word in my life.” Hale. Ah! The
stoppage of prayer— that is strange. I’ll speak further on that with you. Giles. I’m not sayin’ she’s touched the Devil, now, 830 but I’d admire to know what books she reads and why she hides them. She’ll not answer me, y see. Hale. Aye, we’ll discuss it. (to all) Now mark me, if the Devil is in her you will witness some frightful wonders in this room, so please to keep your wits about you. Mr. Putnam, stand close in case she flies. Now, Betty, dear, will you sit up? (Putnam comes in closer, ready-handed. Hale sits Betty up, but she hangs limp in his hands.) Hmmm. (He observes her carefully. The others watch breathlessly.) Can you hear me? I am 840 John Hale, minister of Beverly. I have come to help you, dear. Do you remember my two little girls in Beverly? (She does not stir in his hands) Parris (in fright). How can it be the Devil? Why would he choose my house to strike? We have all ld Giles must be spoken for, if only because manner of licentious people in the village! his fate was to be so remarkable and so differ Hale. W hat victory would the Devil have to win a ent from that of all the others. He was in his early soul already bad? It is the best the Devil wants, and eighties at this time, and was the most comical hero who is better than the minister? in the history. No man has ever been blamed for so Giles. That’s deep, Mr. Parris, deep, deep! much. If a cow was missed, the first thought was to look for her around Corey’s house; a fire blazing up 850 Parris (with resolution now). Betty! Answer Mr. Hale! Betty! at night brought suspicion of arson to his door. He Hale. Does someone afflict you, child? It need not didn’t give a hoot for public opinion, and only in be a woman, mind you, or a man. Perhaps some his last years— after he had married Martha— did bird invisible to others comes to you— perhaps a he bother much with the church. That she stopped pig, a mouse, or any beast at all. Is there some figure his prayer is very probable, but he forgot to say that bids you fly? (The child remains limp in his hands. In he’d only recently learned any prayers and it didn’t silence he lays her back on the pillow. Now, holding out take much to make him stumble over them. He was his hands toward her, he intones.) In nomine Domini a crank and a nuisance, but withal a deeply innocent Sabaoth sui filiique ite ad infernos.26 (She does not stir. and brave man. In court once, he was asked if it were true that he had been frightened by the strange 860 He turns to Abigail, his eyes narrowing.) Abigail, what sort of dancing were you doing with her in the forest? behavior of a hog and had then said he knew it to be
O
26. In nomine ... infernos Latin: “In the name of the Father and Son, get thee back to Hell.” T H E C R U C IB LE : ACT ONE
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Abigail. Why— common
dancing is all. Parris. I think I ought to say that I — I saw a kettle in the grass where they were dancing. Abigail. That were only soup. Hale. W hat sort of soup were in this kettle, Abigail? Abigail. Why, it were beans— and lentils, I think, and— Hale. Mr. Parris, you did not notice, did you, any 870 living thing in the kettle? A mouse, perhaps, a spi der, a frog— ? Parris (fearfully). I— do believe there were some movement— in the soup. Abigail. That jumped in, we never put it in! Hale (quickly). W hat jumped in? Abigail. Why, a very little frog jumped— Parris. A frog, Abby! Hale (grasping Abigail). Abigail, it may be your cousin is dying. Did you call the Devil last night? 880 Abigail. I never called him! Tituba, Tituba . . . Parris (blanched). She called the Devil? Hale. I should like to speak with Tituba. Parris. Goody Ann, will you bring her up? (Mrs. Putnam exits.) Hale. How did she call him? Abigail. I know not— she spoke Barbados. Hale. Did you feel any strangeness when she called him? A sudden cold wind, perhaps? A trembling below the ground? 890 Abigail. I didn’t see no Devil! (shaking Betty) Betty, wake up. Betty! Betty! Hale. You cannot evade me, Abigail. Did your cousin drink any of the brew in that kettle? Abigail. She never drank it! Hale. Did you drink it? Abigail. No, sir! Hale. Did Tituba ask you to drink it? Abigail. She tried, but I refused.
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Hale. W hy
are you concealing? Have you sold your900 self to Lucifer? Abigail. I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m a proper girl! (Mrs. Putnam enters with Tituba, and instantly Abigail points at Tituba.) Abigail. She made me do it! She made Betty do it! Tituba (shocked and angry). Abby! Abigail. She makes me drink blood! Parris. Blood!! Mrs. Putnam. My baby’s blood? 910 Tituba. No, no, chicken blood. I give she chicken blood! Hale. Woman, have you enlisted these children for the Devil? Tituba. No, no, sir, I don’t truck with no Devil! Hale. W hy can she not wake? Are you silencing this child? Tituba. I love me Betty! Hale. You have sent your spirit out upon this child, have you not? Are you gathering souls for the Devil? 920 Abigail. She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer! Parris. She have often laughed at prayer! Abigail. She comes to me every night to go and drink blood! Tituba. You beg me to conjure! She beg me make charm— Abigail. Don’t lie! (to Hale) She comes to me while I sleep; she’s always making me dream corruptions! Tituba. W hy you say that, Abby? 930 Abigail. Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with— Tituba. Mister Reverend, I never— Hale (resolved now). Tituba, I want you to wake this child.
Themes Across Time
Tituba. Oh, bless the Lord. I have no power on this child, sir. Hale. W hen the Devil comes to you does he ever Hale. You most certainly do, and you will free her come— with another person? {She stares up into his from it now! When did you compact with the Devil? face.) Perhaps another person in the village? Some940 Tituba. I don’t compact with no Devil! 980 one you know. Parris. You will confess yourself or I will take you out Parris. W ho came with him? and whip you to your death, Tituba! Putnam. Sarah Good? Did you ever see Sarah Good Putnam. This woman must be hanged! She must be with him? O r Osburn? taken and hanged! Parris. Was it man or woman came with him? Tituba {terrified, falls to her knees). No, no, don’t Tituba. Man or woman. Was— was woman. hang Tituba! I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir. Parris. W hat woman? A woman, you said. What woman? Parris. The Devil? Tituba. It was black dark, and I— Hale. Then you saw him! (Tituba weeps.) Now 950 Tituba, I know that when we bind ourselves to Hell Parris. You could see him, why could you not see it is very hard to break with it. We are going to help 990 her? you tear yourself free— Tituba. Well, they was always talking; they was Tituba {frightened by the coming process). Mister always runnin’ round and carryin’ on— Reverend, I do believe somebody else be witchin’ Parris. You mean out of Salem? Salem witches? these children. Tituba. I believe so, yes, sir. Hale. Who? {Now Hale takes her hand. She is surprised.) Tituba. I don’t know, sir, but the Devil got him Hale. Tituba. You must have no fear to tell us who numerous witches. they are, do you understand? We will protect you. Hale. Does he! It is a clue. Tituba, look into my eyes. The Devil can never overcome a minister. You know 960 Come, look into me. {She raises her eyes to his fear that, do you not? fully.) You would be a good Christian woman, would iooo Tituba {kisses Hales hand). Aye, sir, oh, I do. you not, Tituba? Hale. You have confessed yourself to witchcraft, and Tituba. Aye, sir, a good Christian woman. that speaks a wish to come to Heaven’s side. And we Hale. And you love these little children? will bless you, Tituba. Tituba. Oh, yes, sir, I don’t desire to hurt little Tituba {deeply relieved). Oh, God bless you, Mr. children. Hale! Hale. And you love God, Tituba? Hale {with rising exaltation). You are God’s instru Tituba. I love God with all my bein’. ment put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us. You are selected, Tituba, you are cho Hale. Now, in God’s holy name— sen to help us cleanse our village. So speak utterly, 970 Tituba. Bless Him. Bless Him. {She is rocking on her io io Tituba, turn your back on him and face God — face knees, sobbing in terror.) God, Tituba, and God will protect you. Hale. And to His glory— Tituba {joining with him). Oh, God, protect Tituba! Tituba. Eternal glory. Bless Him— bless God . . . Hale {kindly). W ho came to you with the Devil? Hale. Open yourself, Tituba— open yourself and Two? Three? Four? How many? let God’s holy light shine on you. Tituba.
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(Tituba pants, and begins rocking back and forth again, staring ahead.) Tituba. There was four. There was four. Parris (pressing in on her). Who? Who? Their names, their names! 1020 Tituba (suddenly bursting out). Oh, how many times he bid me kill you, Mr. Parris! Parris. Kill me! Tituba (in a fury). He say Mr. Parris must be kill! Mr. Parris no goodly man, Mr. Parris mean man and no gentle man, and he bid me rise out of my bed and cut your throat! (They gasp.) But I tell him “No! I don’t hate that man. I don’t want kill that man.” But he say, “You work for me, Tituba, and I make you free! I give you pretty dress to wear, and put 1030 you way high up in the air, and you gone fly back to Barbados!” And I say, “You lie, Devil, you lie!” And then he come one stormy night to me, and he say, “Look! I have white people belong to me.” And I look— and there was Goody Good. Parris. Sarah Good! Tituba (rockingand weeping). Aye, sir, and Goody Osburn. Mrs. Putnam. I knew it! Goody Osburn were mid wife to me three times. I begged you, Thomas, did 1040 I not? I begged him not to call Osburn because I feared her. My babies always shriveled in her hands! Hale. Take courage, you must give us all their names. How can you bear to see this child suffering? Look at her, Tituba. (He is indicating Betty on the bed.) Look at her God-given innocence; her soul is so tender; we must protect her, Tituba; the Devil is out and preying on her like a beast upon the flesh of the pure lamb. God will bless you for your help.
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(Abigail rises, staring as though inspired, and cries out.) 1050 Abigail. I want to open myself! (They turn to her, startled. She is enraptured, as though in a pearly light.) I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil! (As she is speaking, Betty is risingfrom the bed, a fever in her eyes, and picks up the chant.) Betty (staring too). I saw George Jacobs with the 1060 Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil! Parris. She speaks! (He rushes to embrace Betty.) She speaks! Hale. Glory to God! It is broken, they are free! Betty (calling out hysterically and with great relief). I saw Martha Bellows with the Devil! Abigail. I saw Goody Sibber with the Devil! (It is rising to a great glee.) Putnam. The marshal, I’ll call the marshal! ( Parris is shouting a prayer o f thanksgiving.) 1070 Betty. I saw Alice Barrow with the Devil! (The curtain begins to fall.) Hale (as Putnam goes out). Let the marshal bring irons! Abigail. I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil! Betty. I saw Goody Bibber with the Devil! Abigail. I saw Goody Booth with the Devil! (On their ecstatic cries, the curtain falls.)
Themes Across Time
After Reading
Comprehension 1. Recall What is the cause for concern in the Parris household? 2.
Clarify What has occurred between John Proctor and Abigail Williams before the time in which the play begins?
3.
a
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
READING STANDARD
1 Analyze useof literaryelements including characterization, setting, mood
Summarize Why does Reverend Hale come to Salem?
Literary Analysis 4. Infer Character Motives Reread lines 1017-1056 at the end of Act One. Why do you think Tituba and Abigail admit to having practiced witchcraft? Why do they name others? 5.
Draw Conclusions About Characters Review the traits you recorded in your chart for the characters you have encountered so far. How would you describe the most important character traits of the following? • Abigail Williams
• John Proctor
• Reverend Hale
6 . Make Predictions Based on what you have learned about Abigail in Act One, whom do you think she might accuse as the play goes on? Cite specific evidence to support your answer.
7. Identify Beliefs What do the characters in the play believe about witches? List their beliefs in a concept web like the one shown.
8 . Connect Setting and Mood The setting of a literary work refers to the time and place in which the action occurs. How do you think Miller uses setting to help create mood in Act One?
9. Analyze Conventions of Drama Review the stage directions that take the form of mini-essays in Act One. What insights about America after the Second World War does Miller convey? Use details from the mini-essays in your answer.
Literary Criticism 10. Author’s Style The mini-essays in Act One are not usually included in a stage production of The Crucible. Why do you think this is so? Why do you think Miller included them in his drama?
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Act Two
(The common room o/’Proctor 5 house, eight days later. A t the right is a door opening on the fields outside. A fireplace is at the left, and behind it a stairway leading upstairs. It is the low, dark, and rather long living room o f the time. As the curtain rises, the room is empty. From above, Elizabeth is heard softly singing to the children. Presently the door opens and John Proctor enters, carrying his gun. He glances about the room as he comes toward the fireplace, then halts for an instant as he hears her singing. He continues on to the fireplace, leans the gun against the wall as he swings a pot out o f the fire and smells it. Then he lifts out the ladle and tastes. He is not quite pleased. He reaches to a cupboard, takes a pinch o f salt, and drops it into the pot. As he is tasting again, herfootsteps are heard on the stair. He swings the pot into the fireplace and goes to a basin and washes his hands andface. Elizabeth enters.) Elizabeth. W hat
keeps you so late? It’s almost dark. Proctor. I were planting far out to the forest edge. Elizabeth. Oh, you’re done then. Proctor. Aye, the farm is seeded. The boys asleep? Elizabeth. They will be soon. {And she goes to the fire place, proceeds to ladle up stew in a dish.) Proctor. Pray now for a fair summer. Elizabeth. Aye. Proctor. Are you well today? 10 Elizabeth. I am. {She brings the plate to the table, and, indicating the food.) It is a rabbit. Proctor {going to the table). Oh, is it! In Jonathan’s trap? Elizabeth. No, she walked into the house this after noon; I found her sittin’ in the corner like she come to visit. Proctor. Oh, that’s a good sign walkin’ in. Elizabeth. Pray God. It hurt my heart to strip her, poor rabbit. {She sits and watches him taste it.)
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20 Proctor. It’s well seasoned. Elizabeth {blushing with pleasure).
30
I took great care.
She’s tender? Proctor. Aye. {He eats. She watches him.) I think we’ll see green fields soon. It’s warm as blood beneath the clods. Elizabeth. That’s well. ( Proctor eats, then looks up.) Proctor. If the crop is good I’ll buy George Jacob’s heifer. How would that please you? Elizabeth. Aye, it would. Proctor {with a grin). I mean to please you, Elizabeth. Elizabeth {It is hard to say). I know it, John. {He gets up, goes to her, kisses her. She receives it. With a certain disappointment, he returns to the table? Proctor {asgently as he can). Cider? Elizabeth {with a sense o f reprimanding herselffor havingforgot). Aye! {She gets up and goes and pours a glass for him. He now arches his back.)
Themes Across Time
Joan Allen as Elizabeth Proctor
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Proctor. This
farm’s a continent when you go foot 40 by foot droppin’ seeds in it. Elizabeth (coming with the cider). It must be. Proctor (drinks a long draught, then, putting the glass down). You ought to bring some flowers in the house. Elizabeth. Oh! I forgot! I will tomorrow. Proctor. It’s winter in here yet. On Sunday let you come with me, and we’ll walk the farm together; I never see such a load of flowers on the earth. (With goodfeeling he goes and looks up at the sky through the open doorway.) Lilacs have a purple smell. Lilac is the 50 smell of nightfall, I think. Massachusetts is a beauty in the spring! Elizabeth. Aye, it is. (There is a pause. She is watching him from the table as he stands there absorbing the night. It is as though she would speak but cannot. Instead, now, she takes up his plate and glass and fork and goes with them to the basin. Her back is turned to him. He turns to her and watches her. A sense o f their separation rises.) Proctor. I think you’re sad again. Are you? 60 Elizabeth (She doesn’t want friction, and yet she must). You come so late I thought you’d gone to Salem this afternoon. Proctor. Why? I have no business in Salem. Elizabeth. You did speak of going, earlier this week. Proctor (He knows what she means). I thought better of it since. Elizabeth. Mary Warren’s there today. Proctor. Why’d you let her? You heard me forbid her go to Salem any more! 70 Elizabeth. I couldn’t stop her. Proctor (holding back a full condemnation o f her). It is a fault, it is a fault, Elizabeth—you’re the mistress here, not Mary Warren. Elizabeth. She frightened all my strength away. Proctor. How may that mouse frighten you, Eliza beth? You— Elizabeth. It is a mouse no more. I forbid her go, and she raises up her chin like the daughter of a 162
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prince and says to me, “I must go to Salem, Goody 80 Proctor; I am an official of the court!” Proctor. Court! W hat court? Elizabeth. Aye, it is a proper court they have now. They’ve sent four judges out of Boston, she says, weighty magistrates of the General Court, and at the head sits the Deputy Governor of the Province. Proctor (astonished). Why, she’s mad. Elizabeth. I would to God she were. There be four teen people in the jail now, she says. (Proctor simply looks at her, unable to grasp it.) And they’ll be tried, 90 and the court have power to hang them too, she says. Proctor (scoffing, but without conviction). Ah, they’d never hang— Elizabeth. The Deputy Governor promise hangin’ if they’ll not confess, John. The town’s gone wild, I think. She speak of Abigail, and I thought she were a saint, to hear her. Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel. And folks are brought before them, and if they scream and howl and fall to the floor— the loo person’s clapped in the jail for bewitchin’ them. Proctor (wide-eyed). Oh, it is a black mischief. Elizabeth. I think you must go to Salem, John. (He turns to her.) I think so. You must tell them it is a fraud. Proctor (thinking beyond this). Aye, it is, it is surely. Elizabeth. Let you go to Ezekiel Cheever— he knows you well. And tell him what she said to you last week in her uncle’s house. She said it had naught to do with witchcraft, did she not? 110 Proctor (in thought). Aye, she did, she did. (now, a pause) Elizabeth (quietly, fearing to anger him by prodding). God forbid you keep that from the court, John. I think they must be told. Proctor (quietly, struggling with his thought). Aye, they must, they must. It is a wonder they do believe her. Elizabeth. I would go to Salem now, John— let you go tonight.
Themes Across Time
Proctor. I’ll
think on it. 120 Elizabeth {with her courage now). You cannot keep it, John. Proctor {angering). I know I cannot keep it. I say I will think on it! Elizabeth {hurt, and very coldly). Good, then, let you think on it. {She stands and starts to walk out o f the room) Proctor. I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she’s fraud, and 130 the town gone so silly. She told it to me in a room alone— I have no proof for it. Elizabeth. You were alone with her? Proctor {stubbornly). For a moment alone, aye. Elizabeth. Why, then, it is not as you told me. Proctor {his anger rising). For a moment, I say. The others come in soon after. Elizabeth {quietly— she has suddenly lost all faith in him). Do as you wish, then. {She starts to turn.) Proctor. Woman. {She turns to him.) I’ll not have 140 your suspicion any more. Elizabeth (a little loftily). I have no— Proctor. I’ll not have it! Elizabeth. Then let you not earn it. Proctor {with a violent undertone). You doubt me yet? Elizabeth {with a smile, to keep her dignity). John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not. Proctor. Now look you— Elizabeth. I see what I see, John. 150 Proctor {with solemn warning). You will not judge me more, Elizabeth. I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail, and I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more. I have forgot Abigail, and—
Elizabeth. And
I. Proctor. Spare me! You forget nothin’ and forgive nothin’. Learn charity, woman. I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone. I have 160 not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches round your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house! Elizabeth. John, you are not open with me. You saw her with a crowd, you said. Now you— Proctor. I’ll plead my honesty no more, Elizabeth. Elizabeth {now she would justify herself). John, I am only— 170 Proctor. No more! I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you’re not, you’re not, and let you remem ber it! Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not. Elizabeth. I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John— {with a smile)— only somewhat iso bewildered. Proctor {laughing bitterly). Oh, Elizabeth, your jus tice would freeze beer!* {He turns suddenly toward a sound outside. He starts for the door as Mary Warren enters. As soon as he sees her, he goes directly to her and grabs her by her cloak, furious.) How do you go to Salem when I forbid it? Do you mock me? {shaking her) I’ll whip you if you dare leave this house again! {Strangely, she doesn’t resist him, but hangs limply by his grip.) 190 Mary Warren. I am sick, I am sick, Mr. Proctor. Pray, pray, hurt me not. {Her strangeness throws him off, and her evident pallor and weakness. He frees her.) My insides are all shuddery; I am in the proceedings all day, sir.
1. your justice.. . beer: Alcoholic beverages freeze at very low temperatures, so Proctor is sarcastically calling his wife cold-hearted.
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Proctor (with draining anger— his curiosity is draining it). And what of these proceedings here? W hen will you proceed to keep this house, as you are paid nine pound a year to do— and my wife not wholly well? (As ttiough to compensate, Mary Warren goes to 200 Elizabeth with a small rag doll.) Mary Warren. I made a gift for you today, Goody Proctor. I had to sit long hours in a chair, and passed the time with sewing. Elizabeth (perplexed, looking at the doll). Why, thank you, it’s a fair poppet.2 Mary Warren (with a trembling, decayed voice). We must all love each other now, Goody Proctor. Elizabeth (amazed at her strangeness). Aye, indeed we must. 210 Mary Warren (glancing at the room). I’ll get up early in the morning and clean the house. I must sleep now. (She turns and starts off) Proctor. Mary. (She halts.) Is it true? There be four teen women arrested? Mary Warren. No, sir. There be thirty-nine now— (She suddenly breaks off and sobs and sits down, exhausted.) Elizabeth. Why, she’s weepin’! W hat ails you, child? Mary Warren. Goody Osburn—will hang! 220 (There is a shocked pause, while she sobs.) Proctor. Hang! (He calls into her face.) Hang, y’say? Mary Warren (through her weeping). Aye. Proctor. The Deputy Governor will permit it? Mary Warren. He sentenced her. He must, (to ameliorate it) But not Sarah Good. For Sarah Good confessed, y’see. Proctor. Confessed! To what? Mary Warren. That she— (in horror at the memory) — she sometimes made a compact with Lucifer, 230 and wrote her name in his black book— with her blood— and bound herself to torment Christians till God’s thrown down— and we all must worship Hell forevermore. 2 . fair poppet: pretty doll.
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(pause)
Proctor. But— surely you know what a jabberer she is. Did you tell them that? Mary Warren. Mr. Proctor, in open court she near to choked us all to death. Proctor. How, choked you? 240 Mary Warren. She sent her spirit out. Elizabeth. Oh, Mary, Mary, surely you— Mary Warren (with an indignant edge). She tried to kill me many times, Goody Proctor! Elizabeth. Why, I never heard you mention that before. Mary Warren. I never knew it before. I never knew anything before. When she come into the court I say to myself, I must not accuse this woman, for she sleep in ditches, and so very old and poor. But 250 then— then she sit there, denying and denying, and I feel a misty coldness climbin’ up my back, and the skin on my skull begin to creep, and I feel a clamp around my neck and I cannot breathe air; and then (entranced) I hear a voice, a screamin’ voice, and it were my voice— and all at once I remembered every thing she done to me! Proctor. Why? W hat did she do to you? Mary Warren (like one awakened to a marvelous secret insight). So many time, Mr. Proctor, she come to 260 this very door, beggin’ bread and a cup of cider— and mark this: whenever I turned her away empty, she mumbled. Elizabeth. Mumbled! She may mumble if she’s hungry. Mary Warren. But what does she mumble? You must remember, Goody Proctor. Last month— a Monday, I think— she walked away, and I thought my guts would burst for two days after. Do you remember it? Elizabeth. W hy— I do, I think, but— Mary Warren. And so I told that to Judge Hathorne, 270 and he asks her so. “Sarah Good,” says he, “what curse do you mumble that this girl must fall sick after turning you away?” And then she replies
Themes Across Time
(;mimicking an old crone) “Why, your excellence, no curse at all. I only say my commandments;3 1 hope I may say my commandments,” says she! Elizabeth. And that’s an upright answer. Mary Warren. Aye, but then Judge Hathorne say, “Recite for us your commandments!” (leaning avidly toward them) and of all the ten she could not say a 280 single one. She never knew no commandments, and they had her in a flat lie! Proctor. And so condemned her? Mary Warren (now a little strained, seeing his stubborn doubt). Why, they must when she condemned herself. Proctor. But the proof, the proof! Mary Warren [with greater impatience with him). I told you the proof. It’s hard proof, hard as rock, the judges said. Proctor (pauses an instant, then). You will not go to 290 court again, Mary Warren. Mary Warren. I must tell you, sir, I will be gone every day now. I am amazed you do not see what weighty work we do. Proctor. W hat work you do! It’s strange work for a Christian girl to hang old women! Mary Warren. But, Mr. Proctor, they will not hang them if they confess. Sarah Good will only sit in jail some time (recalling) and here’s a wonder for you; think on this. Goody Good is pregnant! 300 Elizabeth. Pregnant! Are they mad? The woman’s near to sixty! Mary Warren. They had Doctor Griggs examine her, and she’s full to the brim. And smokin’ a pipe all these years, and no husband either! But she’s safe, thank God, for they’ll not hurt the innocent child. But be that not a marvel? You must see it, sir, it’s God’s work we do. So I’ll be gone every day for some time. I’m— I am an official of the court, they say, and I— (She has been edging toward offstage.) 310 Proctor. I’ll official you! (He strides to the mantel, takes down the whip hanging there.)
(terrified, but coming erect, strivingfor her authority). I’ll not stand whipping any more! Elizabeth (hurriedly, as Proctor approaches). Mary, promise now you’ll stay at home— Mary Warren (backingfrom him, but keeping her erect posture, striving, striving for her way). The Devil’s loose in Salem, Mr. Proctor; we must discover where he’s hiding! 320 Proctor. I’ll whip the Devil out of you! (With whip raised he reaches out for her, and she streaks away and yells.) Mary Warren (pointing at Elizabeth). I saved her life today! (Silence. His whip comes down.) Elizabeth (softly). I am accused? Mary Warren (quaking). Somewhat mentioned. But I said I never see no sign you ever sent your spirit out to hurt no one, and seeing I do live so closely with 330 you, they dismissed it. Elizabeth. W ho accused me? Mary Warren. I am bound by law, I cannot tell it. (to Proctor) I only hope you’ll not be so sarcastical no more. Four judges and the King’s deputy sat to din ner with us but an hour ago. I— I would have you speak civilly to me, from this out. Proctor (in horror, muttering in disgust at her). Go to bed. Mary Warren (with a stamp o f her foot). I’ll not be 340 ordered to bed no more, Mr. Proctor! I am eighteen and a woman, however single! Proctor. Do you wish to sit up? Then sit up. Mary Warren. I wish to go to bed! Proctor (in anger). Good night, then! Mary Warren. Good night. (Dissatisfied, uncertain o f herself, she goes out. Wide-eyed, both, Proctor and Elizabeth stand staring.) Elizabeth (quietly). Oh, the noose, the noose is up! Proctor. There’ll be no noose. Mary Warren
3. commandments: the Ten Commandments in the Bible.
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350 Elizabeth. She wants
me dead. I knew all week it would come to this! Proctor [without conviction). They dismissed it. You heard her say— Elizabeth. And what of tomorrow? She will cry me out until they take me! Proctor. Sit you down. Elizabeth. She wants me dead, John, you know it! Proctor. I say sit down! (She sits, trembling. He speaks quietly, trying to keep his wits.) Now we must be wise, 360 Elizabeth. Elizabeth (with sarcasm, and a sense o f being lost). Oh, indeed, indeed! Proctor. Fear nothing. I’ll find Ezekiel Cheever. I'll tell him she said it were all sport. Elizabeth. John, with so many in the jail, more than Cheever’s help is needed now, I think. Would you favor me with this? Go to Abigail. Proctor (his soul hardening as he senses . . .). W hat have I to say to Abigail? 370 Elizabeth (delicately). John— grant me this. You have a faulty understanding of young girls. There is a promise made in any bed— Proctor (striving against his anger). W hat promise! Elizabeth. Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. And she may dote on it now— I am sure she does— and thinks to kill me, then to take my place. (Proctor s anger is rising; he cannot speak.) Elizabeth. It is her dearest hope, John, I know it. There be a thousand names; why does she call 380 mine? There be a certain danger in calling such a name— I am no Goody Good that sleeps in ditches, nor Osburn, drunk and half-witted. She’d dare not call out such a farmer’s wife but there be monstrous profit in it. She thinks to take my place, John. Proctor. She cannot think it! {He knows it is true) Elizabeth (“reasonably”). John, have you ever shown her somewhat of contempt? She cannot pass you in the church but you will blush—
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Proctor. I
may blush for my sin. 390 Elizabeth. I think she sees another meaning in that blush. Proctor. And what see you? W hat see you, Elizabeth? Elizabeth (“conceding”). I think you be somewhat ashamed, for I am there, and she so close. Proctor. When will you know me, woman? Were I stone I would have cracked for shame this seven month! Elizabeth. Then go and tell her she’s a whore. W hat ever promise she may sense— break it, John, break it. 4oo Proctor (between his teeth). Good, then. I’ll go. (He starts for his rifle.) Elizabeth (trembling, fearfully). Oh, how unwillingly! Proctor (turning on her, rifle in hand). I will curse her hotter than the oldest cinder in hell. But pray, begrudge me not my anger! Elizabeth. Your anger! I only ask you— Proctor. Woman, am I so base? Do you truly think me base? Elizabeth. I never called you base. 4io Proctor. Then how do you charge me with such a promise? The promise that a stallion gives a mare I gave that girl! Elizabeth. Then why do you anger with me when I bid you break it? Proctor. Because it speaks deceit, and I am honest! But I’ll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free! Elizabeth (crying out). You’ll tear it free— when you 420 come to know that I will be your only wife, or no wife at all! She has an arrow in you yet, John Proc tor, and you know it well! (Quite suddenly, as though from the air, a figure appears in the doorway. They start slightly. It is Mr. Hale. He is different now— drawn a little, and there is a quality o f deference, even o f guilt, about his manner now.)
Themes Across Time
Good evening. Proctor (still in his shock). Why, Mr. Hale! Good 430 evening to you, sir. Come in, come in. Hale (to Elizabeth). I hope I do not startle you. Elizabeth. No, no, it’s only that I heard no horse— Hale. You are Goodwife Proctor. Proctor. Aye; Elizabeth. Hale (nods, then). I hope you’re not off to bed yet. Proctor (setting down his gun). No, no. (Hale comes further into the room. And Proctor, to explain his nervousness.) We are not used to visitors after dark, but you’re welcome here. Will you sit you down, sir? 440 Hale. I will. (He sits.) Let you sit, Goodwife Proctor. (She does, never letting him out o f her sight. There is a pause as Hale looks about the room.) Proctor (to break the silence). Will you drink cider, Mr. Hale? Hale. No, it rebels4 my stomach; I have some further traveling yet tonight. Sit you down, sir. ( Proctor sits.) I will not keep you long, but I have some business with you. Proctor. Business of the court? 450 Hale. No— no, I come of my own, without the court’s authority. Hear me. (He wets his lips.) I know not if you are aware, but your wife’s name is— mentioned in the court. Proctor. We know it, sir. Our Mary Warren told us. We are entirely amazed. Hale. I am a stranger here, as you know. And in my ignorance I find it hard to draw a clear opinion of them that come accused before the court. And so this afternoon, and now tonight, I go from house 460 to house— I come now from Rebecca Nurse’s house and— Elizabeth (shocked). Rebecca’s charged! Hale. God forbid such a one be charged. She is, however— mentioned somewhat. Hale.
(with an attempt at a laugh). You will never believe, I hope, that Rebecca trafficked with the Devil. Hale. Woman, it is possible. Proctor (taken aback). Surely you cannot think so. Hale. This is a strange time, Mister. No man may 470 longer doubt the powers of the dark are gathered in monstrous attack upon this village. There is too much evidence now to deny it. You will agree, sir? Proctor (evading). I— have no knowledge in that line. But it’s hard to think so pious a woman be secretly a Devil’s bitch after seventy year of such good prayer. Hale. Aye. But the Devil is a wily one, you cannot deny it. However, she is far from accused, and I know she will not be. (pause) I thought, sir, to put some questions as to the Christian character of this 480 house, if you’ll permit me. Proctor (coldly, resentful). Why, we— have no fear of questions, sir. Hale. Good, then. (He makes himself more comfort able.) In the book of record that Mr. Parris keeps, I note that you are rarely in the church on Sabbath Day. Proctor. No, sir, you are mistaken. Hale. Twenty-six time in seventeen month, sir. I must call that rare. Will you tell me why you are so absent? Proctor. Mr. Hale, I never knew I must account to 490 that man for I come to church or stay at home. My wife were sick this winter. Hale. So I am told. But you, Mister, why could you not come alone? Proctor. I surely did come when I could, and when I could not I prayed in this house. Hale. Mr. Proctor, your house is not a church; your theology must tell you that. Proctor. It does, sir, it does; and it tells me that a minister may pray to God without he have golden 500 candlesticks upon the altar. Hale. W hat golden candlesticks? Elizabeth
4. rebels: upsets.
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Proctor. Since we built the
church there were pewter candlesticks upon the altar; Francis Nurse made them, y’know, and a sweeter hand never touched the metal. But Parris came, and for twenty week he preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them. I labor the earth from dawn of day to blink of night, and I tell you true, when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows— it hurt my 510 prayer, sir, it hurt my prayer. I think, sometimes, the man dreams cathedrals, not clapboard meetin’ houses, Hale (thinks, then). And yet, Mister, a Christian on Sabbath Day must be in church, (pause) Tell me— you have three children? Proctor. Aye. Boys. Hale. How comes it that only two are baptized? Proctor (starts to speak, then stops, then, as though unable to restrain this). I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light 520 of God in that man. I’ll not conceal it. Hale. I must say it, Mr. Proctor; that is not for you to decide. The man’s ordained, therefore the light of God is in him. Proctor (flushed with resentment but trying to smile). 5. bring the man to book: judge the man.
John Proctor and his sons
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W hat’s your suspicion, Mr. Hale? Hale. No, no, I have no— Proctor. I nailed the roof upon the church, I hung the door— Hale. Oh, did you! That’s a good sign, then. 530 Proctor. It may be I have been too quick to bring the man to book,5 but you cannot think we ever desired the destruction of religion. I think that’s in your mind, is it not? Hale (not altogether giving way). I— have— there is a softness in your record, sir, a softness. Elizabeth. I think, maybe, we have been too hard with Mr. Parris. I think so. But sure we never loved the Devil here. Hale (nods, deliberating this. Then, with the voice o f 540 one administering a secret test). Do you know your Commandments, Elizabeth? Elizabeth (without hesitation, even eagerly). I surely do. There be no mark of blame upon my life, Mr. Hale. I am a convenanted Christian woman. Hale. And you, Mister? Proctor (a trifle unsteadily). I— am sure I do, sir.
Themes Across Time
both good health and good fortune, (to John) Hale (glances at her open face, then at John, then). Good night, sir. (He starts out.) Let you repeat them, if you will. Elizabeth (with a note o f desperation). I think you Proctor. The Commandments. 590 must tell him, John. 550 Hale. Aye. Hale. W hat’s that? Proctor (looking off, beginning to sweat). Thou shalt Elizabeth (restraining a call). Will you tell him? not kill. (Slight pause. Hale looks questioningly at John.) Hale. Aye. Proctor (with difficulty). I— I have no witness and Proctor (counting on his fingers). Thou shalt not steal. cannot prove it, except my word be taken. But I Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods, nor make know the children’s sickness had naught to do with unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the witchcraft. name of the Lord in vain; thou shalt have no other gods before me. (with some hesitation) Thou shalt Hale (stopped, struck). Naught to do— ? remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. (Pause. Proctor. Mr. Parris discovered them sportin’ in the 560 Then.) Thou shalt honor thy father and mother. 6oo woods. They were startled and took sick. Thou shalt not bear false witness. (He is stuck. He (pause) counts back on his fingers, knowing one is missing.) Hale. W ho told you this? Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Proctor (hesitates, then). Abigail Williams. Hale. You have said that twice, sir. Hale. Abigail! Proctor (lost). Aye. (He is flailing for it.) Proctor. Aye. Elizabeth (delicately). Adultery, John. Hale (his eyes wide). Abigail Williams told you it had Proctor (as though a secret arrow had pained his naught to do with witchcraft! heart). Aye. (trying to grin it away— to Hale) You Proctor. She told me the day you came, sir. see, sir, between the two of us we do know them 570 all. (Hale only looks at Proctor, deep in his attempt to Hale (suspiciously). Why—why did you keep this? define this man. Proctor grows more uneasy:) I think 6io Proctor. I never knew until tonight that the world it be a small fault. is gone daft with this nonsense. Hale. Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a for Hale. Nonsense! Mister, I have myself examined tress may be accounted small. (He rises; he seems Tituba, Sarah Good, and numerous others that have worried now. He paces a little, in deep thought.) confessed to dealing with the Devil. They have Proctor. There be no love for Satan in this house, confessed it. Mister. Proctor. And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ Hale. I pray it, I pray it dearly. (He looks to both o f it? There are them that will swear to anything before them, an attempt at a smile on his face, but his misgivthey’ll hang; have you never thought of that? 580 ings are clear.) Well, then— I’ll bid you good night. Hale. I have. I— I have indeed. (It is his own suspiElizabeth (unable to restrain herself). Mr. Hale. (He 620 cion, but he resists it. He glances at Elizabeth, then at turns.) I do think you are suspecting me somewhat? John.) And you— would you testify to this in court? Are you not? Proctor. I— had not reckoned with goin’ into court. Hale (obviously disturbed—and evasive). Goody Proc But if I must I will. tor, I do not judge you. My duty is to add what I Hale. Do you falter here? may to the godly wisdom of the court. I pray you
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Proctor. I falter nothing, but I may wonder if my story will be credited in such a court. I do wonder on it, when such a steady-minded minister as you will suspicion such a woman that never lied, and cannot, and the world knows she cannot! I may 630 falter somewhat, Mister; I am no fool. Hale (quietly— it has impressed him). Proctor, let you open with me now, for I have a rumor that troubles me. It’s said you hold no belief that there may even be witches in the world. Is that true, sir? Proctor (He knows this is critical, and is striving against his disgust with Hale and with himselffor even answering). I know not what I have said, I may have said it. I have wondered if there be witches in the world— although I cannot believe they come among 640 us now. Hale. Then you do not believe— Proctor. I have no knowledge of it; the Bible speaks of witches, and I will not deny them. Hale. And you, woman? Elizabeth. I— I cannot believe it. Hale (shocked). You cannot! Proctor. Elizabeth, you bewilder him! Elizabeth (to Hale). I cannot think the Devil may own a woman’s soul, Mr. Hale, when she keeps an 650 upright way, as I have. I am a good woman, I know it; and if you believe I may do only good work in the world, and yet be secretly bound to Satan, then I must tell you, sir, I do not believe it. Hale. But, woman, you do believe there are witches in—
If you think that I am one, then I say there are none. Hale. You surely do not fly against the Gospel, the Gospel— 660 Proctor. She believe in the Gospel, every word! Elizabeth. Question Abigail Williams about the Gospel, not myself! (Hale stares at her.) Proctor. She do not mean to doubt the Gospel, sir, you cannot think it. This be a Christian house, sir, Elizabeth.
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a Christian house. Hale. God keep you both; let the third child be quickly baptized, and go you without fail each Sun day in to Sabbath prayer; and keep a solemn, quiet 670 way among you. I think— (Giles Corey appears in doorway.) Giles. John! Proctor. Giles! W hat’s the matter? Giles. They take my wife. (Francis Nurse enters.) Giles. And his Rebecca! Proctor (to Francis). Rebecca’s in the jail! Francis. Aye, Cheever come and take her in his wagon. We’ve only now come from the jail, and 680 they’ll not even let us in to see them. Elizabeth. They’ve surely gone wild now, Mr. Hale! Francis (going to Hale). Reverend Hale! Can you not speak to the Deputy Governor? I’m sure he mistakes these people— Hale. Pray calm yourself, Mr. Nurse. Francis. My wife is the very brick and mortar of the church, Mr. Hale (indicating Giles) and Martha Corey, there cannot be a woman closer yet to God than Martha. 690 Hale. How is Rebecca charged, Mr. Nurse? Francis (with a mocking, halfhearted laugh). For murder, she’s charged! (mockingly quoting the war rant) “For the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies.” What am I to do, Mr. Hale? Hale (turnsfrom Francis, deeply troubled, then). Believe me, Mr. Nurse, if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing’s left to stop the whole green world from burning. Let you rest upon the justice of the court; the court will send her home, I know it. 700 Francis. You cannot mean she will be tried in court! Hale (pleading). Nurse, though our hearts break, we cannot flinch; these are new times, sir. There is a misty plot afoot so subtle we should be criminal to cling to old respects and ancient friendships. I have seen too many frightful proofs in court— the Devil
Themes Across Time
I do carry on my back tonight. (He takes out a is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow warrant.) I have a warrant for your wife. wherever the accusing finger points! Proctor (to Hale). You said she were not charged! Proctor (angered). How may such a woman murder children? Hale. I know nothin’ of it. (to Cheever) When were she charged? 710 Hale (in great pain). Man, remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in 750 Cheever. I am given sixteen warrant tonight, sir, Heaven. and she is one. Giles. I never said my wife were a witch, Mr. Hale; Proctor. W ho charged her? I only said she were reading books! Cheever. Why, Abigail Williams charge her. Hale. Mr. Corey, exactly what complaint were made Proctor. On what proof, what proof? on your wife? Cheever (lookingabout the room). Mr. Proctor, I have Giles. That bloody mongrel Walcott charge her. little time. The court bid me search your house, but Y’see, he buy a pig of my wife four or five year ago, I like not to search a house. So will you hand me and the pig died soon after. So he come dancin’ in any poppets that your wife may keep here? 720 for his money back. So my Martha, she says to him, Proctor. Poppets? “Walcott, if you haven’t the wit to feed a pig prop erly, you’ll not live to own many,” she says. Now he 760 Elizabeth. I never kept no poppets, not since I were a girl. goes to court and claims that from that day to this he cannot keep a pig alive for more than four weeks Cheever (embarrassed, glancing toward the mantel because my Martha bewitch them with her books! where sits Mary Warren spoppet). I spy a poppet, Goody Proctor. (Enter Ezekiel Cheever. A shocked silence?) Elizabeth. Oh! (goingfor it) Why, this is Mary’s. Cheever. Good evening to you, Proctor. Cheever (shyly). Would you please to give it to me? Proctor. Why, Mr. Cheever. Good evening. Elizabeth (handing it to him, asks Hale). Has the Cheever. Good evening, all. Good evening, Mr. Hale. court discovered a text in poppets now? 730 Proctor. I hope you come not on business of the ;? X I ' Cheever (carefully holding the poppet). Do you keep court. 770 any others in this house? Cheever. I do, Proctor, aye. I am clerk of the court Proctor. No, nor this one either till tonight. W hat now, y’know. signifies a poppet? (Enter Marshal Herrick, a man in his early thirties, Cheever. Why, a poppet— (He gingerly turns the pop who is somewhat shamefaced at the moment.) pet over.) a poppet may signify— Now, woman, will Giles. It’s a pity, Ezekiel, that an honest tailor might you please to come with me? have gone to Heaven must burn in Hell. You’ll burn Proctor. She will not! (to Elizabeth) Fetch Mary here. for this, do you know it? Cheever (ineptly reaching toward Elizabeth). No, no, Cheever. You know yourself I must do as I’m told. I am forbid to leave her from my sight. 740 You surely know that, Giles. And I’d as lief6 you’d not be sending me to Hell. I like not the sound of it, Proctor (pushing his arm away). You’ll leave her out I tell you; I like not the sound of it. (He fears Proc 780 of sight and out of mind, Mister. Fetch Mary, Eliza tor, but starts to reach inside his coat.) Now believe beth. ( Elizabeth goes upstairs.) me, Proctor, how heavy be the law, all its tonnage Hale. W hat signifies a poppet, Mr. Cheever? 6. as lief (lef): rather.
th e
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(turning the poppet over in his hands). Why, they say it may signify that she— (He has lifted the poppet’s skirt, and his eyes widen in astonishedfear.) Why, this, this— Proctor (reachingfor the poppet). W hat’s there? Cheever. Why (He draws out a long needle from the poppet.) it is a needle! Herrick, Herrick, it is a 790 needle! (Herrick comes toward him.) Proctor (angrily, bewildered). And what signifies a needle! Cheever (his hands shaking). Why, this go hard with her, Proctor, this— I had my doubts, Proctor, I had my doubts, but here’s calamity, (to Hale, showing the needle) You see it, sir, it is a needle! Hale. Why? W hat meanin’ has it? Cheever (wide-eyed, trembling). The girl, the Wil800 liams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demandin’ of her how she come to be so stabbed, she (to Proctor now) testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit7 pushed it in. Proctor. Why, she done it herself! (to Hale) I hope 8io you’re not takin’ this for proof, Mister! (Hale, struck by the proof, is silent.) Cheever. ’Tis hard proof! (to Hale) I find here a pop pet Goody Proctor keeps. I have found it, sir. And in the belly of the poppet a needle’s stuck. I tell you true, Proctor, I never warranted to see such proof of Hell, and I bid you obstruct me not, for I— (Enter Elizabeth with Mary Warren. Proctor, seeing Mary Warren, draws her by the arm to Hale.) Proctor. Here now! Mary, how did this poppet come 820 into my house? Cheever
(frightenedfor herself, her voice very small). W hat poppet’s that, sir? Proctor (impatiently, pointing at the doll in Cheever’s hand). This poppet, this poppet. Mary Warren (evasively, looking at it). Why, I— I think it is mine. Proctor. It is your poppet, is it not? Mary Warren (not understanding the direction o f this). It— is, sir. 830 Proctor. And how did it come into this house? Mary Warren (glancing about at the avid faces). Why— I made it in the court, sir, and— give it to Goody Proctor tonight. Proctor (to Hale). Now, sir— do you have it? Hale. Mary Warren, a needle have been found inside this poppet. Mary Warren (bewildered). Why, I meant no harm by it, sir. Proctor (quickly). You stuck that needle in yourself? 840 Mary Warren. I— I believe I did, sir, I— Proctor (to Hale). W hat say you now? Hale (watching Mary Warren closely). Child, you are certain this be your natural memory? May it be, perhaps, that someone conjures you even now to say this? Mary Warren. Conjures me? Why, no, sir, I am entirely myself, I think. Let you ask Susanna Walcott— she saw me sewin’ it in court, (or better still) Ask Abby, Abby sat beside me when I made it. 850 Proctor (to Hale, o f Cheever). Bid him begone. Your mind is surely settled now. Bid him out, Mr. Hale. Elizabeth. W hat signifies a needle? Hale. Mary— you charge a cold and cruel murder on Abigail. Mary Warren. Murder! I charge no — Hale. Abigail were stabbed tonight; a needle were found stuck into her belly— Mary Warren
7. familiar spirit: the spirit or demon, most usually in the form of an animal such as a black cat, that was a companion and helper to a witch.
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Themes Across Time
Elizabeth. And Hale. Aye.
she charges me?
(her breath knocked out). Why— ! The girl is murder! She must be ripped out of the world! Cheever (pointing at Elizabeth). You’ve heard that, sir! Ripped out of the world! Herrick, you heard it! Proctor (suddenly snatching the warrant out o f Cheever s hands). O ut with you. Cheever. Proctor, you dare not touch the warrant. Proctor (ripping the warrant). O ut with you! Cheever. You’ve ripped the Deputy Governor’s war rant, man! 870 Proctor. Damn the Deputy Governor! O ut of my house! Hale. Now, Proctor, Proctor! Proctor. Get y’gone with them! You are a broken minister. Hale. Proctor, if she is innocent, the court— Proctor. If she is innocent! W hy do you never won der if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God’s fingers? I’ll tell you what’s walking 880 Salem— vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant’s vengeance! I’ll not give my wife to vengeance! Elizabeth. I’ll go, John — Proctor. You will not go! Herrick. I have nine men outside. You cannot keep her. The law binds me, John, I cannot budge. Proctor (to Hale, ready to break him). Will you see 890 her taken? Hale. Proctor, the court is just— Proctor. Pontius Pilate! God will not let you wash your hands of this!8 Elizabeth. John— I think I must go with them. (He cannot bear to look at her) Mary, there is bread
860 Elizabeth
enough for the morning; you will bake, in the after noon. Help Mr. Proctor as you were his daughter— you owe me that, and much more. (She is fighting her weeping. To Proctor.) When the children wake, 900 speak nothing of witchcraft— it will frighten them. (She cannot go on) Proctor. I will bring you home. I will bring you soon. Elizabeth. Oh, John, bring me soon! Proctor. I will fall like an ocean on that court! Fear nothing, Elizabeth. Elizabeth (with great fear). I will fear nothing. (She looks about the room, as though to fix it in her mind.) Tell the children I have gone to visit someone sick. (She walks out the door, Herrick and Cheever behind 910 her. For a moment, Proctor watches from the doorway. The clank o f chain is heard.) Proctor. Herrick! Herrick, don’t chain her! (He rushes out the door. From outside) Damn you, man, you will not chain her! O ff with them! I’ll not have it! I will not have her chained! (There are other men’s voices against his. Hale, in a fever o f guilt and uncertainty, turns from the door to avoid the sight; Mary Warren bursts into tears and sits weeping. Giles Corey calls to Hale.) 920 Giles. And yet silent, minister? It is fraud, you know it is fraud! W hat keeps you, man? (Proctor is half braced, half pushed into the room by two deputies and Herrick.) Proctor. I’ll pay you, Herrick, I will surely pay you! Herrick (panting). In God’s name, John, I cannot help myself. I must chain them all. Now let you keep inside this house till I am gone! (He goes out with his deputies) ( Proctor stands there, gulping air. Horses and a wagon 930 creaking are heard) Hale (in great uncertainty). Mr. Proctor— Proctor. O ut of my sight! Hale. Charity, Proctor, charity. W hat I have heard in
8. Pontius (pon'te-0s) Pila te... hands of this: the Roman governor who presided over the trial and sentencing
of Christ. Pilate publicly washed his hands to absolve himself of responsibility for Christ’s death.
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her favor, I will not fear to testily in court. God help me, I cannot judge her guilty or innocent— I know not. Only this consider: the world goes mad, and it profit nothing you should lay the cause to the vengeance of a little girl. Proctor. You are a coward! Though you be ordained 940 in God’s own tears, you are a coward now! Hale. Proctor, I cannot think God be provoked so grandly by such a petty cause. The jails are packed— our greatest judges sit in Salem now— and hangin’s promised. Man, we must look to cause proportion ate. Were there murder done, perhaps, and never brought to light? Abomination? Some secret blas phemy that stinks to Heaven? Think on cause, man, and let you help me to discover it. For there’s your way, believe it, there is your only way, when such 950 confusion strikes upon the world. (He goes to Giles and Francis.) Let you counsel among yourselves; think on your village and what may have drawn from heaven such thundering wrath upon you all. I shall pray God open up our eyes. (WAe goes out.) Francis (struck by H alei mood). I never heard no murder done in Salem. Proctor (He has been reached by Hale 5 words). Leave me, Francis, leave me. 960 Giles (shaken). John— tell me, are we lost? Proctor. Go home now, Giles. We’ll speak on it tomorrow. Giles. Let you think on it. We’ll come early, eh? Proctor. Aye. Go now, Giles. Giles. Good night, then. (Giles Corey goes out. After a moment.) Mary Warren (in a fearful squeak o f a voice). Mr. Proctor, very likely they’ll let her come home once they’re given proper evidence. 970 Proctor. You’re coming to the court with me, Mary. You will tell it in the court. Mary Warren. I cannot charge murder on Abigail.
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(moving menacingly toward her). You will tell the court how that poppet come here and who stuck the needle in. Mary Warren. She’ll kill me for sayin’ that! (Proctor continues toward her.) Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor! Proctor (halting). She’s told you! 980 Mary Warren. I have known it, sir. She’ll ruin you with it, I know she will. Proctor (hesitating, and with deep hatred o f himself). Good. Then her saintliness is done with. (Mary backs from him.) We will slide together into our pit; you will tell the court what you know. Mary Warren (in terror). I cannot, they’ll turn on me— (Proctor strides and catches her, and she is repeating, “I cannot, I cannot!”) 990 Proctor. My wife will never die for me! I will bring your guts into your mouth but that goodness will not die for me! ✓ y, Mary Warren (struggling to escape him). I cannot do it, I cannot! t Proctor (grasping her by the throat as though he would strangle her). Make your peace with it! Now Hell and Heaven grapple on our backs, and all our old pre tense is ripped away— make your peace! (He throws her to the floor, where she sobs, “I cannot, I cannot iooo And now, half to himself, staring, and turning to the open door.) Peace. It is a providence, and no great change; we are only what we always were, but naked now. (He walks as though toward a great horror, facing the open sky.) Aye, naked! And the wind, God’s icy wind, will blow! (And she is over and over again sobbing, “I cannot, I cannot, I cannot, ”as the curtain falls.) Proctor
After Reading
Comprehension
a
1. Recall Why does Elizabeth want John to go to Salem?
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
READING STANDARD
1 Analyze use of literary elements including characterization
2. Clarify Why does Hale come to the Proctors’ home? 3. Summarize What proof leads to Elizabeth’s arrest?
Literary Analysis 4. Form Opinions Do you think Reverend Hale believes that Elizabeth Proctor is practicing witchcraft? Support your opinion with specific details.
5. Draw Conclusions About Characters Review the traits you recorded in your chart for Elizabeth Proctor. How would you describe her character? 6. Analyze Conventions of Drama What does dialogue reveal about the complicated relationship between John and Elizabeth in the following scenes? • Elizabeth learns that John was alone with Abigail (lines 132-138) • Elizabeth asks John to break his unspoken promise to Abigail (lines 398-422) • John threatens Mary Warren (lines 990-1005)
7. Analyze Dramatic Irony Dramatic irony occurs when readers know more about a situation than a character does. Why is John struck by Hale’s declaration that "some secret blasphemy” (lines 946-947) has caused all of the confusion? 8. Make Judgments About a Character How would you judge John's behavior so far? Cite evidence from the play to support your judgment.
9. Compare Characters Compare the following characters and determine which on£ has the greatest faith in the court proceedings. What accounts for their differing attitudes? • John Proctor
• Hale
• Cheever
Literary Criticism 10. Historical Context Miller wrote that during the anti-Communist hearings,“ I saw accepted the notion that conscience was no longer a private matter but one of state administration.” How does this notion apply to the witch-hunts in Salem?
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A c t ThrM
(The vestry room o f the Salem meeting house, now serving as the anteroom1 o f the General Court. As the curtain rises, the room is empty, but for sunlight pouring through two high win dows in the back wall. The room is solemn, even forbidding. Heavy beams ju t out, boards o f random widths make up the walls. A t the right are two doors leading into the meeting house proper, where the court is being held. A t the left another door leads outside. There is a plain bench at the left, and another at the right. In the center a rather long meeting table, with stools and a considerable armchair snugged up to it. Through the partitioning wall at the right we hear a prosecutor’s voice, Judge Hathorne s, asking a question; then a woman’s voice, Martha Corey’s, replying.) Hathorne’s Voice. Now,
Martha Corey, there is abun dant evidence in our hands to show that you have given yourself to the reading of fortunes. Do you deny it? Martha Corey’s Voice. I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is. Hathorne’s Voice. How do you know, then, that you are not a witch? Martha Corey’s Voice. If I were, I would know it. 10 Hathorne’s Voice. Why do you hurt these children? Martha Corey’s Voice. I do not hurt them. I scorn it! Giles’Voice (roaring). I have evidence for the court! (Voices o f townspeople rise in excitement.) Danforth’s Voice. You will keep your seat! Giles’Voice. Thomas Putnam is reaching out for land!
Remove that man, Marshal! Giles’Voice. You’re hearing lies, lies! (A roaring goes up from the people.) 20 Hathorne’s Voice. Arrest him, excellency! Giles’Voice. I have evidence. W hy will you not hear my evidence? (The door opens and Giles is half carried into the vestry room by Herrick.) Giles. Hands off, damn you, let me go! Herrick. Giles, Giles! Giles. O ut of my way, Herrick! I bring evidence— Herrick. You cannot go in there, Giles; it’s a court! (Enter Hale from the court.) 30 Hale. Pray be calm a moment. Giles. You, Mr. Hale, go in there and demand I speak. Danforth’s Voice.
1. vestry room ...anteroom: A vestry room is a room in a church used for nonreligious meetings or church business. An anteroom is a waiting room or a room that leads into another.
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Paul Scofield as Deputy Governor Danforth T H E C R U C IB L E : A C T T H R E E
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Hale. A moment, sir, a moment.
70 Giles (through helpless sobs). It is m y third wife, sir; I never had no wife that be so taken with books, and I thought to find the cause o f it, d’y’see, but it were
Giles. They’ll be hangin’ my wife!
enters. He is in his sixties, a bitter, remorseless Salem judge.) Hathorne. How do you dare come roarin’ into this (Judge Hathorne
no witch I blamed her for.
I have broke charity w ith the woman, I have broke charity w ith her. (He covers his face, ashamed. Danforth is respectfully silent.)
court! Are you gone daft, Corey?
Giles. You’re not a Boston judge yet, Hathorne.
Hale. Excellency, he claims hard evidence for his
40 You’ll not call me daft!
(Enter D eputy Governor Danforth and, behind him, Ezekiel Cheever and Parris. On his appearance, silence falls. Danforth is a grave man in his sixties, o f some hum or and sophistication that does not, however, inter fer e with an exact loyalty to his position an d his cause. He comes down to Giles, who awaits his wrath.) Danforth (looking directly at Giles). W h o is this man?
wife’s defense. I think that in all justice you must—
Danforth. Then let him submit his evidence in 80 proper affidavit. You are certainly aware o f our pro cedure here, Mr. Hale, (to Herrick) Clear this room. Herrick. Com e now, Giles. (He gently pushes Corey out.) Francis. W e are desperate, sir; we come here three days now and cannot be heard.
Parris. Giles Corey, sir, and a more contentious—
Danforth. W h o is this man?
Giles (to Parris). I am asked the question, and I am old enough to answer it! (to D anforth, who impresses him and to whom he smiles through his strain) M y
50
name is Corey, sir, Giles Corey. I have six hundred acres, and timber in addition. It is m y wife you be condemning now. (He indicates the courtroom .)
(He is openly weeping.)
Francis. Francis Nurse, Your Excellency. Hale. His wife’s Rebecca that were condemned this morning.
90 Danforth. Indeed! I am amazed to find you in such uproar. I have only good report o f your character, Mr. Nurse.
Danforth. A nd how do you imagine to help her cause with such contemptuous riot?2 Now be gone.
Hathorne. I think they must both be arrested in con
Your old age alone keeps you out o f jail for this.
tempt, sir.
Giles (beginning to plead). They be tellin’ lies about
Danforth (to Francis). Let you write your plea, and
my wife, sir, I—
in due time I w ill—
Danforth. Do you take it upon yourself to determine
Francis. Excellency, we have p roof for your eyes; G od
what this court shall believe and what it shall set aside?
forbid you shut them to it. The girls, sir, the girls are frauds.
60
Giles. Your Excellency, we mean no disrespect for— Danforth. Disrespect indeed! It is disruption, Mister.
Danforth. W h at’s that?
This is the highest court o f the supreme government o f this province, do you know it?
Francis. W e have p roof o f it, sir. They are all deceiv
Giles (beginning to weep). Your Excellency, I only
(D anforth
said she were readin’ books, sir, and they come and take her out o f m y house for—
Hathorne. This is contempt, sir, contempt!
Danforth (mystified). Books! W h at books?
who I am, Mr. Nurse?
2.
178
ioo
contemptuous
ing you.
Danforth. Peace, Judge Hathorne. Do you know
(kan-temp'choo-as) riot: disrespectful, outrageous behavior.
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is shocked, but studying Francis.)
Themes Across Time
110
Francis. I surely do, sir, and I think you must be a wise judge to be what you are.
Proctor. She never saw no spirits, sir.
Danforth. And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn,3 and upon my signature?
Never saw no spirits!
Francis. I—
Danforth (with great alarm an d surprise, to Mary). Giles (eagerly). Never. 150
Danforth. And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature?
Danforth (instantly). No, no, I accept no deposi tions. (He is rapidly calculating this; he turns from her to Proctor.) Tell me, Mr. Proctor, have you given out
Francis. Excellency, I never thought to say it to such a weighty judge, but you are deceived.
120
130
(Enter Giles Corey from left. All turn to see as he beck ons in Mary Warren with Proctor. Mary is keeping her eyes to the ground; Proctor has her elbow as though she were near collapse .) Parris (on seeing her, in shock). Mary Warren! (H egoes directly to bend close to her face.) What are you about here? Proctor (pressing Parris away from her with a gentle but firm motion o f protectiveness). She would speak with the Deputy Governor. Danforth (shocked by this, turns to Herrick). Did you not tell me Mary Warren were sick in bed?
Proctor (reaching into his jacket). She has signed a deposition, sir—
this story in the village?
Proctor. W e have not. Parris. They’ve come to overthrow the court, sir! This man is—
Danforth. I pray you, Mr. Parris. Do you know, Mr. Proctor, that the entire contention o f the state 160
in these trials is that the voice o f Heaven is speaking through the children?
Proctor. I know that, sir. Danforth (thinks, staring at Proctor, then turns to M ary W arren). A nd you, M ary Warren, how came you to cry out people for sending their spirits against you?
Herrick. She were, Your Honor. When I go to fetch her to the court last week, she said she were sick.
Mary Warren. It were pretense, sir.
Giles. She has been strivin’ with her soul all week, Your Honor; she comes now to tell the truth of this to you.
Proctor. It were pretense, she says.
Danforth. I cannot hear you. 170
Danforth. Who is this?
Mary Warren. Aye, sir.
Proctor. John Proctor, sir. Elizabeth Proctor is my wife.
Danforth (w ide-eyed). Indeed. (Pause. He is baffled by this. He turns to study Proctor s face.)
Parris. Beware this man, Your Excellency, this man is mischief.
Parris (in a sweat). Excellency, you surely cannot think to let so vile a lie be spread in open court!
Hale (excitedly). I think you must hear the girl, sir, 140 she— Danforth (who has becom e very interested in Mary Warren and only raises a hand toward Wale). Peace. What would you tell us, Mary Warren?
Danforth. Ah? A nd the other girls? Susanna Walcott, and— the others? T hey are also pretending?
180
( Proctor looks at her, but she cannot speak.)
Danforth. Indeed not, but it strike hard upon me that she will dare come here w ith such a tale. Now, Mr. Proctor, before I decide whether I shall hear you or not, it is m y duty to tell you this. W e burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment. Proctor. I know that, sir.
3. Marblehead . .. Lynn: two coastal towns in Massachusetts, near Salem.
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Danforth. Let me continue. I understand well, a husband’s tenderness may drive him to extravagance in defense o f a wife. Are you certain in your con science, Mister, that your evidence is the truth?
190
Danforth (restrained—h e is curious). Not come to 220
Proctor. I— I have no love for Mr. Parris. It is no secret. But G od I surely love.
Proctor. It is. A nd you will surely know it.
Cheever. He plow on Sunday, sir.
Danforth. A nd you thought to declare this revelation
Danforth. Plow on Sunday!
in the open court before the public?
Cheever (apologetically). I think it be evidence, John.
Proctor. I thought I would, aye— w ith your permis
I am an official o f the court, I cannot keep it.
sion.
Proctor. I— I have once or twice plowed on Sunday.
Danforth (his eyes narrow ing. Now, sir, what is your
I have three children, sir, and until last year my land
purpose in so doing?
give little.
Proctor. W hy, I— I would free m y wife, sir. Danforth. There lurks nowhere in your heart, nor hidden in your spirit, any desire to undermine this court?
— 230 Giles. You’ll find other Christians that do plow on Sunday if the truth be known.
Hale. Your Honor, I cannot think you may judge the man on such evidence.
Proctor (with the faintest fa lte r in g . W hy, no, sir.
Danforth. I judge nothing. (Pause. He keeps watching Proctor, who tries to m eet his gaze.) I tell you straight, Mister— I have seen marvels in this court. I have seen people choked before m y eyes by spirits; I have
Cheever (clears his throat, aw ak ening. I— Your 200
Excellency.
Danforth. Mr. Cheever. Cheever. I think it be my duty, sir— (kindly, to Proctor) You’ll not deny it, John, (to Danforth) W hen we come to take his wife, he damned the court and ripped your warrant.
seen them stuck by pins and slashed by daggers. I have until this mom ent not the slightest reason to 240 suspect that the children may be deceiving me. Do you understand my meaning?
Proctor. Excellency, does it not strike upon you that
Parris. Now you have it!
so many o f these women have lived so long with such upright reputation, and—
Danforth. He did that, Mr. Hale?
210
church?
Hale (takes a breath ). Aye, he did.
Parris. Do you read the Gospel, Mr. Proctor?
Proctor. It were a temper, sir. I knew not what I did.
Proctor. I read the Gospel.
Danforth (studying him ) . Mr. Proctor.
Parris. I think not, or you should surely know that
Proctor. Aye, sir.
Cain were an upright man, and yet he did kill Abel.4
Danforth (straight into his eyes). Have you ever seen the Devil?
Proctor. No, sir. Danforth. You are in all respects a Gospel Christian? Proctor. I am, sir. Parris. Such a Christian that will not come to church but once in a month!
250
Proctor. Aye, G od tells us that, (to Danforth) But who tells us Rebecca Nurse murdered seven babies by sending out her spirit on them? It is the children only, and this one will swear she lied to you. ( D anforth considers, then beckons Hathorne to him. Hathorne leans in, an d he speaks in his ear. Hathorne
nods.)
4. Cain ...A b e l: According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve, the first humans.
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Themes Across Time
260
Hathorne. Aye, she’s the one.
what deposition do you have for us, Mr. Proctor?
Danforth. Mr. Proctor, this morning, your wife send
A nd I beg you be clear, open as the sky, and honest.
me a claim in which she states that she is pregnant
Proctor (as he takes out several papers). I am no
now.
lawyer, so I’ll—
Proctor. M y wife pregnant!
Danforth. The pure in heart need no lawyers.
Danforth. There be no sign o f it— we have examined
300 Proceed as you will.
Proctor (handing D anforth a paper). W ill you read this first, sir? It’s a sort o f testament. The people signing it declare their good opinion o f Rebecca,
her body.
Proctor. But if she say she is pregnant, then she must be! That woman will never lie, Mr. Danforth.
and my wife, and M artha Corey. ( Danforth
Danforth. She will not?
down at the paper.)
Proctor. Never, sir, never.
Parris (to enlist D anforth s sarcasm). Their good opinion! (But D anforth goes on reading, an d Proctor is heartened.)
Danforth. W e have thought it too convenient to be credited. However, if I should tell you now that I will 270
let her be kept another month; and if she begin to show her natural signs, you shall have her living yet another year until she is delivered— what say you to that? (John Proctor is struck silent .) Come now. You say your only purpose is to save your wife. Good, then,
310
Proctor. These are all landholding farmers, members o f the church, (delicately, trying to p oin t out a paragraph) I f you’ll notice, sir— they’ve known the women many years and never saw no sign they had dealings with the Devil.
she is saved at least this year, and a year is long. W hat say you, sir? It is done now. (In conflict, Proctor glances
nervously moves over an d reads over Danforth 5 shoulder,:) Danforth (glancing down a long list). How many / ( Parris
at Francis and Giles.) W ill you drop this charge? Proctor. I— I think I cannot.
280
looks
Danforth (now an almost im perceptible hardness in his voice). Then your purpose is somewhat larger.
names are here?
Parris. He’s come to overthrow this court, Your Honor!
Parris (sweating). These people should be sum- */ moned. ( D anforth looks up at him questioninglyij
Proctor. These are my friends. Their wives are also accused—
Danforth (with a sudden briskness o f manner). I judge you not, sir. I am ready to hear your evidence.
Proctor. I come not to hurt the court; I only— Danforth (cutting him o ff) . Marshal, go into the court and bid Judge Stoughton and Judge Sewall declare recess for one hour. A nd let them go to the tavern, if they will. A ll witnesses and prisoners are 290 to be kept in the building.
Herrick. Aye, sir. (very deferentially) I f I may say it, sir, I know this man all my life. It is a good man, sir.
Danforth (It is the reflection on him self he resents). I am nods, then goes out.) Now,
sure o f it, Marshal. (Herrick
/
Francis. Ninety-one, Your Excellency. 320
For questioning.
jj
/
Francis (trem bling with anger). Mr. D anforth, I gave them all m y word no harm would come to them for signing this.
Parris. This is a clear attack upon the court! — Hale (to Parris, trying to contain him self). Is every defense an attack upon the court? Can no one— ?
Parris. A ll innocent and Christian people are happy for the courts in Salem! These people are gloomy for 330 it. (to D anforth directly) A nd I think you will want to know, from each and every one o f them, what discontents them w ith you!
Hathorne. I think they ought to be examined, sir.
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Giles. You know I never hired a lawyer in my life, Hathorne.
Danforth. It is not necessarily an attack, I think. Yet— Francis. These are all covenanted Christians, sir.
Danforth (finishing the reading). It is very well phrased. M y compliments. Mr. Parris, if Mr. Putnam is in the court, will you bring him in? ( Hathorne takes the deposition, an d walks to the window with it. Parris goes into the court.) You have no legal training, Mr. Corey?
Danforth. Then I am sure they may have nothing to fear. (hands Cheever the paper ) Mr. Cheever, have warrants drawn for all o f these— arrest for examina tion. (to Proctor) Now, Mister, what other informa340 tion do you have for us? (Francis is still standing, horrified.) You may sit, Mr. Nurse.
Francis. I have brought trouble on these people; 380
I have—
Danforth. No, old man, you have not hurt these people if they are o f good conscience. But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time— we live no longer in the dusky afternoon 350 when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by G od’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it. I hope you will be one o f those. ( M ary W arren suddenly sobs.) She’s not hearty,51 see.
Proctor. No, she’s not, sir. (to Mary, bending to her, holding her hand, quietly) Now remember what the angel Raphael said to the boy Tobias.6 Remember it.
Mary Warren (hardly audible). Aye.
Giles (very pleased). I have the best, sir—I am thirtythree time in court in my life. And always plaintiff, too. Danforth. Oh, then you’re much put-upon. Giles. I am never put-upon; I know my rights, sir, and I will have them. You know, your father tried a case of mine—might be thirty-five year ago, I think. Danforth. Indeed. Giles. He never spoke to you of it? Danforth. No, I cannot recall it. Giles. That’s strange, he give me nine pound dam-
390 ages. He were a fair judge, your father. Y’see, I had a
white mare that time, and this fellow come to bor row the mare— (Enter Parris with Thomas Putnam. When he sees Putnam, Giles’ ease goes; he is hard.) Aye, there he is.
Mary Warren. Aye.
Danforth. Mr. Putnam, I have here an accusation by Mr. Corey against you. He states that you coldly prompted your daughter to cry witchery upon George Jacobs that is now in jail.
Danforth. Come, man, we wait you.
Putnam. It is a lie.
Proctor. “Do that which is good, and no harm shall 360 come to thee.”
(Marshal Flerrick
returns, and takes his post at the door.)
400 Danforth
Giles. John, my deposition, give him mine.
(turning to Giles). Mr. Putnam states your charge is a lie. What say you to that?
Proctor. Aye. (He hands Danforth This is Mr. Corey’s deposition.
Giles (furious, his fists clench ed ). A fart on Thomas Putnam, that is what I say to that!
another paper.)
Danforth. Oh? (He looks down at it. Now Hathorne comes behind him and reads with him .) Hathorne (suspiciously ). W h at lawyer drew this, 370 Corey?
Danforth. What proof do you submit for your charge, sir? Giles. M y proof is there! (pointing to the paper) If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property— that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the
5. hearty: well. 6. w hat the angel said .. .Tobias: In the Book of Tobit in the Apocrypha,Tobit’s son Tobias cured his father’s
blindness with the help of the angel Raphael.
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Themes Across Time
coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his 4io neighbors for their land!
Danforth. But proof, sir, proof. Giles {pointing at his deposition ). The proof is there! I have it from an honest man who heard Putnam say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, he said she’d given him a fair gift of land. Hathorne. And the name of this man? Giles (taken aback). What name? Hathorne. The man that give you this information. Giles (hesitates, then). Why, I— I cannot give you his 420 name.
Hathorne. And why not? Giles (hesitates , then bursts out). You know well why not! He’ll lay in jail if I give his name! Hathorne. This is contempt of the court, Mr. Dan forth! Danforth (to avoid that). You will surely tell us the name. Giles. I will not give you no name. I mentioned my wife’s name once and I’ll burn in hell long enough 430 for that. I stand mute. Danforth. In that case, I have no choice but to arrest you for contempt of this court, do you know that? Giles. This is a hearing; you cannot clap me for con tempt of a hearing. Danforth. Oh, it is a proper lawyer!7 Do you wish me to declare the court in full session here? Or will you give me good reply? Giles (faltering). I cannot give you no name, sir, I cannot. 440 Danforth. You are a foolish old man. Mr. Cheever,
begin the record. The court is now in session. I ask you, Mr. Corey— Proctor (breaking in). Your Honor—he has the story in confidence, sir, and he—
Parris. The Devil lives on such confidences! (to Dan forth) Without confidences there could be no con spiracy, Your Honor! Hathorne. I think it must be broken, sir. Danforth (to Giles). Old man, if your informant tells 450 the truth let him come here openly like a decent
man. But if he hide in anonymity I must know why. Now sir, the government and central church demand of you the name of him who reported Mr. Thomas Putnam a common murderer. Hale. Excellency— Danforth. Mr. Hale. Hale. We cannot blink it more. There is a prodigious fear of this court in the country— Danforth. Then there is a prodigious guilt in the 460 country. Are you afraid to be questioned here? Hale. I may only fear the Lord, sir, but there is fear in the country nevertheless. Danforth (angered now). Reproach me not with the fear in the country; there is fear in the country because there is a moving8 plot to topple Christ in the country! Hale. But it does not follow that everyone accused is part of it. Danforth. No uncorrupted man may fear this court, (to Giles) You are under arrest in contempt of this court. Now sit you down and take counsel with yourself, or you will be set in the jail until you decide to answer all questions.
470 Mr. Hale! None!
(Giles Corey makes a rush fo r Putnam. Proctor lunges an d holds him.) Proctor. No, Giles! Giles (over Proctor’s shoulder at Putnam). I’ll cut your throat, Putnam, I’ll kill you yet! Proctor (forcing him into a chair). Peace, Giles, 480 peace, (releasing him) We’ll prove ourselves. Now we will. (He starts to turn to Danforth.)
7. Oh . .. lawyer: Oh, he thinks he is a real lawyer. 8. moving: active.
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Giles. Say nothin’ more, John, (pointing at Danforth) He’s only playin’ you! He means to hang us all! ( Mary Warren bursts into sobs.) Danforth. This is a court of law, Mister. I’ll have no effrontery here! Proctor. Forgive him, sir, for his old age. Peace, Giles, we’ll prove it all now. (He lifts up MaryJ chin.) You cannot weep, Mary. Remember the angel, what he say 490 to the boy. Hold to it, now; there is your rock. ( Mary quiets. He takes out a paper, and turns to Danforth.) This is Mary Warren’s deposition. I—I would ask you remember, sir, while you read it, that until two week ago she were no different than the other children are today. (He is speaking reasonably, restraining all his fears, his anger, his anxiety.:) You saw her scream, she howled, she swore familiar spirits choked her; she even testified that Satan, in the form of women now in jail, tried to win her soul away, and then when she refused— 500
Danforth. We know all this. Proctor. Aye, sir. She swears now that she never saw Satan; nor any spirit, vague or clear, that Satan may have sent to hurt her. And she declares her friends are lying now.
Danforth. Mr. Hale, you surely do not doubt my justice. Hale. I have this morning signed away the soul of Rebecca Nurse, Your Honor. I’ll not conceal it, my hand shakes yet as with a wound! I pray you, sir, this argument let lawyers present to you.
Danforth. Mr. Hale, believe me; for a man of such terrible learning you are most bewildered—I hope you will forgive me. I have been thirty-two year at the bar, sir, and I should be confounded were I 530 called upon to defend these people. Let you consider, now— (to Proctor an d the others) And I bid you all do likewise. In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto,01on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not? There fore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other. Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims—and they do testify, the 540 children certainly do testify. As for the witches, none will deny that we are most eager for all their confes sions. Therefore, what is left for a lawyer to bring out? I think I have made my point. Have I not?
( Proctor starts to hand Danforth the deposition, and Hale comes up to Danforth in a trem bling state.)
Hale. But this child claims the girls are not truthful, and if they are not—
Hale. Excellency, a moment. I think this goes to the heart of the matter.
Danforth. That is precisely what I am about to con sider, sir. What more may you ask of me? Unless you doubt my probity?10
Danforth (with deep misgivings). It surely does. 510
520
Hale. I cannot say he is an honest man; I know him little. But in all justice, sir, a claim so weighty can not be argued by a farmer. In God’s name, sir, stop here; send him home and let him come again with a lawyer— Danforth (patiently). Now look you, Mr. Hale— Hale. Excellency, I have signed seventy-two death warrants; I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it.
9. ipso facto Latin: by that very fact. 10. doubt my probity: question my integrity.
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Hale (defeated). I surely do not, sir. Let you consider 550 it, then.
Danforth. And let you put your heart to rest. Her deposition, Mr. Proctor. ( Proctor hands it to him. Hathorne rises, goes beside Danforth, an d starts reading. Parris comes to his other side. Danforth looks at John Proctor, then proceeds to read. Hale gets up, fin d s position near the judge, reads too. Proctor glances at Giles. Francis prays silently, hands pressed together. Cheever waits placidly, the
Themes Across Time
sublime official, dutiful. Mary Warren sobs once. touches her head reassuringly. Presently Danforth lifts his eyes, stands up, takes out a k erchief and blows his nose. The others stand aside as he moves in thought toward the window.)
560 John Proctor
Parris (hardly able to contain his anger andfear). I should like to question— Danforth (his first real outburst, in which his contem pt fo r Parris is clear). Mr. Parris, I bid you be silent! (He stands in silence, looking out the window. Now, having established that he w ill set the gait.) Mr. Cheever, will 570 you go into the court and bring the children here? (Cheever gets up an d goes out upstage. Danforth now turns to Mary.) Mary Warren, how came you to this turnabout? Has Mr. Proctor threatened you for this deposition?
Mary Warren. No, sir. Danforth. Has he ever threatened you? Mary Warren (weaker). No, sir. Danforth (sensing a weakening). Has he threatened you? 580 Mary Warren. No, sir.
Danforth. Then you tell me that you sat in my court, callously lying, when you knew that people would hang by your evidence? (She does not answer.) Answer me! Mary Warren (almost inaudibly). I did, sir. Danforth. How were you instructed in your life? Do you not know that God damns all liars? (She cannot speak.) Or is it now that you lie?
Judge Danforth questioning Mary Warren
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Mary Warren. No, sir—I am with God now. 590 Danforth. You are with God now.
Mary Warren. Aye, sir.
turned into your souls until your honesty is proved. W ill either of you change your positions now, or do 630 you force me to hard questioning? Abigail. I have naught to change, sir. She lies.
Danforth (containing h im self). I will tell you this— you are either lying now, or you were lying in the court, and in either case you have committed per jury and you will go to jail for it. You cannot lightly say you lied, Mary. Do you know that?
Danforth (to Mary). You would still go on with this? Mary Warren (faintly). Aye, sir. Danforth (turning to Abigail). A poppet were dis covered in Mr. Proctor’s house, stabbed by a needle. Mary Warren claims that you sat beside her in the court when she made it, and that you saw her make it and witnessed how she herself stuck her needle into it for safe-keeping. What say you to that?
Mary Warren. I cannot lie no more. I am with God, I am with God. 600
610
620
(But she breaks into sobs at the thought o f it, an d the right door opens, and enter Susanna Walcott, Mercy Lewis, Betty Parris, andfinally Abigail. Cheever comes to Danforth.)
640 Abigail
(with a slight note o f indignation). It is a
lie, sir.
Cheever. Ruth Putnam’s not in the court, sir, nor the other children.
Danforth (after a slight pause). While you worked for Mr. Proctor, did you see poppets in that house?
Danforth. These will be sufficient. Sit you down, children. (Silently they sit.) Your friend, Mary War ren, has given us a deposition. In which she swears that she never saw familiar spirits, apparitions, nor any manifest of the Devil. She claims as well that none of you have seen these things either, (slight pause) Now, children, this is a court of law. The law, based upon the Bible, and the Bible, writ by Almighty God, forbid the practice of witchcraft, and describe death as the penalty thereof. But likewise, children, the law and Bible damn all bearers of false witness, (slightpause) Now then. It does not escape me that this deposition may be devised to blind us; it may well be that Mary Warren has been con quered by Satan, who sends her here to distract our sacred purpose. If so, her neck will break for it. But if she speak true, I bid you now drop your guile and confess your pretense, for a quick confession will go easier with you. (pause) Abigail Williams, rise. (Abi gail slowly rises.) Is there any truth in this?
Abigail. Goody Proctor always kept poppets. Proctor. Your Honor, my wife never kept no pop pets. Mary Warren confesses it was her poppet. Cheever. Your Excellency. Danforth. Mr. Cheever. Cheever. When I spoke with Goody Proctor in that 650 house, she said she never kept no poppets. But she said she did keep poppets when she were a girl. Proctor. She has not been a girl these fifteen years, Your Honor. Hathorne. But a poppet will keep fifteen years, will it not? Proctor. It will keep if it is kept, but Mary Warren swears she never saw no poppets in my house, nor anyone else. 660
Parris. W hy could there not have been poppets hid where no one ever saw them?
Abigail. No, sir.
Proctor (furious). There might also be a dragon with five legs in my house, but no one has ever seen it.
Danforth (thinks, glances at Mary, then back to Abigail). Children, a very auger bit11 will now be
Parris. We are here, Your Honor, precisely to dis cover what no one has ever seen.
11. auger (o'gsr) bit: drill.
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Themes Across Time
Danforth (It is grow in g into a nightmare, an d he turns, astonished, to Parris). Mr. Parris—
Proctor. Mr. Danforth, what profit this girl to turn herself about? What may Mary Warren gain but hard questioning and worse?
Parris. I can only say, sir, that I never found any of them naked, and this man is—
Danforth. You are charging Abigail Williams with a marvelous cool plot to murder, do you understand 670 that?
Danforth. But you discovered them dancing in the woods? (Eyes on Parris, he points at Abigail.) Abigail?
Proctor. I do, sir. I believe she means to murder. Danforth (pointing at Abigail, incredulously) . This child would murder your wife?
710
Danforth. Do you deny it, Mr. Parris?
Proctor. It is not a child. Now hear me, sir. In the sight of the congregation she were twice this year put out of this meetin’ house for laughter during prayer.
Parris. I do not, sir, but I never saw any of them naked.
Danforth (shocked, turning to Abigail). W hat’s this? Laughter during—!
Parris ( unwillingly ). Aye, sir.
Parris. Excellency, she were under Tituba’s power at 680 that time, but she is solemn now. Giles. Aye, now she is solemn and goes to hang people! Danforth. Quiet, man. Hathorne. Surely it have no bearing on the question, sir. He charges contemplation of murder. Danforth. Aye. (He studies Abigail fo r a moment, then) Continue, Mr. Proctor. Proctor. Mary. Now tell the Governor how you danced in the woods. 690
Hale. Excellency, when I first arrived from Beverly, Mr. Parris told me that.
Parris (instantly ). Excellency, since I come to Salem this man is blackening my name. He— Danforth. In a moment, sir. (to Mary Warren, sternly, and surprised) What is this dancing? Mary Warren. I— (She glances at Abigail, who is staring down at her remorselessly. Then, appealing to Proctor.) Mr. Proctor— Proctor (taking it right up). Abigail leads the girls to the woods, Your Honor, and they have danced there naked— Parris. Your Honor, this—
700 Proctor
(at once). Mr. Parris discovered them himself in the dead of night! There’s the “child” she is!
Danforth. But she have danced? ( Danforth, as though with new eyes, looks at Abigail.) Hathorne. Excellency, will you permit me? (H epoints at Mary Warren.) Danforth (with great worry). Pray, proceed. Hathorne. You say you never saw no spirits, Mary, 720 were never threatened or afflicted by any manifest
of the Devil or the Devil’s agents. Mary Warren (very faintly). No, sir. Hathorne (with a gleam o f victory). And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you— Mary Warren. That were pretense, sir. Danforth. I cannot hear you. Mary Warren. Pretense, sir. 730 Parris. But you did turn cold, did you not? I myself
picked you up many times, and your skin were icy. Mr. Danforth, you— Danforth. I saw that many times. Proctor. She only pretended to faint, Your Excellency. They’re all marvelous pretenders. Hathorne. Then can she pretend to faint now? Proctor. Now?
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Parris. W hy not? Now there are no spirits attacking her, for none in this room is accused of witchcraft. 740 So let her turn herself cold now, let her pretend she is attacked now, let her faint. (He turns to Mary Warren.) Faint! Mary Warren. Faint?
world cried spirits, spirits, and I—I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not. ( Danforth peers at her.) Parris (smiling, but nervous because Danforth seems to be struck by Mary Warren s story). Surely Your Excel780 lency is not taken by this simple lie.
Parris. Aye, faint. Prove to us how you pretended in the court so many times.
Danforth (turning worriedly to Abigail). Abigail. I bid you now search your heart and tell me this—and beware of it, child, to God every soul is precious and His vengeance is terrible on them that take life with out cause. Is it possible, child, that the spirits you have seen are illusion only, some deception that may cross your mind when—
Mary Warren (looking to Proctor). I—cannot faint now, sir. Proctor (alarmed, quietly). Can you not pretend it? Mary Warren. I— (She looks about as though searching the passion to faint.) I— have no sense o f it now, I—
750 fo r
Abigail. Why, this— this—is a base question, sir.
Danforth. Why? What is lacking now? Mary Warren. I—cannot tell, sir, I— Danforth. Might it be that here we have no afflicting spirit loose, but in the court there were some?
Danforth. Child, I would have you consider it— 790 Abigail. I have been hurt, Mr. Danforth; I have seen
my blood runnin’ out! I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people—and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a—
Mary Warren. I never saw no spirits. Parris. Then see no spirits now, and prove to us that you can faint by your own will, as you claim.
Danforth ( weakening ). Child, I do not mistrust you—
Mary Warren (stares, searching fo r the emotion o f it, and then shakes her head). I—cannot do it. 760 Parris. Then you will confess, will you not? It were
attacking spirits made you faint! Mary Warren. No, sir, I—
800
Abigail (in an open threat). Let you beware, Mr. Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn you r wits? Beware of it! There is— (Suddenly, from an accusatory attitude, her fa ce turns, looking into the air above — it is truly frightened.) Danforth (apprehensively). What is it, child?
Parris. Your Excellency, this is a trick to blind the court! Mary Warren. It’s not a trick! (She stands.) I— I used to faint because I-—I thought I saw spirits.
Abigail (looking about in the air, clasping her arms about her as though cold ). I—I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come. (Her eyes fa ll on Mary Warren.)
Danforth. Thought you saw them!
Mary Warren (terrified, pleading). Abby!
Mary Warren. But I did not, Your Honor.
Mercy Lewis (shivering). Your Honor, I freeze! Proctor. They’re pretending!
Hathorne. How could you think you saw them 770 unless you saw them? Mary Warren. I— I cannot tell how, but I did. I—I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them, and I—It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole
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Hathorne (touching Abigails hand). She is cold, Your Honor, touch her! 810
Mercy Lewis (through chattering teeth). Mary, do you send this shadow on me?
Themes Across Time
Mary Warren. Lord, save me!
Danforth (dum bfounded). In—in what time? In what place?
Susanna Walcott. I freeze, I freeze! Abigail (shivering visibly). It is a wind, a wind! Mary Warren. Abby, don’t do that! Danforth (h im self engaged an d entered by Abigail). Mary Warren, do you witch her? I say to you, do you send your spirit out? 820
( With a hysterical cry Mary Warren starts to run. Proctor catches her) Mary Warren (almost collapsing}. Let me go, Mr. Proctor, I cannot, I cannot— Abigail (crying to Heaven). Oh, Heavenly Father, take away this shadow!
( Without warning or hesitation, Proctor leaps at Abigail and, grabbing her by the hair, pulls her to her feet. She screams in pain. Danforth, astonished, cries, “What are you about?” and Hathorne and Parris call, “Take you r hands o jfh e r!” an d out o f it all comes 830 Proctor j- roaring voice.) Proctor. How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore! (Herrick breaks Proctor from her)
850 Proctor (his voice about to break, and his shame great). In the proper place—where my beasts are bedded. On the last night of my joy, some eight months past. She used to serve me in my house, sir. (He has to clamp his ja w to keep from w eepin g) A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is. My wife, my dear good wife, took this girl soon after, sir, and put her out on the highroad. And being what she is, a lump of vanity, sir— (He 860 is being overcome.) Excellency, forgive me, forgive me. (Angrily against h im self he turns away from the Governor fo r a moment. Then, as though to cry out is his only means o f speech left) She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands. I know you must see it now. Danforth (blanched, in horror, turning to Abigail). 870 You deny every scrap and tittle12 of this?
Herrick. John! Danforth. Man! Man, what do you—
Abigail. If I must answer that, I will leave and I will not come back again!
Proctor (breathless and in agony). It is a whore!
(Danforth seems unsteady)
Danforth (dum bfounded). You charge— ?
Proctor. I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name—you will believe me, Mr. Danforth! M y wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one!
Abigail. Mr. Danforth, he is lying! Proctor. Mark her! Now she’ll suck a scream to stab me with, but— 840 Danforth. You will prove this! This will not pass! Proctor (trembling, his life collapsing about him). I have known her, sir. I have known her. Danforth. You—you are a lecher? Francis (horrified). John, you cannot say such a— Proctor. Oh, Francis, I wish you had some evil in you that you might know me! (to Danforth) A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that.
880
Abigail (stepping up to Danforth). What look do you give me? (Danforth cannot speak) I’ll not have such looks! (She turns an d starts fo r the door) Danforth. You will remain where you are! (Herrick steps into her path. She comes up short, fir e in her eyes.) Mr. Parris, go into the court and bring Goodwife Proctor out. Parris (objecting). Your Honor, this is all a—
12 . every scrap and tittle: every tiny bit.
THE c r u c ib le : a c t t h r e e
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Danforth (sharply to Parris). Bring her out! And tell her not one word of what’s been spoken here. And let you knock before you enter. ( Parris goes out.) Now we shall touch the bottom of this swamp, (to 890 Proctor) Your wife, you say, is an honest woman. Proctor. In her life, sir, she have never lied. There are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot weep—my wife cannot lie. I have paid much to learn it, sir. Danforth. And when she put this girl out of your house, she put her out for a harlot?13 Proctor. Aye, sir. Danforth. And knew her for a harlot? Proctor. Aye, sir, she knew her for a harlot. 900
910
Danforth. Good then, (to Abigail) And if she tell me, child, it were for harlotry, may God spread His mercy on you! (There is a knock. He calls to the door.) Hold! (to Abigail) Turn your back. Turn your back, (to Proc tor) Do likewise. (Both turn their backs—Abigail with indignant slowness.) Now let neither of you turn to face Goody Proctor. No one in this room is to speak one word, or raise a gesture aye or nay. (He turns toward the door, calls.) Enter! (The door opens. Eliza beth enters with Parris. Parris leaves her. She stands alone, her eyes looking fo r Proctor.) Mr. Cheever, report this testimony in all exactness. Are you ready? Cheever. Ready, sir. Danforth. Come here, woman. (Elizabeth comes to him, glancing at Proctor 5 back.) Look at me only, not at your husband. In my eyes only. Elizabeth (faintly). Good, sir. Danforth. We are given to understand that at one time you dismissed your servant, Abigail Williams. Elizabeth. That is true, sir.
920
Danforth. For what cause did you dismiss her? (Slightpause. Then Elizabeth tries to glance at Proctor.) You will look in my eyes only and not at your husband. The answer is in your memory and
13.
190
for a harlot:
as a woman of low morals.
U N IT l: EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
you need no help to give it to me. W hy did you dismiss Abigail Williams? Elizabeth (not knowing what to say, sensing a situation, w etting her lips to stall fo r time). She—dissatisfied me. (pause) And my husband. Danforth. In what way dissatisfied you? 930 Elizabeth. She were— (She glances at Proctor fo r
a cue.)
Danforth. Woman, look at me! (Elizabeth does.) Were she slovenly? Lazy? What disturbance did she cause? Elizabeth. Your Honor, I—in that time I were sick. And I—My husband is a good and righteous man. He is never drunk as some are, nor wastin’ his time at the shovelboard, but always at his work. But in my sickness—you see, sir, I were a long time sick after my last baby, and I thought I saw my husband somewhat turning from me. And this girl— (She 940 turns to Abigail.) Danforth. Look at me. Elizabeth. Aye, sir. Abigail Williams— (She breaks o f f ) Danforth. W hat of Abigail Williams? Elizabeth. I came to think he fancied her. And so one night I lost my wits, I think, and put her out on the highroad. Danforth. Your husband—did he indeed turn from you? Elizabeth (in agony). My husband— is a goodly man, 950 sir.
Danforth. Then he did not turn from you. Elizabeth (starting to glance at Proctor). He— Danforth (reaches out an d holds her face, then). Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery? (In a crisis o f indecision she cannot speak) Answer my question! Is your husband a lecher! Elizabeth (faintly). No, sir. Danforth. Remove her, Marshal.
Themes Across Time
960
Proctor. Elizabeth, tell the truth!
Proctor (to Hale). Do you see a bird?
Danforth. She has spoken. Remove her!
Danforth. Be quiet!!
Proctor (crying out). Elizabeth, I have confessed it!
Abigail (to the ceiling, in a genuine conversation with the “bird, ” as though trying to talk it out o f attacking her). But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary.
Elizabeth. Oh, God! (The door closes behind her.)
iooo
Proctor. She only thought to save my name!
970
Hale. Excellency, it is a natural lie to tell; I beg you, stop now before another is condemned! I may shut my conscience to it no more—private vengeance is working through this testimony! From the begin ning this man has struck me true. By my oath to Heaven, I believe him now, and I pray you call back his wife before we— Danforth. She spoke nothing of lechery, and this man has lied!
Mary Warren (on her fe e t with a spring, and horrified, pleading). Abby! Abigail (unperturbed, continuing to the “bird”). Oh, Mary, this is a black art14 to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it’s God’s work I do. Mary Warren. Abby, I’m here! io io
Abigail (Now she takes a backward step, as though in fea r the bird w ill swoop down momentarily). Oh, please, Mary! Don’t come down.
Hale. I believe him! (pointing at Abigail) This girl has always struck me false! She has— (Abigail, with a weird, wild, chilling cry, screams up to the ceiling .) Abigail. You will not! Begone! Begone, I say! 980
Danforth. What is it, child? (But Abigail, pointing with fear, is now raising up her frigh tened eyes, her aw ed face, toward the ceiling—the girls are doing the same—and now Hathorne, Hale, Putnam, Cheever, Herrick, and Danforth do the sam e) What’s there? (He lowers his eyes from the ceiling, and now he is frightened; there is real tension in his voice.) Child! (She is transfixed—with all the girls, she is whim pering openmouthed, agape at the ceiling. ) Girls! W hy do you— ?
Susanna Walcott. Her claws, she’s stretching her claws! Proctor. Lies, lies. Abigail (backing further, eyes still fix ed above). Mary, please don’t hurt me! Mary Warren (to Danforth). I’m not hurting her! 1020
Danforth (to Mary Warren). W hy does she see this vision? Mary Warren. She sees nothin’! Abigail (now staring fu ll fro n t as though hypnotized, an d mimicking the exact tone o/ Mary Warren s cry). She sees nothin’!
Mercy Lewis (pointing). It’s on the beam! Behind the rafter! 990
Proctor (frantically). They’re pretending, Mr. Danforth!
Mary Warren (pleading). Abby, you mustn’t! Abigail and All the Girls (all transfixed). Abby, you mustn’t!
Danforth (looking up). Where! Abigail. Why— ? (Shegulps.) W hy do you come, yellow bird?
Mary Warren (to all the girls). I’m here, I’m here! Girls. I ’m here, I’m here!
Proctor. Where’s a bird? I see no bird! Proctor. Mr. Hale—
Danforth (horrified). Mary Warren! Draw back your spirit out of them!
Danforth. Be quiet!
Mary Warren. Mr. Danforth!
Abigail (to the ceiling). My face? My face?
1030
14. a black art: sorcery.
T H E C R U C IB L E : A C T T H R E E
191
Girls (cutting her o f f ). Mr. Danforth! Danforth. Have you compacted with the Devil? Have you?
1070
Mary Warren. Never, never!
Proctor. God damns liars, Mary!
Girls. Never, never!
( Mary utters som ething unintelligible, staring at Abigail, who keeps w atching the “bird” above.)
Danforth (grow ing hysterical ). W hy can they only repeat you?
Girls. They’re sporting!
Danforth. I cannot hear you. What do you say? (M ary utters again unintelligibly.) You will confess yourself or you will hang! (He turns her roughly to fa ce him.) Do you know who I am? I say you will hang if you do not open with me!
Mary Warren (turning on them all hysterically and stamping her feet). Abby, stop it!
Proctor. Mary, remember the angel Raphael— do that which is good and—
1040 Proctor. Give me a whip—I’ll stop it! Mary Warren. They’re sporting.15They—!
1080
Girls (stamping their feet). Abby, stop it!
1050
Mary Warren. Stop it!
Abigail (pointing upward). The wings! Her wings are spreading! Mary, please, don’t, don’t— !
Girls. Stop it!
Hale. I see nothing, Your Honor!
Mary Warren (screaming it out at the top o f her lungs, and raising her fists). Stop it!!
Danforth. Do you confess this power! (He is an inch fio m her face.) Speak!
Girls (raising their fists). Stop it!!
Abigail. She’s going to come down! She’s walking the beam!
( Mary Warren, utterly confounded, an d becom ing overwhelm ed by Abigail s-— and the girls’—utter con viction, starts to whimper, hands h a lf raised, powerless, and all the girls begin whim pering exactly as she does)
Danforth. W ill you speak! Mary Warren (staring in horror). I cannot! 1090
Girls. I cannot!
Danforth. A little while ago you were afflicted. Now it seems you afflict others; where did you find this power?
Parris. Cast the Devil out! Look him in the face! Trample him! We’ll save you, Mary, only stand fast against him and—
Mary Warren (staring at Abigail). I— have no power.
Abigail (looking up). Look out! She’s coming down!
Girls. I have no power. 1060
Danforth (pounding it into her). You have seen the Devil, you have made compact with Lucifer, have you not?
Proctor. They’re gulling you,16 Mister! Danforth. W hy did you turn about this past two weeks? You have seen the Devil, have you not? Hale (indicating Abigail and the girls). You cannot believe them! Mary Warren. I— Proctor (sensing her weakening ). Mary, God damns all liars!
15. sporting: playing a game. 16. gullingyou: deceivingyou.
192
U N IT l : E A R L Y A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
l ioo
(She and all the girls run to one wall, shielding their eyes. And now, as though cornered, they let out a gigan tic scream, an d Mary, as though infected, opens her mouth an d screams with them. Gradually Abigail and the girls leave off, until only Mary is left there, staring up at the “bird, ’’scream ing madly. All watch her, horrified by this evident fit. Proctor strides to her.) Proctor. Mary, tell the Governor what they— (He has hardly g o t a w ord out, when, seeing him com ing fo r her, she rushes out o f his reach, scream ing in horror)
Behind the Curtain Setting and Characters The sam e scene presented on stage and produced in a film m ay look very different. Com pare these stage and film versions of the scene in w hich Abigail and the girls claim to see M ary W arren’s spirit flying overhead. W hat differences do you see? W hat can the film version show you about the setting and characters that a stage version cannot?
i
T H E C R U C IB L E : A C T T H R E E
193
Mary Warren. Don’t touch me— don’t touch me! (At which the girls halt at the door.)
1140
Proctor (astonished). Mary! Mary Warren (pointing at Proctor). You’re the D evil’s man! (He is stopped in his tracks.) 1110
Hale. Excellency— Danforth. I will have nothing from you, Mr. Hale! (to Proctor) W ill you confess yourself befouled with Hell, or do you keep that black allegiance yet? What say you?
Parris. Praise God! Girls. Praise God! Proctor (num bed). Mary, how— ? Mary Warren. I’ll not hang with you! I love God, I
Proctor (his m ind wild, breathless). I say— I say— God is dead!
love God.
Danforth (to M ary). He bid you do the D evil’s work?
1150
Mary Warren (hysterically, indicating Proctor). He come Danforth. Sign what? Parris. The D evil’s book? He come with a book? Mary Warren (hysterically, pointing at Proctor,fea rfu l ofhirri). M y name, he want my name. “I’ll murder you,” he says, “if my wife hangs! W e must go and overthrow the court,” he says!
toward Proctor, shock and hor ror in his face.) Proctor (turning, appealing to Hale). Mr. Hale!
Danforth. Marshal! Take him and Corey with him to the jail!
( Danforth 5r head jerks
Mary Warren (her sobs beginning). He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign . . . 1130
Hale. Excellency, this child’s gone wild! Proctor (as Danforth s w ide eyes pou r on him). Mary, Mary!
Mary Warren (screaming at him ) . No, I love God; I go your way no more. I love God, I bless God. (Sob bing, she rushes to Abigail.) Abby, Abby, I’ll never hurt you more! ( They all watch, as Abigail, out o f her infinite charity, reaches out an d draws the sobbing M ary to her, and then looks up to Danforth.)
17.
194
combined w ith anti-Christ:
working with the Devil.
U N IT l: EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
Parris. Hear it, hear it! Proctor (laughs insanely, then). A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud—God damns our kind espe cially, and we will burn, we will burn together!
at me by night and every day to sign, to sign, to—
1120
Danforth (to Proctor). What are you? (Proctor is beyond speech in his anger.) You are combined with anti-Christ,17 are you not? I have seen your power; you will not deny it! What say you, Mister?
1160
Hale (starting across to the door). I denounce these proceedings! Proctor. You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore! Hale. I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court! (He slams the door to the outside behind him.) Danforth (calling to him in a fury). Mr. Hale! Mr. Hale!
(The curtain falls.)
Themes Across Time
After Reading
Comprehension
A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
a
1. Recall Why does Mary Warren come to the court?
READING STANDARD
1 Analyze use of literary elements including characterization
2. Recall What does John Proctor admit to the court? 3. Clarify Why is Proctor arrested at the end of the act?
Literary Analysis 4. Make Inferences What role do you suppose hysteria plays in the following situations? Cite specific evidence from Act Three. • Mary’s inability to faint on command (lines 736-759) • Danforth’s belief in the girls (lines 1030-1039) • the change in Mary’s testimony (lines 1113-1138)
5. Recognize Verbal Irony Verbal irony occurs when someone states one thing and means another. According to the stage directions, Abigail draws the sobbing, repentant Mary to her side “out of her infinite charity” (lines 1136-1137). Why is this comment ironic? 6. Draw Conclusions About Characters Review the character traits you recorded in your chart for Danforth. How do these traits influence his relationship with the following? John Proctor
• Reverend Hale
Abigail Williams
• Reverend Parris
7. Make Judgments What is your opinion of the way Danforth is conducting the court? Use details from the play to support your opinion.
8. Analyze Character Motives Why does Elizabeth lie to Danforth about her husband’s relationship with Abigail?
9. Analyze Conventions of Drama Review the information on types of characters in the Literary Analysis Workshop on pages 128-129.
Character-Type
Personality
Values
Then determine the play’s central character, or protagonist, its major antagonists, and character foils. List these characters in a chart like the one shown and take notes on their personalities and values. What effect does the interplay among these characters have on the play?
Literary Criticism 10. Different Perspectives The real Abigail Williams was 11years old in 1692 and had not had an illicit relationship with John Proctor. How would the play differ if Arthur Miller had not embellished the truth? What would be lost?
T H E C R U C IB L E : A C T T H R E E
195
AcrFour (A cell in Salem jail, that fall. At the back is a high barred window; near it, a great, heavy door. Along the walls are two benches. The place is in darkness but fo r the m oonlight seeping through the bars. It appears empty. Presently footsteps are heard com ing down a corridor beyond the wall, keys rattle, and the door swings open. Marshal Herrick enters with a lantern. He is nearly drunk, and heavy-footed. He goes to a bench an d nudges a bundle o f rags lying on it.)
Herrick. Sarah, wake up! Sarah Good! (He then crosses to the other bench.) Sarah Good (rising in her rags). Oh, Majesty! Cornin’,
10
20
Sarah Good. A pair o f bluebirds wingin’ southerly, the two o f us! Oh, it be a grand transformation,
cornin’! Tituba, he’s here, His Majesty’s come!
(She raises the flask to drink again) Herrick (taking the flask from her lips). You’d best give
Herrick. Go to the north cell; this place is wanted now. (He hangs his lantern on the wall. Tituba sits up.)
me that or you’ll never rise o ff the ground. Come along now.
Tituba. That don’t look to me like His Majesty; look
Tituba. I’ll speak to him for you, if you desires to
to me like the marshal.
come along, Marshal.
Herrick (taking out a flask). Get along with you now, clear this place. (He drinks, and Sarah G ood comes an d peers up into his face.)
Herrick. I’d not refuse it, Tituba; it’s the proper
Sarah Good. Oh, is it you, Marshal! I thought sure you be the devil cornin’ for us. C ould I have a sip o f cider for me goin’-away? Herrick (handing her the flask). A nd where are you o ff to, Sarah?
Tituba (as Sarah drinks). W e goin’ to Barbados, soon the Devil gits here with the feathers and the wings.
Herrick. Oh? A happy voyage to you.
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U N IT l : E A R LY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
Marshal!
morning to fly into Hell. 30 Tituba. Oh, it be no Hell in Barbados. Devil, him be pleasure-man in Barbados, him be singin’ and dancin’ in Barbados. It’s you folks— you riles him up ’round here; it be too cold ’round here for that O ld Boy. He freeze his soul in Massachusetts, but in Barbados he just as sweet and— (A bellowing cow is heard, an d Tituba leaps up an d calls to the window :) Aye, sir! T hat’s him, Sarah!
Sarah Good. I’m here, Majesty! (They hurriedly pick up their rags as Hopkins, a guard, enters.)
Themes Across Time
John Proctor going to the gallows th e c r u c ib le : a c t fo u r
197
40
Herrick. No, sir; it is a bitter night, and I have no fire here.
Hopkins. The Deputy Governor’s arrived. Herrick [grabbing Tituba). Come along, come along.
Danforth (containing his anger). Fetch Mr. Parris.
Tituba (resisting him ). No, he cornin' for me. I goin’ home! Herrick (pulling her to the door). That’s not Satan, just a poor old cow with a hatful of milk. Come along now, out with you!
Herrick. Aye, sir. 80 Danforth. There is a prodigious stench in this place.
Herrick. I have only now cleared the people out for you.
Tituba (calling to the window). Take me home, Devil! Take me home! 50
60
Herrick. Aye, sir. (He waits an instant fo r fu rther orders. But Danforth, in dissatisfaction, turns his back on him, an d Herrick goes out. There is a pause. Danforth stands in thought.)
Sarah Good (follow ing the shoutingT'imba. out). Tell him I’m goin’, Tituba! Now you tell him Sarah Good is goin’ too!
(In the corridor outside Tituba calls on-—“Take me home, Devil; D evil take me hom e!”an d Hopkins ’ voice orders her to m ove on. Herrick returns and begins to push old rags an d straw into a corner. Hear in g footsteps, he turns, and enter Danforth and Judge Hathorne. They are in greatcoats and wear hats against the bitter cold. They are follow ed in by Cheever, who carries a dispatch case 1an d a fla t wooden box containing his w riting materials.) Herrick. Good morning, Excellency.
90
Hathorne. Let you question Hale, Excellency; I should not be surprised he have been preaching in Andover2 lately. Danforth. We’ll come to that; speak nothing of Andover. Parris prays with him. That’s strange. (He blows on his hands, moves toward the window, and looks out.)
Danforth. Where is Mr. Parris?
Hathorne. Excellency, I wonder if it be wise to let Mr. Parris so continuously with the prisoners. (Danforth turns to him, interested.) I think, some times, the man has a mad look these days.
Herrick. I’ll fetch him. (He starts fo r the door.)
Danforth. Mad?
Danforth. Marshal. (Herrick stops.) When did Rev erend Hale arrive?
70
Danforth. Beware hard drink, Marshal.
ioo
Hathorne. I
m e t h im y esterd a y c o m in g o u t o f his
h ou se, a n d I b id h im g o o d m o rn in g — an d he w e p t
Herrick. It were toward midnight, I think.
an d w e n t his way. I th in k it is n o t w e ll th e village
Danforth (suspiciously). What is he about here?
sees h im so unsteady.
Herrick. He goes among them that will hang, sir. And he prays with them. He sits with Goody Nurse now. And Mr. Parris with him.
Danforth. Perhaps he have some sorrow.
Danforth. Indeed. That man have no authority to enter here, Marshal. W hy have you let him in? Herrick. Why, Mr. Parris command me, sir. I cannot deny him. Danforth. Are you drunk, Marshal?
1 . dispatch case: a case for carrying documents.
2. Andover: a town in Massachusetts northwest of Salem.
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Cheever (stamping his fe e t against the cold ). I think it be the cows, sir. Danforth. Cows? Cheever. There be so many cows wanderin’ the high roads, now their masters are in the jails, and much no disagreement who they will belong to now. I know Mr. Parris be arguin’ with farmers all yesterday—
Themes Across Time
there is great contention, sir, about the cows. Con tention make him weep, sir; it were always a man that weep for contention. (He turns, as do Hathorne and Danforth, hearing som eone com ing up the corridor. Danforth raises his head as Parris enters. He is gaunt, frightened, an d sweating in his greatcoat)
120
Parris. This be the third night. You see, sir, she told 150 me she would stay a night with M ercy Lewis. And next day, when she does not return, I send to Mr. Lewis to inquire. M ercy told him she would sleep in my house for a night.
Danforth. They are both gone?!
Parris (to Danforth, instantly). Oh, good morning, sir, thank you for coming, I beg your pardon wakin’ you so early. Good morning, Judge Hathorne.
Parris (in fea r o f him). T hey are, sir. Danforth (alarmed). I will send a party for them. W here may they be?
Danforth. Reverend Hale have no right to enter this— Parris. Excellency, a moment. (He hurries back and shuts the door.)
Parris. Excellency, I think they be aboard a ship. ( Danforth stands agape.) M y daughter tells me how 160
Hathorne. Do you leave him alone with the prisoners?
(He presses his fingers against his eyes to keep back tears) Hathorne (astonished). She have robbed you?
Danforth. W hat’s his business here? Parris (prayerfully holding up his hands). Excellency, hear me. It is a providence. Reverend Hale has returned to bring Rebecca Nurse to God.
Parris. Thirty-one pound is gone. I am penniless. (He covers his fa ce an d sobs.)
Danforth (surprised ). He bids her confess? 130
Parris (sitting). Hear me. Rebecca have not given me a word this three month since she came. Now she sits with him, and her sister and Martha Corey and two or three others, and he pleads with them, con fess their crimes and save their lives.
she heard them speaking o f ships last week, and tonight I discover my— my strongbox is broke into.
Danforth. Mr. Parris, you are a brainless man! (He walks in thought, deeply worried.) Parris. Excellency, it profit nothing you should blame me. I cannot think they w ould run o ff 170 except they fear to keep in Salem any more. (He is plea d in g) M ark it, sir, Abigail had close knowledge o f the town, and since the news o f Andover has broken here—
Danforth. Why—this is indeed a providence. And they soften, they soften?
Danforth. Andover is remedied.3 The court returns
Parris. Not yet, not yet. But I thought to summon you, sir, that we might think on whether it be not wise, to— (He dares not say it) I had thought to put 140 a question, sir, and I hope you will not—
there on Friday, and will resume examinations.
Parris. I am sure o f it, sir. But the rum or here speaks rebellion in Andover, and it—
Danforth. Mr. Parris, be plain, what troubles you?
Danforth. There is no rebellion in Andover!
Parris. There is news, sir, that the court— the court must reckon with. My niece, sir, my niece—I believe she has vanished.
Parris. I tell you what is said here, sir. Andover have
Danforth. Vanished!
180
thrown out the court, they say, and will have no part o f witchcraft. There be a faction here, feeding on that news, and I tell you true, sir, I fear there will be
Parris. I had thought to advise you of it earlier in the week, but—
riot here.
Danforth. Why? How long is she gone?
naught but high satisfaction in the town.
Hathorne. Riot! W h y at every execution I have seen
3. remedied: no longer a problem.
th e c r u c ib le : a c t fo u r
199
Danforth. Now, sir—which of these in your opin ion may be brought to God? I will myself strive with him6 till dawn. (He hands the list to Parris, who merely glances at it.)
Parris. Judge Hathorne— it were another sort that hanged till now. Rebecca Nurse is no Bridget that lived three year with Bishop before she married him. John Proctor is not Isaac W ard that drank his family 190
to ruin, (to Danforth) I would to G od it were not so, Excellency, but these people have great weight yet in the town. Let Rebecca stand upon the gibbet4
Parris. There is not sufficient time till dawn. Danforth. I shall do my utmost. Which of them do you have hope for?
and send up some righteous prayer, and I fear she’ll wake a vengeance on you.
Hathorne. Excellency, she is condemned a witch.
230
The court have—
Danforth. What do you say?
Danforth (in deep concern, raising a hand to Hathorne). Pray you. (to Parris) How do you
Parris. Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house—a dagger clattered to the ground. (Silence. Danforth absorbs this. Now Parris cries out.) You can not hang this sort. There is danger for me. I dare not step outside at night!
propose, then? 200
Parris. Excellency, I would postpone these hangin’s for a time.
Danforth. There will be no postponement.
( Reverend Hale enters. They look at him fo r an instant in silence. He is steeped in sorrow, exhausted, an d more direct than he ever was.)
Parris. Now Mr. Hale’s returned, there is hope, I think— for if he bring even one o f these to God, that confession surely damns the others in the pub
210
lic eye, and none may doubt more that they are all linked to Hell. This way, unconfessed and claim ing innocence, doubts are multiplied, m any honest people will weep for them, and our good purpose is lost in their tears.
240
Danforth. Accept my congratulations, Reverend Hale; we are gladdened to see you returned to your good work. Hale (com ing to Danforth now). You must pardon them. They will not budge.
Danforth (after thinking a moment, then goin g to
(Herrick enters, waits.)
Cheever). Give me the list.
Danforth (co n cilia to ry ). You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just.
(Cheever opens the dispatch case, searches.) Parris. It cannot be forgot, sir, that when I sum moned the congregation for John Proctor’s excom munication5 there were hardly thirty people come to hear it. That speak a discontent, I think, and— Danforth (studying the list). There will be no post ponement. 220
Parris (not even glancing at the list now, an d in a quavering voice, quietly). Excellency—a dagger— (He chokes up.)
Parris. Excellency—
Parris (with fa ilin g heart). Rebecca will not confess? 250
Hale. The sun will rise in a few minutes. Excellency, I must have more time. Danforth. Now hear me, and beguile yourselves no more. I will not receive a single plea for pardon or postponement. Them that will not confess will hang. Twelve are already executed; the names of
4. gibbet (jTb'Tt): gallows. 5. excommunication: banishment from a church. For the Puritans in New England, this punishment resulted in the loss of church privileges. 6. strive with him: struggle with him through prayer.
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Themes Across Time
these seven are given out, and the village expects to see them die this morning. Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died 260 till now. While I speak God’s law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering. If retaliation is your fear, know this—I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes. Now draw yourselves up like men and help me, as you are bound by Heaven to do. Have you spoken with them all, Mr. Hale?
Hale (harder now). If you think God wills you to raise rebellion, Mr. Danforth, you are mistaken! Danforth (instantly ). You have heard rebellion spoken in the town? Hale. Excellency, there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs every300 where, and no man knows when the harlots’ cry will end his life— and you wonder yet if rebellion’s spoke? Better you should marvel how they do not burn your province! Danforth. Mr. Hale, have you preached in Andover this month?
Hale. All but Proctor. He is in the dungeon. Danforth (to Herrick). W hat’s Proctor’s way now? 270
Hale. Thank God they have no need of me in Andover.
Herrick. He sits like some great bird; you’d not know he lived except he will take food from time to time. Danforth (after thinking a moment). His wife—his wife must be well on with child now.
Danforth. You baffle me, sir. W hy have you returned here? 310
Herrick. She is, sir. Danforth. What think you, Mr. Parris? You have closer knowledge of this man; might her presence soften him?
Parris. Hush! (For he has heard footsteps. They all fa ce the door. Herrick enters with Elizabeth. Her wrists are linked by heavy chain, which Herrick now removes. Her clothes are dirty; her fa ce is pale and gaunt. Herrick goes out.)
Parris. It is possible, sir. He have not laid eyes on her these three months. I should summon her. 280
Danforth (to Herrick). Is he yet adamant? Has he struck at you again?
Herrick. He cannot, sir, he is chained to the wall now. Danforth (after thinking on it). Fetch Goody Proctor to me. Then let you bring him up. Herrick. Aye, sir. ( Herrick goes. There is silence.) Hale. Excellency, if you postpone a week and publish to the town that you are striving for their confes sions, that speak mercy on your part, not faltering. 290
Danforth. Mr. Hale, as God have not empowered me like Joshua to stop this sun from rising,7 so I cannot withhold from them the perfection of their punish ment.
Hale. Why, it is all simple. I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves. (His sarcasm collapses.) There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!
320
Danforth (verypolitely). Goody Proctor. (She is silent.) I hope you are hearty? Elizabeth (as a w arning reminder). I am yet six month before my time. Danforth. Pray be at your ease, we come not for your life. We— (uncertain how to plead, fo r he is not accustom ed to it.) Mr. Hale, will you speak with the woman? Hale. Goody Proctor, your husband is marked to hang this morning.
(pause) 330 Elizabeth
(quietly). I have heard it.
7. like Joshua . .. rising: According to the Bible, Joshua became leader of the Israelites after Moses died. He led the people to the Promised Land while the sun stood still.
T H E C R U C IB L E : A C T FO U R
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Hale. You know, do you not, that I have no con nection with the court? (She seems to doubt it.) I come o f m y own, G oody Proctor. I would save your husband’s life, for if he is taken I count m yself his murderer. Do you understand me?
Elizabeth. W hat do you want o f me? Hale. G oody Proctor, I have gone this three month like our Lord into the wilderness.8 1 have sought a Christian way, for damnation’s doubled on a minis-
340 ter who counsels men to lie. Hathorne. It is no lie, you cannot speak o f lies. Hale. It is a lie! T hey are innocent!
Danforth (going to her). G oody Proctor, you are not summoned here for disputation. Be there no wifely
370 tenderness w ithin you? He will die with the sunrise. Your husband. Do you understand it? (She only looks at him.) W h at say you? W ill you contend w ith him? (She is silent .) Are you stone? I tell you true, woman, had I no other p roof o f your unnatural life, your dry eyes now would be sufficient evidence that you delivered up your soul to Hell! A very ape would weep at such calamity! Have the devil dried up any tear o f pity in you? (She is silent.) Take her out. It profit nothing she should speak to him!
380 Elizabeth (quietly). Let me speak w ith him,
Danforth. I’ll hear no more o f that!
Excellency.
Hale (continuing to Elizabeth). Let you not mistake
Parris (with hope). You’ll strive with him? (She hesitates.)
your duty as I mistook m y own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts o f high religion; the very crowns o f holy law I brought, and what I touched with m y bright con fidence, it died; and where I turned the eye o f my 350 great faith, blood flowed up. Beware, G oody Proc tor— cleave to no faith when faith brings blood. It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice. Life, woman, life is G od’s most precious gift; no prin ciple, however glorious, may justify the taking o f it. I beg you, woman, prevail upon your husband to confess. Let him give his lie. Quail not before G od’s judgment in this, for it may well be G od damns a
Danforth. W ill you plead for his confession or will you not?
Elizabeth. I promise nothing. Let me speak with him.
(A sound—the sibilance o f dragging fe e t on stone. They turn. A pause. Herrick enters with John Proctor. His wrists are chained. He is another man, bearded, filthy, 390 his eyes misty as though webs had overgrown them. He halts inside the doorway, his eye caught by the sight o f Elizabeth. The em otion flow in g between them prevents anyone from speaking fo r an instant. Now Hale, visibly affected, goes to Danforth and speaks quietly.)
liar less than he that throws his life away for pride.
Hale. Pray, leave them, Excellency.
W ill you plead with him? I cannot think he will
Danforth (pressing Hale impatiently aside) . Mr.
360 listen to another. Elizabeth (quietly). I think that be the D evil’s argument.
Hale (with a clim actic desperation ). W om an, before the laws o f G od we are as swine! W e cannot read His will!
Elizabeth. I cannot dispute with you, sir; I lack learning for it.
Proctor, you have been notified, have you not? ( Proctor is silent, staring at Elizabeth.) I see light in the sky, Mister; let you counsel w ith your wife, 400 and may G od help you turn your back on Hell. ( Proctor is silent, staring at Elizabeth.)
Hale (quietly). Excellency, let— ( D anforth brushes past Hale a n d walks out. Hale fo l lows. Cheever stands andfollows, Hathorne behind. Herrick goes. Parris,from a safe distance, offers.)
8. like our Lord .. .wilderness: According to the New Testament, Jesus spent 40 days wandering in the
desert.
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Parris. If you desire a cup of cider, Mr. Proctor, I am sure I— ( Proctor turns an icy stare at him, and he breaks off. Parris raises his palm s toward Proctor.) God lead you now. ( Parris goes out.)
4io
{Alone. Proctor walks to her, halts. It is as though they stood in a spinning world. It is beyond sorrow, above it. He reaches out his hand as though toward an em bodi m ent not quite real, an d as he touches her, a strange soft sound, h a lf laughter, h a lf amazement, comes from his throat. He pats her hand. She covers his hand with hers. And then, weak, he sits. Then she sits, fa cin g him.) Proctor. The child?
Proctor. I hear nothin’, where I am kept. Elizabeth. Giles is dead.
(He looks at her incredulously.) Proctor. When were he hanged? Elizabeth (quietly, factually). He were not hanged. He would not answer aye or nay to his indictment; for if he denied the charge they’d hang him surely, and auction out his property. So he stand mute, and 450 died Christian under the law. And so his sons will have his farm. It is the law, for he could not be con demned a wizard without he answer the indictment, aye or nay.
Elizabeth. It grows.
Proctor. Then how does he die?
Proctor. There is no word of the boys? 420
Elizabeth (gently). They press him, John.
Elizabeth. They’re well. Rebecca’s Samuel keeps them. Proctor. You have not seen them? Elizabeth. I have not. (She catches a weakening in herself and downs it.) Proctor. You are a—marvel, Elizabeth.
Proctor. Press? Elizabeth. Great stones they lay upon his chest until he plead aye or nay. (with a tender smile fo r the old man) They say he give them but two words. “More 460 weight,” he says. And died. Proctor ( num bed—a thread to weave into his agony). “More weight.”
Elizabeth. You—have been tortured? Proctor. Aye. (Pause. She w ill not let h erself be drow ned in the sea that threatens her.) They come for my life now.
Elizabeth. Aye. It were a fearsome9 man, Giles Corey.
(pause) Proctor (with great fo rce o f will, but not quite look in g at her). I have been thinking I would confess to them, Elizabeth. (She shows nothing.) What say you? If I give them that? Elizabeth. I cannot judge you, John.
Elizabeth. I know it.
430
(pause) Proctor. None—have yet confessed? Elizabeth. There be many confessed. Proctor. Who are they? Elizabeth. There be a hundred or more, they say. Goody Ballard is one; Isaiah Goodkind is one. There be many. Proctor. Rebecca? Elizabeth. Not Rebecca. She is one foot in Heaven now; naught may hurt her more.
440
Proctor. And Giles? Elizabeth. You have not heard of it?
470
(pause) Proctor (simply—a pu re question). What would you have me do? Elizabeth. As you will, I would have it. (slightpause) I want you living, John. That’s sure. Proctor (pauses, then with a fla ilin g o f hope). Giles’ wife? Have she confessed? Elizabeth. She will not.
9. fearsome: courageous. th e c r u c ib le : a c t fo u r
203
Elizabeth. John, I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me! Suspicion kissed you when I did; I never knew how I should say my love. It were a cold house I kept! (In fright, she swerves, as Hathorne enters.)
(pause) Proctor. It is a pretense, Elizabeth. 480 Elizabeth. What is?
Proctor. I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man. (She is silent.) My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.
520
( Proctor, his chest heaving, stares, turns to Elizabeth. She comes to him as though to plead, her voice quaking.) Elizabeth. Do what you will. But let none be your judge. There be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is! Forgive me, forgive me, John—I never knew such goodness in the world! (She covers her face, weeping)
Elizabeth. And yet you’ve not confessed till now. That speak goodness in you. Proctor. Spite only keeps me silent. It is hard to give a lie to dogs. (Pause. For the first tim e he turns directly 490 to her.) I would have your forgiveness, Elizabeth. Elizabeth. It is not for me to give, John, I am— Proctor. I’d have you see some honesty in it. Let them that never lied die now to keep their souls. It is pretense for me, a vanity that will not blind God nor keep my children out of the wind, (pause) What say you? Elizabeth (upon a heaving sob that always threatens). John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself. (Now he turns away a little, 500 in great agony.) It is not my soul, John, it is yours. (He stands, as though in physical pain, slowly rising to his fe e t with a great immortal longing to fin d his answer. It is difficult to say, and she is on the verge o f tears.) Only be sure of this, for I know it now: Whatever you will do, it is a good man does it. (He turns his doubting, searching gaze upon her.) I have read my heart this three month, John, (pause) I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery.
( Proctor turns from her to Hathorne; he is o f f the earth, his voice hollow.) 530 Proctor. I want my life. Hathorne (electrified, surprised). You’ll confess yourself? Proctor. I will have my life. Hathorne (with a mystical tone). God be praised! It is a providence! (He rushes out the door, and his voice is heard calling down the corridor) He will confess! Proctor will confess! Proctor (with a cry, as he strides to the door). W hy do you cry it? (In great pain he turns back to her.) It is 540 evil, is it not? It is evil. Elizabeth (in terror, weeping). I cannot judge you, John, I cannot! Proctor. Then who will judge me? (suddenly clasp ing his hands) God in Heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor? (He moves as an animal, an d a fu ry is riding in him, a tantalized search.) I think it is honest, I think so; I am no saint. (As though she had denied this he calls angrily at her.) Let Rebecca go like a saint; for me it is fraud!
Proctor (in great pain). Enough, enough— 510
Elizabeth (n ow pouring out her heari). Better you should know me! Proctor. I will not hear it! I know you! Elizabeth. You take my sins upon you, John— Proctor (in agony). No, I take my own, my own!
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Hathorne. What say you, Proctor? The sun is soon up.
550
( Voices are heard in the hall, speaking together in suppressed excitem ent)
Themes Across Time
Elizabeth. I am not your judge, I cannot be. (as though giving him release) Do as you will, do as you will! Proctor. Would you give them such a lie? Say it. Would you ever give them this? (She cannot answer) You would not; if tongs of fire were singeing you you would not! It is evil. Good, then—it is evil, and I do it! 560 ( Hathorne enters with Danforth, and, with them, Cheever, Parris, and Hale. It is a businesslike, rapid entrance, as though the ice had been broken.)
Danforth (with great relief and gratitude). Praise to God, man, praise to God; you shall be blessed in Heaven for this. (Cheever has hurried to the bench with pen, ink, and paper. Proctor watches him.) Now then, let us have it. Are you ready, Mr. Cheever? Proctor (with a cold, cold horror at their efficiency). W hy must it be written? 570 Danforth. Why, for the good instruction of the vil lage, Mister; this we shall post upon the church door! (to Parris, urgently) Where is the marshal? Parris (runs to the door and calls down the corridor). Marshal! Hurry!
John and Elizabeth Proctor before the marshal
T H E C R U C IB L E : A C T FO U R
205
580
Proctor (almost inaudibly). No.
Danforth. Now, then, Mister, will you speak slowly, and directly to the point, for Mr. Cheever’s sake. (He is on record now, an d is really dictating to Cheever, who writes.) Mr. Proctor, have you seen the Devil in your life? (Proctor ’s jaw s lock.) Come, man, there is light in the sky; the town waits at the scaffold; I would give out this news. Did you see the Devil? Proctor. I did. Parris. Praise God! Danforth. And when he come to you, what were his demand? (Proctor is silent. Danforth helps.) Did he bid you to do his work upon the earth? Proctor. He did.
Danforth. And you bound yourself to his service? ( Danforth turns, as Rebecca Nurse enters, with 590 Herrick helping to support her. She is barely able to walk.) Come in, come in, woman! Rebecca (brightening as she sees Proctor). Ah, John! You are well, then, eh? (Proctor turns his fa ce to the wall.) Danforth. Courage, man, courage—let her witness your good example that she may come to God her self. Now hear it, Goody Nurse! Say on, Mr. Proctor. Did you bind yourself to the Devil’s service? Rebecca (astonished). Why, John! 600 Proctor (through his teeth, his fa ce turned from Rebecca). I did. Danforth. Now, woman, you surely see it profit nothin’ to keep this conspiracy any further. W ill you confess yourself with him? Rebecca. Oh, John—God send his mercy on you! Danforth. I say, will you confess yourself, Goody Nurse? Rebecca. Why, it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot, I cannot. 6io Danforth. Mr. Proctor. When the Devil came to you did you see Rebecca Nurse in his company? (Proctor is silent.) Come, man, take courage—did you ever see her with the Devil?
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(Danforth, now sensing trouble, glances at John and goes to the table, an d picks up a sheet—the list o f condemned.) Danforth. Did you ever see her sister, Mary Easty, with the Devil? 620
Proctor. No, I did not. Danforth (his eyes narrow on Proctor). Did you ever see Martha Corey with the Devil? Proctor. I did not. Danforth (realizing, slowly pu ttin g the sheet dow n). Did you ever see anyone with the Devil? Proctor. I did not.
Danforth. Proctor, you mistake me. I am not empowered to trade your life for a lie. You have most certainly seen some person with the Devil. 630 (Proctor is silent.) Mr. Proctor, a score of people have already testified they saw this woman with the Devil. Proctor. Then it is proved. W hy must I say it? Danforth. W hy “must” you say it! Why, you should rejoice to say it if your soul is truly purged of any love for Hell! Proctor. They think to go like saints. I like not to spoil their names. Danforth (inquiring, incredulous). Mr. Proctor, do 640 you think they go like saints? Proctor (evading). This woman never thought she done the Devil’s work. Danforth. Look you, sir. I think you mistake your duty here. It matters nothing what she thought— she is convicted of the unnatural murder of children, and you for sending your spirit out upon Mary Warren. Your soul alone is the issue here, Mister, and you will prove its whiteness or you cannot live in a Christian country. W ill you tell me now what 650 persons conspired with you in the Devil’s company? (Proctor is silent.) To your knowledge was Rebecca Nurse ever—
Themes Across Time
Proctor. I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. (crying out, with hatred) I have no tongue for it.
Here! I have confessed myself; it is enough! Danforth. You have not con— Proctor. I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!
Hale (quickly to Danforth). Excellency, it is enough he confess himself. Let him sign it, let him sign it.
660
Parris {feverishly). It is a great service, sir. It is a weighty name; it will strike the village that Proctor confess. I beg you, let him sign it. The sun is up, Excellency!
Danforth. Mr. Proctor-— 700
Danforth (considers; then with dissatisfaction). Come, then, sign your testimony, (to Cheever) Give it to him. (Cheever goes to Proctor, the confession an d a p en in hand. Proctor does not look at it.) Come, man, sign it.
Danforth. I do not wish to— Proctor. I have three children—how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?
Proctor (after glancin g at the confession). You have all witnessed it—it is enough.
Danforth. You have not sold your friends— Proctor. Beguile me not! I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence!
Danforth. You will not sign it? 670
Proctor. You have all witnessed it; what more is needed? Danforth. Do you sport with me? You will sign your name or it is no confession, Mister! (His breast heav ing with agonized breathing, Proctor now lays the paper down and signs his name.)
710
(Proctor has ju st fin ish ed signing when Danforth reaches fo r the paper. But Proctor snatches it up, and now a wild terror is rising in him, and a boundless anger)
Danforth (with suspicion). It is the same, is it not? If I report it or you sign to it? Proctor (He knows it is insane). No, it is not the same! What others say and what I sign to is not the same!
680 Danforth (perplexed, but politely extending his hand). If you please, sir. Danforth (as though Proctor d id not understand). Mr. Proctor, I must have— Proctor. No, no. I have signed it. You have seen me. It is done! You have no need for this. Parris. Proctor, the village must have proof that— Proctor. Damn the village! I confess to God, and God has seen my name on this! It is enough! 690 Danforth. No, sir, it is— Proctor. You came to save my soul, did you not?
Danforth. Mr. Proctor, I must have good and legal proof that you— Proctor. You are the high court, your word is good enough! Tell them I confessed myself; say Proctor broke his knees and wept like a woman; say what you will, but my name cannot—
Parris. Praise be to the Lord!
Proctor. No.
Proctor. You will not use me! I am no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!
720
Danforth. Why? Do you mean to deny this confes sion when you are free? Proctor. I mean to deny nothing! Danforth. Then explain to me, Mr. Proctor, why you will not let—
Proctor (with a cry o f his whole soul). Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you 730 my soul; leave me my name!
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Rebecca. I’ve had no breakfast.
Danforth [pointingat the confession in Proctor^ hand). Is that document a lie? If it is a lie I will not accept it! What say you? I will not deal in lies, Mister! (Proctor is motionless.) You will give me your honest confession in my hand, or I cannot keep you from the rope. ( Proctor does not reply.) Which way do you go, Mister?
(His breast heaving, his eyes staring, Proctor tears the paper and crumples it, and he is w eeping in fury, but 740 erect) Danforth. Marshal! Parris (hysterically, as though the tearing paper were his life). Proctor, Proctor! Hale. Man, you will hang! You cannot!
750
Proctor (his eyes fu ll o f tears). I can. And there’s your first marvel, that I can. You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of good ness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs. ( Elizabeth, in a burst o f terror, rushes to him and weeps against his hand) Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it! (He has lifted her, and kisses her now with great passion) Rebecca. Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all!
Danforth. Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption! (He sweeps out past them. Herrick starts to lead Rebecca, who almost 760 collapses, but Proctor catches her, and she glances up at him apologetically.)
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Herrick. Come, man. ( Herrick escorts them out, Hathorne and Cheever behind them. Elizabeth stands staring at the empty doorway.) Parris (in deadly fear, to Elizabeth). Go to him, Goody Proctor! There is yet time! 770
(From outside a drum roll strikes the air. Parris is startied. Elizabeth jerks about toward the window.) Parris. Go to him! (He rushes out the door, as though to hold back his fate.) Proctor! Proctor!
(again, a short burst o f drums) Hale. Woman, plead with him! (He starts to rush out the door, an d then goes back to her.) Woman! It is pride, it is vanity. (She avoids his eyes, and moves to the window. He drops to his knees.) Be his helper!— What profit him to bleed? Shall the dust praise him? Shall the worms declare his truth? Go to him, take 780 his shame away! Elizabeth (supporting h erself against collapse, grips the bars o f the window, an d with a cry). He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!
( The fin a l drum roll crashes, then heightens violently. Hale weeps in fran tic prayer, an d the new sun is pour ing in upon her face, an d the drums rattle like bones in the m orning air. The curtain falls.)
Themes Across Time
After Reading \
Comprehension
a
1. Recall Why has Reverend Hale returned to Salem?
A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
READING STANDARD
2. Clarify Why does Danforth summon Elizabeth Proctor?
1 Analyze use of literary elements including characterization, theme, plot
3. Summarize What does John Proctor do when asked to sign a confession?
Literary Analysis 4. Infer Character Motives Explain why each of the following characters wants John and the other prisoners to confess. Support your answer with evidence. • Danforth
• Parris
• Hale
5. Examine Dialogue Reread Elizabeth Proctor’s dialogue at the end of Act Four (lines 782-783) when she says of her husband, “ He have his goodness now.” What do you think she means? Do you agree with her?
6. Analyze Conventions of Drama Much of the plot of The Crucible is built around
Conflict
Internal or External?
How Resolved
the internal and external conflicts of John Proctor. An internal conflict is a struggle between opposing forces within a character. An external conflict pits a character against nature, society, or another character. Use a chart like the one shown to show the internal and external conflicts of John Proctor. How is each resolved?
7. Draw Conclusions About Characters Refer to the chart of character traits you have created. Which characters have changed over the course of the play? How have they changed? Cite specific details from the play. 8. Interpret Symbol A crucible is a severe test or trial. It is also a vessel in which materials are melted at high temperatures to produce a more refined substance. What do you think a crucible might symbolize in this drama?
9. Synthesize Themes A theme is a central idea the writer wishes to share with the reader. This idea may be a lesson about life or about people and their actions. What do you think are some of the themes of The Crucible?
Literary Criticism 10. Critical Interpretations Many critics have observed that Miller’s play goes beyond the historical events of 17th- and 20th-century America and explores universal conflicts. What universal conflicts does the play deal with?
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Vocabulary In Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE
WORD LIST adamant
Decide whether the words in each pair are synonyms or antonyms. 1. dissembling/lying
9.
ameliorate
conciliatory/appeasing
anarchy
2. iniquity/goodness
10. anarchy/disorder
3. contentious/argumentative
11. ameliorate/worsen
4 . adamant/unsure
12. effrontery/humility
5. immaculate/filthy
13. corroborate/substantiate
deference
6. trepidation/bravery
14. imperceptible/unnoticeable
deposition
7. deposition/statement
15. subservient/subordinate
dissembling
conciliatory contentious corroborate
8. deference/impudence
effrontery immaculate
VOCABULARY IN W RITING
imperceptible
Write a brief character sketch of Mary Warren, using details from the text to
iniquity
flesh out your portrayal of her. Include at least four vocabulary words. Here is a sample opening sentence.
subservient trepidation
EX A M P LE
h^arif was a subservi&nt young girl who did not know how to handle the power and attention she suddenly received.
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: CONTEXT CLUES The words, sentences, paragraphs, and even punctuation marks that surround a word make up its context. Often context can help you figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
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LITERATURE STANDARD
6 Determine word meaning using
context clues
PRACTICE Locate each word below in its context in the play. Then write the letter of the correct definition for each.
1. subservient (page 143): (a) forceful, (b) vengeful, (c) lower in importance 2. iniquity (page 147): (a) forgetfulness, (b) act of not caring, (c) wickedness 3. ameliorate (page 164): (a) improve, (b) aggravate, (c) move farther along 4 . contentious (page 178): (a) angry, (b) generous, (c) misguided 5. effrontery (page 184): (a) patience, (b) presumptuousness, (c) desire to talk a lot
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V O CA B U LA R Y P R A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
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Themes Across Time S K ILL S PRA C TICE
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Reading-Writing Connection W R IT IN G P R O M PT
S ELF-C H EC K
ANALYZE MOTIVATIONS W hy does John Proctor change his
A strong analysis will...
mind and tear up the confession? How does his concern for w hat others m ight think of him influence his decision? In four or five paragraphs, discuss Proctor’s perception of a m orally righteous person and how that perception affects his decision. Think about Rebecca Nurse’s reaction to his confession and Elizabeth’s assertion that “there be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is!”
• explain the choices Proctor m ust make to arrive at his decision • discuss how Proctor’s idea of m orality differs from that of th e ju d g e s • use quotations and exam ples from the play to support key points
GRAMMAR AND STYLE USE REALISTIC DIALOGUE A play consists almost entirely of dialogue; therefore, to ensure authenticity, it is important that the characters’ speech match the play’s setting. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s word choice and use of inverted sentences
A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
a
WRITING/LANGUAGE STANDARD lO.a Editing for style
accurately reflect the speech of the time, contributing to the playwright’s realistic depiction of life in 17th-century Salem. Here are some examples:
Parris Let him look to medicine and put out all thought o f unnatural causes here. There be none. Susanna. Aye, sir.... (Act One, lines 50-52) Abigail. Now look you. All o f you. We danced.... (Act One, line 353) In the first piece of dialogue, notice how Miller uses be rather than are, the verb form that currently would be used in this context. And instead of yes, Miller uses the word aye, a word that was commonplace in the 1600s but is rarely used today. In the second piece of dialogue, Miller forms an inverted sentence, with the verb preceding the subject. This type of inverted word order was common in 17th-century speech.
PRACTICE Rewrite the following sentences so that they better reflect the 17thcentury speech patterns that Miller employs.
You go to the house! Go Lfou to the hous&l
1. Yes, it is true I saw the devil with Rebecca Nurse. 2. Are you sure of their guilt? 3. You confess to these sins!
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W R IT IN G TO O LS
For prewriting, revision, and editing tools, visit the Writing Center at ClassZone.com.
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Reading for The Crucible and McCarthyism Article, page 213 Information I •• Online Newspaper Article, page 214 • Memoir, page 216 While Arthur Miller was writing The Crucible, a young senator named Joseph McCarthy was conducting a campaign to root out communists in American public life. In his memoir, Timebends, Miller reveals that he saw a connection between the Salem witch trials and McCarthy's
Use with The Crucible, page 132.
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A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
campaign. The following selections will help you understand that connection by providing you with information about McCarthyism and its bearing on The Crucible. As you read, bear in mind that you will later be asked to explain how this information affects your sense of the play.
Skill Focus: Understand Historical Context
READING/RESEARCH STANDARDS
As you may recall, the historical context of a literary work is the social and political conditions of the times in which the writer lived. To varying
3 Read with comprehension informational and functional reading materials
degrees, most literature reflects this context, often through its portrayal of values and conflicts.
12 Document and present information to support a thesis
To better grasp the historical context of The Crucible, take notes as you read the selections. In particular, record the significant events, values, and issues that were of primary concern in American society while Miller was writing his play. Use a chart such as the one shown here. Source "tAcCarthijism
'The Demons o f Salem, W ith Us S t/ If
Timebends
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Relevant Historical Information
BACK
FORWARD
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REFRESH
HOME
PRINT
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Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism growing in Eastern Europe and China. Capitalizing on those concerns, a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred “cardcarrying" communists had infiltrated the United States government. Though eventually his accusations were proven to Army counsel Joseph N. Welch, left, be untrue, and he was censured by the and Senator Joseph McCarthy Senate for unbecoming conduct, his zealous campaigning ushered in one of the most repressive times in 20th-century American politics. Q While the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) had been formed in 1938 as an anti-Communist organ, McCarthy’s accusations heightened the political tensions of the times. Known as McCarthyism,the paranoid hunt for infiltrators was notoriously difficult on writers and entertainers, many of whom were labeled communist sympathizers and were unable to continue working. Some had their passports taken away, while others were jailed for refusing to give the names of other communists. The trials, which were well publicized, could often destroy a career with a single unsubstantiated accusation. Among those well-known artists accused of communist sympathies or called before the committee were Paul Robeson, Arthur Miller, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin and Elia Kazan. In all, three hundred and twenty artists were blacklisted, and for many of them this meant the end of exceptional and promising careers. Q During this time there were few in the press willing to stand up against McCarthy and the anti-Communist machine. Among those few were comedian Mort Sahl, and journalist Edward R. Murrow, whose strong criticisms of McCarthy are often cited as playing an important role in his eventual removal from power. By 1954, the fervor had died down and many actors and writers were able to return to work. Though relatively short, these proceedings remain one of the most shameful moments in modern U.S. history.
Q HISTORICAL CONTEXT What preoccupied Americans during the 1940s and 1950s? Record your answer on your chart.
Q HISTORICAL CONTEXT What does the term
McCarthyism refer to? Identify the information in this paragraph that suggests a connection between McCarthyism and Miller’s play.
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StljeJtfrttr jjork eimcs f
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1996
B16
Arthur Miller prepares to testify before the House Un-American Activities Commitee, 1956.
The Demons of Salem, With Us Still by Victor Navasky
HISTORICAL CONTEXT Reread lines 1-4 8 . When The Crucible hit the stage, why were people so quick to ask about the connection between the play and McCarthy’s campaign?
When Arthur Miller’s drama The Crucible first opened on Broadway in 1953, the country was in a panic about the so-called Red Menace. Senator Joseph McCarthy, with his reckless charges of spies and “comsymps,”1 occupied the front pages, while behind the scenes J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the F.B.I., presided over and 10 manipulated a vast internal security bureaucracy, issuing periodic bulletins intended to fan the flames of the domestic cold war. In the center ring were the congressional inquisitor-investigators, asking “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” At the time, Mr. Miller and 20 Tennessee Williams were regarded as the world’s two foremost playwrights. But that lofty status was an invitation rather than an obstacle to the redhunters who wanted to talk to Mr. Miller. In fact, when he was finally
30
40
summoned to appear, the committee chairman, Representative Francis Walters, let Mr. Miller know that things might go easier for him if he persuaded his fiancee, Marilyn Monroe, to pose for a photograph with the chairman. Mr. Miller let that option lapse and was shortly indicted for contempt of Congress when he refused to answer the committee’s questions about Communists he had known. On the left, the hunt for subversives was routinely labeled a witch hunt, after the infamous Salem witch trials of the late 17th century. And so when The Crucible, set in Salem in 1692 but written in the overheated atmosphere of the domestic cold war, appeared, two questions were quickly asked: Was Mr. Miller’s depiction of the inhabitants and events of 1692 Salem faithful to the original? And was the original an appropriate metaphor for McCarthyism? Q
1. “comsymps”: Communist sympathizers. •vpw«w
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w1
iwroirww*
Reading fo r Information
50 On the historical front it was in government, none in the arts, none generally conceded when the play was sending money from Hollywood to written that Mr. Millers research was 100 12th Street.” Q accurate. His principal changes involved For me, the parallel worked. The fusing some characters and raising the term “Communist” had been so age of John Proctor’s accuser, Abigail demonized that like the word “witch” it Williams, from 11 to 17 (to signified something that didn’t really accommodate Mr. Miller’s story of how exist in its popular meaning. Certainly a liaison between Abigail and John was the entertainment community Communists like Mr. Kazan (and for a intertwined with the accusations of brief period, Mr. Miller himself, 60 witchcraft against Proctors wife). But even before the play was written, although he never fully joined the party) Mr. Miller was denounced for his 110 were not conscious agents of an metaphor. He had stopped off at the international monolithic conspiracy to home of his friend and colleague Elia overthrow the Government by force and violence; they were, for the most part, Kazan, who had directed Mr. Millers do-gooders, who thought—misguidedly, two previous prize-winning hits, “All My most of them later concluded—that the Sons” and “Death of a Salesman,” and Communist Party was the best agency who had been subpoenaed to appear to do something about the depression before the House Committee on and racism at home and fascism abroad. 70 Un-American Activities (where he As it turned out, despite mixed ultimately named names). 120 notices for The Crucible, over the years They went for a walk in the it was to become Arthur Miller’s most Connecticut woods and discussed Mr. performed play, with productions in Kazan’s dilemma. On the one hand to China, Poland, Britain, high schools and be an informer was unpalatable, but repertory theaters throughout the world. on the other, as Mr. Kazan put it at Now The Crucible is a $25 million the time, “Secrecy serves the motion picture, under the aegis of 20th Communists.” Q Century Fox. In his memoir Timebends, Mr. Miller Although the playwright in Mr. 80 wrote that he was half inside his car Miller was originally drawn to think when Molly, Kazan’s wife, “came out 130 about the political and moral pressures and asked if I was staying at my house, of the domestic cold war years, when half an hour away, and I said that I was I asked him about the applicability of on my way to Salem. She instantly the play to the here and now he said: understood what my destination meant, “I have had immense confidence in and her eyes widened in sudden the applicability of the play to almost apprehension and possible anger. ‘You’re any time, the reason being it’s dealing not going to equate witches with this!’ with a paranoid situation. But that Later, Mr. Kazan reported his wife’s situation doesn’t depend on any 90 views in his own memoir, A Life. particular political or sociological “What’s going on here and now is not to be compared with the witch trials 140 development. I wrote it blind to the world. The enemy is within, and within of that time,” she said. “Those witches stays within, and we can’t get out of did not exist. Communists do. Here and within. It’s always on the edge of our everywhere in the world. It’s a false minds that behind what we see is a parallel. Witch hunt! The phrase would nefarious plot.” Q indicate that there are no Communists
Q
HISTORICAL CONTEXT Reread lines 11-77. In light of his comment, would you say that Elia Kazan took McCarthy’s mission seriously? Explain.
Q HISTORICAL CONTEXT Given her husband’s role in the McCarthy hearings, why do you think Molly Kazan might have objected to Miller's comparison between HUAC and Salem?
Q HISTORICAL CONTEXT Reread M iller’s final comments in lines 133-144. In the end, how would you describe his feelings about the comparison between the Salem trials and the McCarthy hearings?
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TIMEBENDS by Arthur Miller
HISTORICAL CONTEXT Reread lines 1-17. What details indicate the significance for him of finding Starkey’s book?
Q HISTORICAL CONTEXT What parallels does Miller identify between the hearings in Washington and the Salem witch trials?
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I had known about the Salem witchcraft phenomenon since my American history class at Michigan, but it had remained in mind as one of those inexplicable mystifications of the long-dead past when people commonly believed that the spirit could leave the body, palpably and visibly. My mother might believe it still, if only in one corner of her mind, and I 10 suspected that there were a lot of other people who, like me, were secretly open to suggestion. As though it had been ordained, a copy of Marion Starkey’s book The Devil in Massachusetts fell into Miller at his typewriter in 1959 my hands, and the bizarre story came back as I had recalled it, but this time in remarkably well-organized detail. Q At first I rejected the idea of a play on the subject. My own rationality was too strong, I thought, to really allow me to capture this wildly irrational outbreak. A 20 drama cannot merely describe an emotion, it has to become that emotion. But gradually, over weeks, a living connection between myself and Salem, and between Salem and Washington, was made in my mind—for whatever else they might be, I saw that the hearings in Washington were profoundly and even avowedly ritualistic. After all, in almost every case the Committee knew in advance what they wanted the witness to give them; the names of his comrades in the Party. The FBI had long since infiltrated the Party, and informers had long ago identified the participants in various meetings. The main point of the hearings, precisely as in seventeenth-century Salem, was that the accused make public confession, damn his confederates as well as his Devil master, and guarantee his sterling new allegiance by breaking disgusting old 30 vows—whereupon he was let loose to rejoin the society of extremely decent people. In other words, the same spiritual nugget lay folded within both procedures—an act of contrition done not in solemn privacy but out in the public air. The Salem prosecution was actually on more solid legal ground since the defendant, if guilty of familiarity with the Unclean One, had broken a law against the practice of witchcraft, a civil as well as a religious offense; whereas the offender against HUAC (House UnAmerican Activities Committee) could not be accused of any such violation but only of a spiritual crime, subservience to a political enemy’s desires and ideology. He was summoned before the Committee to be called a bad name, but one that could destroy his career. Q
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Reading fo r Information
Comprehension 1. Recall What was Senator McCarthy’s mission? 2. Recall What kinds of professionals were targeted by McCarthy’s accusations? 3. Recall What was the catalyst for Miller’s interest in the Salem witch trials?
Critical Analysis 4. Evaluate Statements Considering the historical context of The Crucible and Arthur Miller’s own comments in Timebends, do you think Miller was really “ blind to the world" when he wrote The Crucible? Support your opinion. 5. Evaluate the Role of Historical Context In your opinion, is knowing The Crucible’s historical context necessary to understand the playwright’s message? Explain.
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Read for Information: Synthesize
A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
READING/RESEARCH STANDARDS
W RITING PROMPT Think about the social and political conditions of the tim e during which Arthur Miller was writing The Crucible. In what ways has looking through this historical lens colored your understanding of the play? In developing your new analysis, support your thesis with information from the articles you have just read and details from the play.
3 Read with comprehension informational and functional reading materials 12 Document and present information to support a thesis
To answer this prompt, follow these steps: 1. In a sentence or two, summarize how this historical information has added to
or changed your understanding of the play. Consider using this summary as your thesis statement.
2. In your notes, identify elements of the play that you now view differently. How has your sense of these elements changed? For example, are there things you now see more clearly? Does the play seem more or less interesting? Note the historical details that caused you to think differently.
3. Using your thesis statement and notes, write a brief essay in which you explain how learning about the historical context of The Crucible affected your appreciation and understanding of the play.
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Media Study
Film Clip on (o ) MediaSmart dvd
From Page to Screen The Crucible is considered a modern classic of the American theater. Surprisingly, no one attempted a film version of the work in English until 1996,43 years after the play’s debut. In this lesson, view a scene from the film version to explore Arthur Miller’s timeless tale in a different medium from the one originally intended.
The Filmmakers’ Challenge Translating a well-known play to the big screen poses a number of challenges for filmmakers. Writing the screenplay, perhaps the biggest hurdle, was made a little easier in the case of The Crucible. Arthur Miller adapted his own work and took an active role in the film’s production. The playwright, consulting with the film’s director, was able to take certain liberties. He could choose where a scene took place and weave in scenes not found in the original play. “ I did some rewriting during production to take advantage of opportunities we had with this wonderful Hog Island [Massachusetts] location,” Miller recalls. Over the past five decades, The
On the set, Daniel Day-Lewis with Arthur Miller
Crucible’s themes have reached far beyond the era and country in which the play was created. As Miller points out, the play’s themes “find [their] relevance in every culture. I knew a woman imprisoned for six years under the [Chinese] Mao regime She told me that when she saw The Crucible in Shanghai she couldn’t believe that a non-Chinese had written it, because the interrogations in The Crucible had been precisely the interrogations she had endured under the Cultural Revolution.” .......
mm
Comparing Texts: Dialogue In taking his play from the page to the screen, Arthur Miller had to make certain decisions about how much of the original dialogue he would retain. During production, actors and directors will often make changes to the dialogue to fine-tune a scene. Compare the dialogue from the play with the dialogue that appears in the film. Notice Miller’s stage direction in the text and how actor Daniel Day-Lewis, in the role of John Proctor, interprets it. I
Danforth
sign it?
(with suspicion). It is the same, is it not? If I report it or you
I
Proctor (he knows
it is insane). No, it is not the same! W hat others say and what I sign is not the same! 5 Danforth. Why? Do you mean to deny this confession when you are free? Proctor. I mean to deny nothing! Danforth. Then explain to me, Mr. Proctor, why you will not let— Proctor (with a cry o f his whole soul). Because it is my name! Because I can not have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am 10 not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
Viewing Guide (o)MediaSmart dvd • Film: The Crucible
• Director: Nicholas Hytner • Genre: Drama • Running Time: 5 m inutes
N O W V IE W CLOSE VIEWING: Media Analysis 1.
does moving the setting affect (or not affect) the scene? 2.
In the clip from The Crucible, the character John Proctor has finally agreed to sign a false confession that will save him from death. Plan on viewing the clip several times. To help you analyze the dialogue and performance, refer
Analyze Setting In the play, this scene is set in jail. How
Compare Dialogue Compare the dialogue from the play with the dialogue in the movie. Why do you think Miller changed some of his original dialogue for the movie?
3.
Evaluate Actor’s Performance Read the stage direction the playwright included for Proctor’s speech. Do you think the actor playing Proctor succeeded in portraying “a cry of his whole soul”? Cite evidence from the scene to support your opinion.
to the questions.
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Reading fo r Information MOVIE REVIEW Rolling Stone magazine reviewed Nicholas Hytner’s film adaptation of The Crucible in 1996.
|[ REVIEW 1|
^ T h e
t i i
Crucible Peter Travers Director Nicholas Hytner with cast
rthur Miller is the first to admit that The Crucible must stand on its own. The playwright, now 81, sat near me at a screening of the film, unwittingly intimidating all around him. For the Pulitzer Prize— winning author of Death o f a Salesman, attention must be paid. Miller asked for none of it. He talked with boyish zest of working with director Nicholas Hytner on re-crafting The Crucible as a $25 million film that would allow startling imagery to resonate with his language and burst the bounds of the stage. Does it ever. The Crucible, despite some damaging cuts to the text, is a seductively exciting film that crackles with visual energy, passionate provocation and incendiary acting. . . . The great Paul Scofield is triumphant, avoiding the easy caricature of Danforth as a fanatic. He brings the role something new: wit. We laugh with this judge, which heightens the horror later when he blinds himself to truth in the name of God and his own ambition. The scene in which he ignores Rev. Hale (Rob Campbell), who knows the girls are faking, and bullies the servant Mary Warren (Karron Graves) into delusion and madness chills the blood.
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As the unforgiving wife whose “justice would freeze beer,” in the words of her husband, Joan Allen is an absolute stunner in an award-caliber performance that is also a surprising source of warmth. By the seashore, where the pregnant Elizabeth has come to say goodbye to her condemned husband, she tells John, “I once counted myself so plain, so poorly made, that no honest love could come to me.” Elizabeth’s scene of tender reconciliation is the film’s moral core. John need only sign a false confession of witchcraft to save himself from the gallows. Of course, he won’t. “Because it is my name,” he tells Danforth simply. “Because I cannot have another in my life.” In the film’s most complex role, Daniel Day-Lewis performs with quiet power. Playing nobility can make actors insufferable, but Day-Lewis keeps John Proctor human even when saddled with smudgy makeup and fake brown teeth for his final scene. The Crucible, for all its timely denunciation of persecution masked as piety . . . comes down to individual resistance and how you search your heart to find it. The years haven’t softened the rage against self-betrayal in The Crucible. This stirring film lets you feel the heat of Miller’s argument and the urgent power of his kick.
Wrap-Up: The Puritan Tradition
The Puritan Legacy In the minds of some, Puritanism is a thing of the past— an outmoded collection of beliefs from a dour and oddly-dressed group of people. Yet others insist that the spiritual, social, and cultural principles fostered by Puritanism are stubbornly present, in one way or another, in American society today. Somewhere in the middle of this debate are literary historians Richard Ruland and Malcolm Bradbury, who insist: “ Puritans considered many of the literary questions we still ask today; they answered them differently.”
Writing to Analyze We can all agree that the Puritan style of dress is out of fashion, but are Puritan ideas also outmoded? Consider these “ literary questions” discussed in the selections you have just read:
What is true love? Why do bad things happen to good people? How can faith sustain us? How can people best serve God? Are people worthy? Are people basically good or bad? In a brief essay, explain whether you think these questions are outmoded, still relevant today, or a mixture of the two. Give specific examples from current books, television programs, or movies to support your opinions.
Consider • each of the above questions carefully. Can you think of a current book, movie, or TV show that explores that question? • the general thrust of today’s popular culture. As a whole, what types of themes and questions do today’s authors and producers seem to focus on?
The Puritan (1883-1886), Augustus SaintGaudens. Bronze figure. Private collection. © Art Resource, New York.
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r Literary Analysis Workshop
Persuasive Rhetoric How do you persuade someone to change his or her mind? Persuasion is built on the power of words—the types of words that grab your attention, keep you riveted, and finally influence what you think. Persuasive rhetoric is the art of using language to argue effectively for or against a set of beliefs or course of action, and to convince others to adopt a position or act in a certain way
a
A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
A Cause for Argument
READING & LANGUAGE STANDARDS
America’s history of persuasive rhetoric
3 Read with comprehension informational materials, including strengths/weaknesses of argument 9 Analyze for parallelism in selections
began with the impassioned pleas of statesmen, writers, and orators who held strong beliefs about the future direction of the colonized states. In the early days of the developing country, freedom— from tyranny,from taxes, and from censorship— was vigorously debated. Several writings, such as Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence (page 236), were not only official state documents, but also wellcrafted arguments that would set the foundation for democracy in the United States. In designing their arguments, statesmen
A 1792 British caricature of Thomas Paine, who was ridiculed in England for his appeal to overthrow the monarchy
like Jefferson,Thomas Paine, and Patrick Henry used the basic elements of an argument (see sidebar on page 223), framed them in a variety of structures, and dressed them with persuasive rhetoric to build strong, eloquent cases. The way ideas are organized in an argument can be
key to its persuasive power. A writer can develop an argument deductively, by beginning with a generalization, or premise, and proceeding to marshal examples and facts that support it (as in the Declaration of Independence), or inductively, by beginning with examples or facts and proceeding to draw a conclusion from them.
The Power of Language To be effective, a persuasive work should engage both the minds and the emotions of its audience. A writer may therefore use some words to arouse emotions and other words to develop sound reasoning. However, it is not the words alone that are persuasive, but how the words are put together that gives them power and strength. These persuasive techniques fall into three basic types.
• Logical appeals rely on logic and facts to support a claim. For example, “ injuries and usurpations” committed by King George III are cited as evidence for the need for independence in the Declaration of Independence.
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BA SICS OF AN A R G U M EN T • Emotional appeals present ideas and images that elicit strong feelings. For example, Jefferson's statement that King George is attempting “to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny” would likely evoke a strong reaction from its audience.
• Ethical appeals use values or moral standards that are widely accepted as a way to persuade an audience. For example, to call forth his audience’s sense of right, justice, and virtue, Jefferson reminded people that independence was a last resort, after the failure of other measures: “ In
r To be effective, an argument should include • a claim, or clear statement of a position on an issue • support for the claim,
which consists of reasons and evidence • counterarguments, or
every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”
statements that anticipate and refute opposing views • sound logic and effective language
In addition to persuasive techniques, writers will often use rhetorical devices to enhance their arguments:
• aj:onclusion that sums
up the reasons or the call for action
• A rhetorical question is a question that does not require a reply. Writers use rhetorical questions to suggest that the answer to the question is obvious or self-evident. In her letter to her husband, John Adams (page 258), Abigail Adams writes, “ Shall we not be despised by foreign powers, for hesitating so long at a word?”
• Antithesis is a device in which contrasting ideas are expressed in a grammatically balanced statement. Notice the juxtaposition of ideas in this phrase from Thomas Paine’s “The Crisis” (page 246): “ I call not upon a few, but upon all.”
• Repetition is the use of the same word or phrase more than once for emphasis. Parallelism, a form of repetition in which a grammatical pattern is repeated, is used effectively in this famous passage from the Declaration of Independence.
Close Read
We hold these truths to be self-evident:—That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. —Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence
In this passage, note the parallel clauses beginning with that. What is the effect of this parallel structure?
Rhetorical devices and persuasive techniques can be used to create arguments that are valid and sincere or artificial and insincere. It is up to the reader or listener to evaluate whether the argument is based on sound reasoning, and therefore credible and convincing, or whether the words and appeals are the sole strength of the argument.
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Writers o f the Revolution
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Speech in the Virginia Convention
READING & LANGUAGE STANDARDS
by Patrick Henry
3 Read with comprehension informational materials 9 Analyze for parallelism in selections
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NOTABLE QUOTE
“I f this be treason, make the most o f it. ” FYI Did you know that Patrick H e n ry ... • had 16 children— 6 by his first wife, who died, and then 10 by his second wife? • owned slaves? • advocated the right to bear arm s later guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution? • strongly supported states’ rights?
Author On|ine For more on Patrick Henry, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
Virginia House of Burgesses
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Hi
Patrick Henry 1 7 3 6 -1 7 9 9
Known as “the Orator of Liberty,” Patrick Henry made a name for himself with his speeches supporting American democracy. He was one of the earliest opponents of British rule in the American colonies. In 1765, after the British Parliament passed a tax bill called the Stamp Act, Henry was among the members of the Virginia legislature that challenged the legality of a British tax on the colonies. But he went farther than his colleagues by making a threat against the king. In his argument, so the story goes, he used a loaded analogy: “Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George III . . .”—at this point, shouts of “Treason!” erupted in the hall, but Henry continued—“may profit by their example.” He ended his speech with the defiant words, “If this be treason, make the most of it.” Henry did indeed make the most of his “treason,” becoming a tireless and influential leader both before and after the Revolution.
Profitable Law Career Henry was born in Virginia to a prosperous landowner. His father, who had attended the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, gave him a classical education at home. His mother, Sarah Winston Syme, was from a wealthy family. Henry went out on his own at age 15. Although smart and industrious, he couldn’t find success as a storekeeper or later as a tobacco planter. After marrying and starting a family, he decided to teach himself law, and in 1760, at the age of 24, he was admitted to the bar. Henry’s eloquence, quick wit, and rhetorical gifts served him well, and his law practice grew increasingly profitable. Popular Virginia Politician Henry is best known for his fervent “Speech in the Virginia Convention,” which narrowly convinced the assembled leadership to prepare for war with Britain. In addition, he organized a Virginia militia that became part of the new Continental Army after independence was declared. He helped write the new state constitution and the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was a major influence on the Bill of Rights added to the U.S. Constitution. He also served several terms as governor of Virginia and as a state legislator. Although President Washington offered him positions as secretary of state and Supreme Court justice, Henry declined and always remained suspicious of the federal government. In 1799, after being elected again to the state legislature, he died at his 700-acre plantation, Red Hill, before he could take office.
• LITERARY AN ALYSIS: RHETORICAL DEVICES
Explore the Key Idea
Rhetorical devices are structures within language that help communicate ideas.
When is it tim e to
• A rhetorical question is a question to which no answer is expected. (But when shall we be stronger?)
TAKE ACTION?
• Antithesis expresses contrasting ideas in parallel grammatical structures. (Give me liberty, or give me death!) • Repetition is the recurrence of words, phrases, or lines.
(Let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!)
• Parallelism is a kind of repetition in which words or phrases in the same grammatical form connect ideas. (Is life so dear, or peace so sweet ...) As you read Henry’s speech, be on the lookout for rhetorical devices and how they might have affected his audience.
■ READING STRATEGY: READING A PERSUASIVE SPEECH When reading a persuasive speech, imagine the techniques the speaker used to bring the speech to life, such as word emphasis, changes in pace, pauses, and changes in volume. As you read, use a chart like the one shown to record how you would emphasize certain passages if you were Patrick Henry. Paragraph/Une Numbers
KEY IDEA
Whether it’s the winning shot in the final seconds of the game, the right moment to ask someone out, or the decision to accept a job offer— timing is everything. In the spring of 1775, Patrick Henry had had enough of compromise with the British; it was time for armed resistance. His address to the Virginia Convention turned out to be a decisive moment not only in his own life but in the life of the United States as well.
DISCUSS With a partner, think of examples from sports, politics, or everyday life when the time was right for decisive action. Then, for one example, analyze why it was the right action at the right time.
Technique.
Paragraph /(lines H 4 )
HI
i
A VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT Use context clues to write a definition of each boldfaced word.
1. Martial Speech Sets Stage for War 2. Subjugation by Britain Called Unacceptable 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
1
Exam ple o f Decisive, A d i on •
r 1
I
2 :J
sjj *
Reasons T h a t “the Ttme Was Right-
British Claims Said Not to Comport with Facts Colonists to Remonstrate with Governor Against Taxes Never Supinely Accept Tyranny, Henry Says
^* S '1 ~1
Invincible Patriot Army Will Repel Attacks Insidious Spies Reveal Patriots’ Plans Nothing Can Extenuate Tory Traitors Citizens Told to Be Vigilant America Must Remain Inviolate
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S p e e c h in t h e
Virginia Convention Patrick Henry
A N A LYZE V IS U A LS This painting shows Patrick Henry speaking to the Virginia House of Burgesses. What different attitudes are reflected in the faces and postures of his audience members?
B A C K G R O U N D In the spring of 1775, delegates from the state of Virginia could not
agree whether to press for a peaceful solution with Britain or to prepare for war. Patrick Henry introduced resolutions calling for military preparedness. After politely listening to his colleagues’ objections to armed rebellion, he rose to deliver this impassioned appeal.
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March 23, 1775 Mr. President:1 No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope that it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony The question before the House is one of awful moment2 to this country. For my own part I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a ©
R H E T O R IC A L D E V IC E S Reread lines 1-11. What are some examples of antithesis and what kind of emphasis does it create?
1. Mr. President: the president of the Virginia Convention, Peyton Randolph. 2 . of awful moment: of very grave importance.
Patrick Henry Before the Virginia House o f Burgesses (1851),
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Peter F. Rothermel. Red Hill, The Patrick Henry National Memorial, Brookneal, Virginia.
time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty towards the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. Q Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts.3 Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not,4 the things which so nearly concern 20 their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth—to know the worst and to provide for it. Q I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss.5 Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these 30 warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation— the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motives for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry 40 have been so long forging. Q And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer on the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. 0
3. the illusions of hope . . . into beasts: In the Odyssey of Homer, the goddess Circe lures men to her island and then magically transforms them into pigs. Henry suggests that the “illusions of hope” may transform people in a similar way. 4. having ey e s. .. hear not: an allusion to Ezekiel 12:2 in the Bible, which speaks of "who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not." 5. betrayed w ith a kiss: an allusion to Luke 22 :47-48 in the Bible, wherein Judas betrayed Jesus to the Roman soldiers by kissing him and thus identifying him.
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Q
P E R S U A S IV E SPEECH Henry speaks respectfully of those with whom he disagrees in lines 1-14 . What words might be vocally emphasized to show respect?
Q
R H E T O R IC A L D E V IC E S What rhetorical device, besides a rhetorical question, is on display in lines 18 -21? What point is he making about those who don’t want to fight? insidious (Tn-sTd'e-as) adj. treacherous comport (kam-port') v. to agree subjugation (sub'ja-ga'shan) n. control
by conquering martial (mar'shal) adj. warlike
©
R H E T O R IC A L D E V IC E S Reread lines 29-40 , answering each of the rhetorical questions. How is a listener likely to respond to Henry’s final statements in lines 37-40?
§
GRAM M AR AND STYLE Reread lines 43-46. Notice the use of declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences.
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The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in. . . Boston on M arch 5th, 1770 (1770), Paul Revere. Colored engraving. Private collection. /Art Resource, New York.
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Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition6 to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope.
remonstrate (rT-mon'strat') v. to object; to protest strongly
6. we have prostrated . .. interposition: We have thrown ourselves at the feet of the king and have begged
for intervention.
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If we wish to be free—if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending— if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest 60 shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak— unable to cope with so formidable an adversary But when shall we be stronger? W ill it be the next week, or the next year? W ill it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God 70 of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone;7 it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election.8 If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come! Q 80 It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! peace!”— but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north9 will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! Q
7. b a ttle . ..strong alone: an allusion to Ecclesiastes 9:11 in the Bible,‘‘the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." 8. election: choice.
9. the next gale . .. north: Some colonists in Massachusetts had already shown open resistance to the British and were on the brink of war.
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inviolate (Tn-vT'a-ITt) adj. not violated; intact
supinely (soo-pln'le) adv. in a manner with the face upward invincible (Tn-vTn'se-bol)
adj. unbeatable vigilant (vTj'e-lant) adj. alert; watchful Q
R H E T O R IC A L D E V IC E S W hy do you think Henry repeats the word sir so often in this paragraph? Explain the likely effect of this repetition as well as that of the phrase "let it come!” extenuate (Tk-sten'yoo-at') v. to
lessen the seriousness of, especially by providing partial excuses
Q
P E R S U A S IV E SPEECH How might the speaker’s pace and emphasis have changed over the course of the speech? How might his audience have responded to these changes? Explain.
After Reading
Comprehension
A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
a
1. Recall What does Patrick Henry urge the colonists to do?
READING STANDARD
2. Paraphrase Reread lines 22-28. What methods had the colonists already
2.a Explaining use of allusions
used to express their complaints against the British?
3. Clarify How did the British respond to those complaints?
Literary Analysis 4. Analyze a Persuasive Speech Look back at the chart you filled in as you read. Choose a section of Henry’s speech to read aloud as he might have delivered it. How effective are the techniques you plan to use? Explain why you think so.
5. Analyze Persuasive Strategy Henry spends most of his speech arguing against hope, ordinarily not the best tactic when trying to inspire an audience. How does he manage to discredit hope? Why would he do this?
6. Interpret Allusions Review the following allusions to the Odyssey and the Bible that Henry uses in his speech. How does each allusion support the point Henry makes in the paragraph? • Odyssey, lines 15-17
• Bible, line 28
• Bible, lines 18-19
* Bible, lines 74-75
7. Evaluate Appeals How does Henry convince his audience that the decisive moment to fight is at hand? In a chart, summarize his reasons. Then, beside each, note whether he appeals mainly to logic or emotion. Which reasons are strongest? Explain.
8. Make Judgments About Rhetorical Devices Review the rhetorical devices discussed on page 225. Which devices occur most frequently in Henry’s speech? Do
Reasons to Fight
Logical or tmotional
1. If we iA/ant to be free and keep the. rights and privileges we have. grown accustomed to, we have to fight, (lines
logical
5 6 -6 1) Z.
you think this is an effective way to communicate, or do you find it manipulative? Cite examples from the text to support your answer.
Literary Criticism 9. Different Perspectives Imagine that the following people heard Henry’s speech from the visitor’s gallery. How might each have reacted, and why? • the wife of one of the delegates
• aclergyman
• a farmer whose parents live in England
• an African enslaved in
• a member of the Virginia militia
the colony
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Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE Decide whether these statements about the vocabulary words are true or false.
1. A good way to remonstrate with someone is to plan a picnic with that person.
2. 3. 4. 5.
An invincible chess champion is one who has not been beaten. A statue that is lying supinely is lying face down. A vigilant guard usually takes naps while on duty. Circumstances that extenuate a bad decision are those that make it worse.
6. A country that is overrun by armies from another land is experiencing
subjugation. 7. An insidious person is unlikely to express her opinions openly. 8. A vase that has broken into several pieces may be described as inviolate. 9. A martial gathering is one that is organized by peace demonstrators. 10. If two versions of a story comport with each other, they are in agreement.
WORD LIST comport extenuate insidious invincible inviolate martial remonstrate subjugation supinely vigilant
VOCABULARY IN W RITING Imagine you were in the audience when Patrick Henry gave his speech. Using at least three vocabulary words, write a short explanation of why you agree or disagree with his views. Here is a sample beginning. EX A M P LE SE N T EN C E
I cannot agree, w ith lAr. Henri/ th at government by our mother country can be considered subjugation
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: WORDS FROM GODS AND M YTHOLOGY A number of English words are formed from the names of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. Usually the meanings of these words are closely related to some characteristic the deity was known for. The vocabulary word martial, for example, is derived from Mars, the name of the Roman god of war.
PRACTICE For each numbered word, write a sentence that shows its meaning. Use a dictionary if you need help. Then write a short explanation connecting each word’s meaning to the deity whose name it is derived from.
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1. saturnine
4 . nemesis
2. mercurial
5. cupidity
3. jovial
6. bacchanalian
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&
VO CABU LARY P R A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
□
Reading-Writing Connection
S K ILL S PRA C TICE
W R IT IN G P R O M PT
SELF-C H EC K
COMPOSE A PERSUASIVE SPEECH Patrick Henry’s fam ous speech is a classic exam ple of effective oratory, the art of public speaking. Using Henry’s speech as a model, w rite a three-to-five paragraph persuasive speech on a topic you feel strongly about.
A persuasive speech will... • present a clear argum ent • cite reasons and other evidence • use rhetorical devices • close w ith a strong statem ent
G R A M M A R A N D STYLE
VARY SENTENCE TYPES Review the Grammar and Style note on page 228. Part of Henry’s style is to vary his sentences among the four basic types:
A LA B A M A STA N D A R D S
a
WRITING/LANGUAGE STANDARD
• Declarative, which expresses a statement of fact, desire, intent, or feeling and
8.a Using a variety of sentence patterns
ends with a period. This is no time fo r ceremony, (line 6) • Interrogative, which asks a question and ends with a question mark. Shall we
try argument? (line 41) • Imperative, which gives a command, request, or direction and ends usually with a period but sometimes for emphasis with an exclamation point. Trust it
not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet, (lines 27-28) • Exclamatory, which expresses strong emotions and always ends with an exclamation point. I repeat it, sir, we must fight! (line 60) Henry’s skillful use of sentence variety is emotionally expressive and compelling. It not only creates an interesting melody, but also keeps the reader engaged by calling for frequent shifts in the reader’s internal responses.
PRACTICE The following excerpt is taken from Henry’s speech. For each sentence in the exercise, identify the type of sentence, and then compose your own sentence following the pattern in Henry’s original. The example illustrates how. EX A M P LE
The war is actually begun! W& won
gemd
(1) The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! (2) Our brethren are already in the field! (3) Why stand we here idle? (4) What is it that gentlemen wish? (5) What would they have? (6) Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? (7) Forbid it, Almighty God!
W RITING TOOLS For prewriting, revision, and editing tools, visit the Writing Center at ClassZone.com.
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a
READING STANDARD
'j
3 Read with comprehension informational materials, including recognizing organizational patterns, evaluating argument
The Declaration of Independence Public Document by Thomas Jefferson
practiced successfully before entering politics at age 26. As a member of the colonial Virginia legislature, he fell in with a group of radicals, among them Patrick Henry. Lacking Henry’s oratorical gifts, Jefferson distinguished himself by his legal writing. Significantly, Jefferson’s indelible mark on American life came largely from the many legal documents and laws he wrote promoting democracy.
V___________________ NOTABLE QUOTE
“All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights o f men. ” FYI Did you know that Thomas Jefferson... • played the violin? • was an am ateur inventor? • developed the policy of the separation of church and state? • favored the rights of the states over the federal government? • died on July 4, the same day as his friend and political rival, John Adam s?
Author On|ine For more on Thomas Jefferson, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
Jefferson’s home at Monticello
Thomas Jefferson 1 7 4 3 -1 8 2 6
Thomas Jefferson was one of the most accomplished founding fathers. Active in the cause for independence, he was governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War and U.S. minister to France afterward. He also served the new country as the first secretary of state, the second vice-president, and the third president. As president, he acquired the vast Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, essentially doubling the size of the country. But more important than any political office he held was the lasting impact of Jefferson’s ideals of liberty and selfgovernment so eloquently expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Brilliant Legal Mind The son of a surveyor and gentleman farmer, Jefferson was born into a life of privilege in rural Virginia. Educated at the College of William and Mary, he was tutored in the law and
Passion for Learning Jefferson had an insatiable curiosity about the world and often indulged in what he called his “canine appetite for reading.” In addition to devouring works on the classics, history, law, science, and philosophy, he taught himself architecture from books. He designed his elaborate estate at Monticello and the buildings of the University of Virginia, which he also founded as the embodiment of his principles of education and individual freedom. The Issue of Slavery Charges of hypocrisy on the issue of slavery have tarnished Jefferson’s image as the “apostle of liberty.” In his early writings, he denounced slavery and tried unsuccessfully to include the issue in the Declaration. Yet Jefferson always owned slaves—as many as 600 over the course of his lifetime—and in later years, he remained undecided on this issue. A Quintessential American Jefferson’s problematic stand on slavery mirrored the nation’s, which took a long time to rectify. In the end, Jefferson was a man of his time who had a noble vision for the country and the genius to articulate it, even though he did not always live up to his ideals.
Explore the Key Idea Jefferson’s emphasis in the Declaration of Independence was on the logical argument to be made for independence. An argument expresses an opinion on an issue and supports it with reasons and evidence. Three important parts of an argument are
• the claim: the writer’s position on an issue or problem • support: reasons and evidence provided to prove a claim • counterargument: arguments to answer opposing views As you read, look for these elements of an argument.
When is REBELLION justified'? Many young people harbor a spirit of rebellion— against parents, teachers, bosses, rules, or any situation KEY IDEA
that “just isn’t fair!’’ But how often do you attempt to explain your rebellion
1. a preamble, or foreword, that announces the reason for the document
logically? In June of 1776, Thomas Jefferson and other colonial leaders had decided to rebel against British rule. But they needed to justify their dangerous action— to themselves, to the king, and to the world.
2. a declaration of people’s natural rights and relationship
DISCUSS In a small group, think of several
READING SKILL: ANALYZE TEXT STRUCTURE The Declaration of Independence has four main parts:
situations in which an individual or a group
to government
3. a long list of complaints against George III, the British king 4. a conclusion that formally states America’s independence
rebelled against a perceived injustice. The situations could be any of the following: • local— an incident in your school or
As you read, use a chart such as the one shown to indicate the line numbers for each part, as well as a brief summary of each.
—— — _ _ _ _ -
— _ ——
1
P a rt
SuM/mry
I Preamble. lines 1-6
When one group o f people have to form -their own government, rt is necessary to explain why.
community, for example • global— such as demonstrations against global trade policies • historical— such as the American, French, or Russian revolutions Then, as a group, evaluate the reasons for each rebellion and explain which ones you
A v o c a b u l a r y in c o n t e x t Match each vocabulary word in the first column with the word or phrase in the second column that is closest in meaning.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
abdicate arbitrary despotism impel mercenary perfidy rectitude redress
a. b. c. d. e. f.
correction integrity treachery abandon drive erratic
g- a taking over h. hired soldier
unalienable
i. tyranny
usurpation
j- unchangeable
think are justified.
The
Declaration
*Independence Thomas Jefferson
B A C K G R O U N D In September 1774,56 delegates met in Philadelphia at the First
A N A LYZE V ISU A LS This is an original copy of the Declaration. What might be some of the advantages of having the whole document appear on one large sheet of paper?
Continental Congress to draw up a declaration of colonial rights. They agreed to reconvene in May 1775 if their demands weren’t met. At this Second Continental Congress.Thomas Jefferson joined Benjamin Franklin and John Adams on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. The task of writing it fell to Jefferson. Although Congress made many changes to the list of grievances, Jefferson’s declaration of rights remained untouched— an abiding testament to "self-evident” truths for the nation and the world.
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In Congress, July 4, 1776 When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. © We hold these truths to be self-evident:—That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly,
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impel (Tm-pel') v. to drive forward; force Q
ARGU M ENT What claim does Jefferson present in the preamble of the Declaration and what support does he say he will provide? unalienable (un-al'ya-na-bsl) adj.
not to be taken away (Today the usual form is inalienable.)
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all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing 20 invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity that constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain1 is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid .world. © ( h e has refused his assent to laws2 the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. Q * * 30 He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless these people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature—a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measure. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly 40 firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population3 of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws 50 for establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices,4 and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.5
1. the present King of Great Britain: George III, who reigned from 1760 to 1820 . 2. refused his assent to laws: Laws passed in the colonies needed the king's approval; sometimes it took years for laws to be approved or rejected. 3. to prevent the population: to keep the population from growing. 4. the tenure of their offices: their job security. 5. eat out their substance: use up their resources.
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U N I T l : EARLY A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
usurpation
(yoo'sar-pa'shan) n. the act of w rongfully taking over a right or power that belongs to someone else despotism (des'pa-tTz'am)
n. governm ent by a ruler w ith unlim ited power ©
A RG U M EN T
W hat counterargument does Jefferson anticipate in lines 15 -2 2 ? W hat claim does he make at the end of this paragraph and w hat does he say he is about to do? Q
TEXT STRU C TU RE
W hy m ight the list of com plaints make up the largest part of the fourpart structure?
Declaration o f Independence in Congress, at the Independence Hall, Philadelphia, fu ly 4, 1776 (1819), John Trumbull. Oil on canvas. The Granger Collection, New York.
60
70
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions,6 and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation: 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; For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; For imposing taxes on us without our consent; For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury; For transporting us beyond the seas, to be tried for pretended offenses; For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province,7 establishing there an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies; For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments; For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. Q
arbitrary (ar'bT-trer'e) adj.
based on unpredictable decisions rather than law
Q
TEXT STRUC TU RE
Reread lines 5 9 -7 6 . W hat is the significance of the item ized list of examples in lines 6 2 -7 6 ?
6. subject u s .. . our constitutions: Parliament had passed the Declaratory Act in 1766 , stating that the king
and Parliament could make laws for the colonies. 7. a neighboring province: the province of Quebec, which at the time extended south to the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi.
TH E DECLARATION OF IN D E P E N D E N C E
239
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns,8 and destroyed 80 the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrection amongst us,9 and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule 90 of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common 100 kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. ^ They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.10 We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation; and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. Q We, T h e r e f o r e , t h e R e p r e s e n t a t iv e s o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s o f A m e r ic a , in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved 110 from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And, for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Q
8 . plundered .. .our towns: American seaports such as Norfolk, Virginia, had already been shelled.
9. excited . .. amongst us: George III had encouraged slaves to rise up and rebel against their masters. 10. deaf t o ... consanguinity: The British have ignored pleas based on their common ancestry with the colonists.
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v. to give up responsibility for
abdicate (ab'dT-kat')
mercenary (mur'se-ner'e)
n. a professional soldier hired to figh t in a foreign arm y perfidy (pur'fT-de) n. treachery
redress (rT-dres') n. the correction of a wrong; com pensation
Q
G R A M M A R A N D STYLE Reread lines 9 8 -10 1. Notice how Jefferson uses a compound-complex sentence, w hich has two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses, in order to show the complex relationships between ideas.
Q
ARG UM EN T
W hat objections does Jefferson appear to be anticipating and refuting w ith counterarguments in lines 1 0 2 -10 4 ? rectitude (rek'tT-tood') n. m orally correct behavior or th in kin g
Q
TEXT STRU C TU RE
W hat purpose does the final paragraph serve?
Comprehension 1. Recall Name three complaints that the colonists had against the king.
□
ALABAMA STANDARDS
READING STANDARD
2. Recall What rights are specified in the Declaration?
3 Read informational materials, including recognizing organizational patterns, evaluating argument
3. Clarify What does Jefferson say is the purpose of government? 4. Clarify According to the Declaration, who gives people their rights?
Literary Analysis 5. Draw Conclusions Which set of reasons for breaking away from British rule strikes you as most important, and why? • the colonists’ philosophical ideals • the hardships colonists suffered as a result of British policies • the king’s response to colonists’ complaints
6. Make Inferences The Declaration clearly takes aim at the abuses of King George to justify the colonists’ rebellion. But reread lines 102-104. To what extent does the document hold the British people responsible? What is the new relationship declared between Americans and their "British brethren,” and how might it differ from the old?
7. Analyze Diction What is it about Jefferson’s diction, or word choice and arrangement, that makes the declaration of rights so memorable? Explain the effects of the following words and phrases: • “We hold these truths to be self-evident” (line 7) • “endowed by their Creator” (line 8) • “ unalienable rights” (line 8) • “secure these rights” (lines 9-10) 8. Evaluate Text Structure Review the chart you filled in. How effective is this four-part structure in stating the colonists’ case? Would reordering the parts make any difference? Explain your answer.
9. Evaluate Elements of an Argument Identify the major claim and the support given in the Declaration. In your opinion, is the support sufficient for the claim? Does it have to be? Explain your answer. 10.
Compare Texts Compare Jefferson’s Declaration with Patrick Henry’s speech in terms of the purpose of each.
Literary Criticism 11.
Historical Context Jefferson’s celebrated statement “All men are created equal” only applied to white men at the time. How has the meaning of Jefferson’s statement changed over time? How has it stayed the same?
T H E D ECLA RA TIO N OF IN D E P E N D E N C E
241
Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE
W ORD LIST
Choose the word that is not related in meaning to the other words. 1. (a) disloyalty, (b) perfidy, (c) honesty, (d) treachery 2. (a) surrendering, (b) takeover, (c) commandeering, (d) usurpation 3. (a) despotism, (b) dictatorship, (c) tyranny, (d) righteousness 4 . (a) monarch, (b) ruler, (c) mercenary, (d) king 5. (a) morality, (b) rectitude, (c) virtue, (d) posture
6. (a) redress, (b) model, (c) remedy, (d) compensation
abdicate arbitrary despotism impel m ercenary perfidy rectitude redress
7. (a) abandon, (b) renounce, (c) confiscate, (d) abdicate
unalienable
8. (a) mobilize, (b) impel, (c) propel, (d) restrain
usurpation
9 . (a) tardy, (b) arbitrary, (c) unpredictable, (d) capricious
10. (a) vague, (b) unclear, (c) unalienable, (d) misleading
VOCABULARY IN W RITING Which grievances mentioned by Jefferson seem most serious and offensive? Write a paragraph or two explaining your ideas, using three or more vocabulary words. Here is a sample opening sentence. E X A M P L E SENTENCE
The usurpation o f colonists rights to make, their own laws strikes me as particularly serious.
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: POLITICAL WORDS Many terms are used in speaking of governing systems. Some identify specific types of government; others, like the vocabulary word despotism, describe the practices of a government. It is useful to understand the meaning of such terms.
PRACTICE Choose the political word described by each numbered item. Then use a dictionary to trace the etymology of each word. oligarchy
regency
republic
socialism
to talitarianism
1. a few people have the ruling power 2. a person rules in place of the regular ruler, who may be ill or too young 3. production of goods and services is under the control of government 4 . one political group rules and suppresses all opposition, often with force 5. citizens elect representatives to manage the government
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U N I T l : EARLY A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
j|n V O C A B U L A R Y P R A C T IC E
7
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
_
S K IL L S PR A CTIC E
Reading-Writing Connection
a
W R IT IN G P R O M P T
SELF-C H ECK
TAKE A STAND The D eclaratio n o f In d ep en d ence has
A good declaration w ill...
served as a m odel in several h isto rica l instan ces. W rite
• in clu d e a b rie f d ecla ra tio n o f righ ts
a declaration for a group or in d iv id u a l o f yo u r ch o o sing . Your declaratio n sh o u ld have at least th ree paragraphs and be m odeled on th e D e claratio n o f Indep endence. Feel free to be seriou s or lig h th e arte d in yo u r choice o f topic.
• list at least te n co m p la in ts • co nclu d e w ith a sta te m e n t o f in d ep en d en ce or other resolution
GRAMMAR AND STYLE VARY SENTENCE STRUCTURE Review the Grammar and Style note on page 240. Like most lawyers, who have to be precise as well as thorough, Jefferson uses
complex and compound-complex sentences to pack in meaning.
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
a
WRITING/LANGUAGE STANDARD
8.a Using a variety of sentence
• A complex sentence has one main clause (as in yellow), which can stand alone,
patterns
and one or more subordinate clauses (as in green), which cannot.
A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler o f a free people, (lines 93-94) • A compound-complex sentence has two or more independent clauses (as in yellow) and one or more subordinate clauses (as in green).
Such has been the patient sufferance o f these colonies; and such is now the necessity that constrains them to alter their former systems o f government. (lines 22-24)
PRACTICE Rewrite each pair of simple sentences as a complex or compoundcomplex sentence. Use the conjunction shown in parentheses. Use a comma to separate the two clauses. EX A M P LE
The king exploits the people. The people move toward rebellion, (after) A fter ihe. king exploits -the people., -the people, move -toward rebellion.
1. The people declare their grievances with British rule. The British king and
parliament do not listen, (when) 2. The parliament learns of the dissatisfaction of the colonists. The parliament
imposes even harsher laws, (as soon as) 3. The British ignore all appeals to reason. The American colonists had
attempted to seek a peaceful solution, (while)
W R IT IN G T O O LS
For prew riting, revision, and editing tools, visit the W riting Center at ClassZone.com.
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T H E DECLA RA TIO N OF IN D E P E N D E N C E
243
Writers of the Revolution
□
READING STANDARDS
l.b Evaluating author
technique 3 Read informational reading materials, including evaluating strengths and weaknesses of argument
from The Crisis Essay by Thomas Paine
N O TA BLE Q U O TE
“O! Ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose not only tyranny but the tyrant, standforth!" FY I Did you know th a t Th o m as P a in e . . . • failed out o f school by age 12? • w as fired tw ice from a jo b as ta x co llector? • d id n ’t com e to A m erica until he w as 3 7 years old? • becam e involved in the French R evolution?
Author On|ine For more on Thom as Paine, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com.
Thomas Paine 1 7 3 7 -1 8 0 9
Brash, bold, and fearless—and at times angry and offensive—Thomas Paine was the firebrand of the American Revolution. In the fall of 1775, few American leaders dared to advocate openly for independence. Not only did they risk being accused of treason, they were uncertain how the common people would react to such a radical notion. They turned to Tom Paine to test the waters. Paine had arrived in Philadelphia from London only the year before but was already gaining a reputation as a revolutionary writer. He eagerly took up the task and in a few months wrote Common Sense (1776), a 50page pamphlet that attacked the injustices of hereditary rule and urged the colonists to form their own independent country where “the law is king.” Paine’s pamphlet sold 120,000 copies in the first three months. Six months later, the colonies declared their independence.
New Voice for a New Political Audience Paine’s political ideas in Common Sense were not particularly new or original. In the Age of Enlightenment, intellectual circles were buzzing with talk of natural rights and democracy. What was new was Paine’s voice—raw, direct, full of energy. Unlike most political writers of the day, such as Thomas Jefferson, Paine addressed common men—farmers, craftsmen, and laborers—not the educated elite. His straightforward prose reinforced his democratic message that all men were capable of understanding and participating in government. People responded because Paine spoke their language. In his native England, he had worked as sailor, teacher, customs officer, grocer, and maker of ladies’ corsets. He envisioned America as the place where working men like him could have political and economic power. Limits of Success With American independence won, Paine left for Europe in 1787 to join the reform efforts brewing there. But his outspokenness got him into trouble in both conservative England and revolutionary France. His last major work, The Age o f Reason (1794, 1795), attacked organized religion and alienated many of his supporters. By the time he returned to the United States in 1802, few politicians wanted to associate with him. He spent his last years in poverty and obscurity. Legacy Despite Paine’s later decline,
his contribution to the intellectual and cultural life of Revolutionary America is indisputable. He was the radical the country needed, the spokesman for new American values and ideals.
Explore the Key Idea
• LITERARY AN A LYSIS: PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES Thomas Paine used a number of persuasive techniques in The Crisis to persuade Americans to join the cause.
W hose SIDE a re y o u on?
• Emotional appeals are attempts to persuade by eliciting strong feelings, such as pity or fear.
• Ethical appeals call upon readers’ sense of right and wrong.
KEY IDEA Loyalty is a value easily
• Appeals to association imply that one will gain acceptance or prestige by taking the writer’s position.
• Appeals to authority call upon experts or others who warrant respect.
lA
As you read, notice how Paine uses persuasive techniques in making various kinds of appeals to his audience.
0 READING SKILL: ANALYZE MAIN IDEAS AND SUPPORT Paine supports his main ideas with reasons and evidence. As you read, use a chart such as the one shown to record main ideas and the reasons or evidence Paine uses to support those ideas.
hA ain Ideas
R e a s o n s a n d E vid en ce
1 see no r e a l cause f o r fe a r.
M ade an o r d e r ly re tre a t-, k e p t guns a n d am m unition
A VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT Complete each phrase with the appropriate word from the list. W ORD
ardor
infidel
repulse
L IS T
celestial
prudent
tyranny
dominion
relinquish
wrangling
esteem
1. a wise ruler w ith 2.
over a large kingdom
brothers who never seemed to get along
3. able to
the enemy with our superior weapons
4 . will fight 5. a
and other forms of oppression
decision in dangerous circumstances
6. should respect and 7. would not
one's parents
control of the property
8. music so sweet it seemed_____ 9 . expressed his
10.
i n
in mushy love poems
everyone welcome, believer o r____
L
expressed but often difficult to uphold. Situations change, doubts creep in, and conflicts arise that can test the strongest bonds of loyalty. Paine’s essay addresses the crisis of loyalty threatening the ranks of American soldiers during the dark days of the Revolutionary War.
QUICKWRITE Think about a time when your loyalty was tested and you were tempted to switch sides or give up. In a short paragraph, briefly describe the situation and explain what you decided. What was the most crucial factor in your decision?
The
CRISIS Thomas Paine
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
A m inutem an was pledged to be ready to figh t on a m in ute’s notice. W hat does this suggest about the preparedness of the colonists?
B A C K G R O U N D On the blustery Christm as Eve of 1776, the situation looked bleak for the Continental Army. General W ashington’s ragtag troops had retreated to the western banks of the Delaware River. Tom Paine was cam ped w ith them . The British were w ithin striking distance of Philadelphia, and W ashington knew he had to advance the next day or risk losing the war. To boost the m orale of his ill-equipped and outnumbered sotdiers, he ordered his officers to read aloud the follow ing essay, w hich Paine had w ritten the day before.
tyranny (tTr'a-ne)
n.
cruel and oppressive governm ent or rule
10
These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it n o w , deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly:—’ Tis dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as F r e e d o m should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared, that she has a right (not only to t a x ) but “to b i n d u s in a l l c a s e s w h a t s o e v e r , ” 1 and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then there is not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious, for so unlimited a power can only belong to God. ©
esteem (T-stem')
v. to set
a high value on celestial (se-les'chsl)
adj.
heavenly ©
P E R S U A S IV E T E C H N IQ U E S
Identify the loaded language — words w ith
strong connotations— in lines i - i 2 . Then para phrase the lines using neutral language.
1. “ to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER” : a reference to wording in the Declaratory Act of 1766, in which the British parliament asserted its “power and authority”to make and enforce laws over the American colonies.
246
M inute Man: Liberty or Death. Private collection. UNIT l : EARLY AMERICAN WRITING
© Scala/Art Resource, New York.
LIBERTY OR
death
MINUTE MAN
Whether the Independence of the Continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better. We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependant state. However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own; we have none to blame but ourselves. But no great deal is lost yet; all that Howe has been doing for this month past is rather a ravage than a conquest which the spirit of the Jersies a year 20 ago would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon recover. Q I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who had so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose, that he has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils; and as I do not, I cannot see on what grounds the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: A common murderer, a highwayman, or a 30 housebreaker, has as good a pretense as he. . . . I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories:2 A noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy,3 was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as most I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, “W ell!give m e pea ce in my day. ” Not a man lives on the Continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent would have said, “I f there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace; ” and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty. Not a 40 place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but trade with them. A man may easily distinguish in himself between temper and principle, and I am as confident, as I am that God governs the world, that America will never be happy until she gets clear of foreign dom inion. Wars, without ceasing, will break out until that period arrives, and the Continent must in the end be conqueror; for, though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal never can expire. . . . © I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all; not on this State or that State, but on every State; up and help us; lay your shoulders to 50 the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one
2. the mean principles.. .Tories: the small-minded beliefs of those colonists who remain loyal to Great Britain. 3. Amboy: probably Perth Amboy, a town in New Jersey.
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Q
M A IN ID E A S A N D SUPPO RT
How does Paine support his m ain idea that all is not lost for the colonists, despite their m ilitary defeats?
n. a person w ith no religious beliefs
infidel (Tn'fT-dsI)
relinquish (rT-ITng'kwTsh)
v. to w ithdraw from ; to give up
prudent (prood'nt) adj. show ing caution or good ju d g m e n t wrangling (rang'glTng)
adj. arguing noisily w rangle v. dominion (de-mTn'yan) n. control; authority over Q
P E R S U A S IV E T E C H N IQ U E S
Notice that Paine makes an ethical appeal in lines 3 1-3 9 . How does he say a parent should behave?
n. intense enthusiasm ; passion ardor (ar'dar)
TO ALL BRAVE, HEALTHY, ABLE BODIED, AND W E LL DISPOSED YOUNG MEN, IN THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD, WHO HAVE ANY INCLINATION TO JOIN THE TROOPS, NOW RAISING UNDER GENERAL WASHINGTON, r o i t h i defenqs or the LIBERTIES AND INDEPENDENCE
TAKE NOTICE, OF THE U N I T E D S T A T E S , A g a in li i h « h o f t ll.
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
A broadside is a public notice printed on one side of a large sheet of paper. W hat feelings and em otions does this Am erican Revolutionary W ar broadside appeal to?
T h o f e w h o m a y , fa v o u r fh i* r e c r u it in g p a r ty w i t h t h e ir atte n d a n ce as a b o v e, w i l l h a v e a n o p p o r tu n ity o f h ea rin g ; a n d fe e in g i n a m o re p a r tic u la r m a n n e r, th e g r e a t a d v an ta g e * w h ic h th e fe b r a v e m e n w i l l h a v e , who fh all em b rac e th i* o p p o rtu n ity o f fo u n d in g a T e w h a p p y y e a n in v ie w in g th e d iffere n t p a r t* o f th is b eao rtful c o n tin e n t in t h e h o n o u ra b le a n d tru ly re fp e fla b le ch a ra fteT o f a fo ld ie r, a f te r w h ic h , h e m a y , i f h e p l e a t o r e tu r n h o m e to hi* m e n d s , w it h hi* p o c k e ts f u l i o f m o n e y a n d h i* h ead c o v e r s d w it h la u re l* . UNITED STATES.
common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not, that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but “shew you r fa ith by you r works,” that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, shall suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now, is dead: The blood of his children shall curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. My own line of reasoning is to myself as strait and clear as a ray of light. © Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief break into my house, burn and destroy my property, and kill or threaten to kill me, or those that are in it, and to “bind m e in all cases whatsoever, ” to his absolute will, am I to suffer it?
repulse (rT-puls') v. to drive back by force
© P E R S U A S IV E T E C H N IQ U E S
Reread lines 5 8 -6 4 . Identify som e examples of loaded words and phrases in this passage. W hat point is Paine m aking about those who refuse to act?
TH E CRISIS
249
What signifies it to me, whether he who does it, is a king or a common man; my 70 countryman or not my countryman? whether it is done by an individual villain, or an army of them? If we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case, and pardon in the other. Let them call me rebel, and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one, whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man. I conceive likewise a horrid idea in receiving mercy from a being, who at the last day shall be shrieking to the rocks and mountains to cover him, and fleeing with terror from the orphan, the widow and the slain of America. There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one. There 80 are persons too who see not the full extent of the evil that threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if they succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war: The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolfe; and we ought to guard equally against both. Howe’s first object is partly by threats and partly by promises, to terrify or seduce the people to deliver up their arms, and receive mercy. The ministry recommended the same plan to Gage, and this is what the Tories call making their peace; “a p ea ce whichpasseth all understanding” indeed! A peace which would be the immediate forerunner of a worse ruin than any we 90 have yet thought of. Ye men of Pennsylvania, do reason upon those things! Were the back counties to give up their arms, they would fall easy prey to the Indians, who are all armed: This perhaps is what some Tories would not be sorry for. Were the home counties to deliver up their arms, they would be exposed to the resentment of the back counties, who would then have it at their power to chastise their defection at pleasure. And were any one State to give up its arms, that State must be garrisoned by all Howe’s army of Britons and Hessians to preserve it from the anger of the rest. Mutual fear is a principal link in the chain of mutual love, and woe be the State that breaks the compact. Howe is mercifully inviting you to barbarous destruction, and men must be either rogues or fools that will not see it. 100 I dwell not upon the vapours of imagination; I bring reason to your ears; and in language, as plain as A, B, C, hold up truth to your eyes. Q I thank God that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it. While our army was collected, Howe dared not risk a battle, and it is no credit to him that he decamped from the White Plains, and waited a mean opportunity to ravage the defenceless Jersies; but it is great credit to us, that, with an handful of men, we sustained an orderly retreat for near an hundred miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field-pieces, the greatest part of our stores, and had four rivers to pass. None can say that our retreat was
250
U N I T l: EARLY A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
Q PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES Reread lines 7 9 -10 1. W hat statem ent does Paine make about the use of language at the beginning of this paragraph? W hat does th is tell you about his use of emotional appeals and loaded language in this piece?
Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851), Eastman Johnson. Copy after the Emmanuel Leutze painting in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Private collection. © Art Resource, New York.
precipitate, for we were near three weeks in performing it, and the country might no have time to come in. Twice we marched back to meet the enemy and remained out till dark. The sign of fear was not seen in our camp, and had not some of the cowardly and disaffected inhabitants spread false alarms through the country, the Jersies had never been ravaged. Once more we are again collected and collecting; our new army at both ends of the Continent is recruiting fast, and we shall be able to open the next campaign with sixty thousand men, well armed and clothed. This is our situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils—a ravaged country—a depopulated city—habitations without safety, and slavery without hope—our homes turned into barracks and 120 bawdy-houses for Hessians, and a future race to provide for whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on this picture, and weep over it!—and if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented. Q
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
W hat figures and objects are em phasized by the composition, or the arrangem ent of shapes? Consider w hat this em phasis adds to the p ain tin g’s m eaning.
M A IN ID E A S A N D SUPPO RT
The m ain idea is stated in the first line of this paragraph. W hat evidence does Paine give to support the idea that there is no cause for fear?
TH E CRISIS
251
Comprehension 1. Recall At the end of the essay, what two qualities does Paine say American 3’ ^ J troops need to win the war?
□
READING STANDARD
I.b Evaluating author technique
2. Summarize In the third paragraph, what reasons does Paine give for assuring the Americans that their cause is right?
3. Clarify What is implied by the terms "summer soldier” and “sunshine patriot” in the first paragraph?
Literary Analysis 4. Interpret Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that equates two unlike things. Explain what Paine means by the metaphor in lines 45-46: "for, though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.” How might this metaphor serve to inspire the troops’ loyalty?
5. Analyze Main Ideas and Support Review the chart of main ideas and support you completed as you read. What kind of support does Paine primarily use— reasons, facts, or expert testimony? Explain why you think this is so. 6. Analyze Persuasive Techniques Review the different persuasive techniques explained on page 245. Then, go back through the essay and find six examples of Paine’s strong persuasive appeals. In a chart, record your examples and briefly explain the type of appeal. What kinds of techniques does Paine favor in his essay?
7. Evaluate Analogy More detailed than a metaphor, an analogy is a point-bypoint comparison in which an unfamiliar
Exam ple from
Kind o f A ppeal
"The. Crisis Those soldiers who stand firm in the "service o f CtheirJ country’ deserve the “love and t h a n k s o f M an and woMan'. (lines 2-3P
e th ic a l a p p e a l o f "service t o c o u n tr y " p lu s eM otionaJ a p p e a l o f love and g r a titu d e
"G o d a lM ig h ty w ill n o t give u p a p e o p le t o Military destruction
appeal to authority— in this case, the u ltiM cde authority
______”
(lines tb-14)
subject is explained in terms of a familiar one. Reread lines 65-68. Explain the analogy of the thief in terms of the following four points. In your opinion, does the analogy adequately justify the war? Explain why or why not. • breaking and entering
• threatening to kill
• destroying property
• binding to his will
Literary Criticism 8. Critical Interpretations John Adams, second U.S. president and no fan of Paine’s, nonetheless acknowledged his crucial influence:“ Without the pen of Paine the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.” Use information from Paine’s essay, as well as facts from his biography on page 244, to support Adams’s assessment.
252
U N IT l: EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE Choose the letter of the phrase that defines or is related to the boldfaced word.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
celestial: (a) an instrument, (b) a star in the sky, (c) a slogan tyranny: (a) a country with no freedoms, (b) an old bicycle, (c) a relay race repulse: (a) a long-winded speaker, (b) a resisted enemy, (c) a favorite shirt esteem: (a) a temperature drop, (b) a cousin, (c) an honored guest ardor: (a) a grove of trees, (b) a passion for justice, (c) an accounting mistake infidel: (a) a religious skeptic, (b) a lieutenant, (c) a television game show dominion: (a) a landlocked country, (b) a public garden, (c) a control freak relinquish: (a) a building site, (b) a surrender of territory, (c) a bad argument
ardor celestial dom inion esteem infidel prudent relinquish repulse tyranny w rangling
9. prudent: (a) a cautious investor, (b) a distant relative, (c) car insurance 10. wrangling: (a) a favor, (b) a rowing machine, (c) towns with border disputes VOCABULARY IN W RITING What emotions does Paine try to elicit from his readers in this essay? Using three or more vocabulary words, write a brief discussion of at least two emotions and the methods Paine uses to elicit them. You might start like this. E X A M P L E SENTENCE
Paine priMcurilj wanted to stir up revolutionary
ardor in his audience..
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: WORDS FROM M IDDLE ENGLISH Middle English was the language spoken in England roughly between a . d . noo and 1500. This form of English evolved after the Norman French, led by William the Conqueror, invaded and conquered England in 1066. Many modern words that first occurred in Middle English, such as the vocabulary word ardor, were derived from French. Others continued from Old English, the earliest recognized
A LA BA M A ST A N D A R D S
a
READING STANDARD
3.c Apply context clues to determine word meaning
form of the language.
PRACTICE The boldfaced words in these sentences have their origins in Middle English. Use context clues to create a definition of each. Then check a dictionary etymology to find out the word’s original meaning. 1. He demonstrated his athletic
2. 3. 4. 5.
prowess by participating in the triathlon.
She has been a recluse ever since the death of her husband. Her fulsome praise of his decision greatly embarrassed him. He had the perfect rejoinder for every accusation of the committee. The garden held a plenitude of rare plants and flowers.
* 7
VO CA BULA RY P R A C T IC E
For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
__
TH E CRISIS
y
253
Writers of the Revolution READING STANDARDS 1 Analyze use of literary elements including tone 3 Read with comprehension informational materials
Letter to the Reverend Samson Occom by Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley c. 1753-1784
N O TA BLE Q U O TE
“Some view our sable race with scornful eye . . . Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin’d, and join th ’ angelic train. ”
Phillis Wheatley became the first AfricanAmerican poet to be published. Moreover, her unusual life is the stuff that movies are made of. Kidnapped at age seven in West Africa, she was sold to the prosperous Wheatley family at a Boston slave auction. Within 16 months, the precocious child had mastered English and could read the Bible. She then went on to learn Latin and Greek well enough to read the classics. Startling Success Story With the encouragement of the Wheatley family, she started writing poetry as a teenager. She gained considerable fame both in the colonies and in England when newspapers began publishing her poems, most of
them on moral and religious subjects. While in London in 1773 to publish her book of poetry, Wheatley was the toast of society, which included many nobles and dignitaries and the visiting American patriot Ben Franklin. Life as a Free Black Woman By 1778, Wheatley had gained her freedom and married a free black man. Their life together was a losing struggle against poverty, however, for in many respects living as a free black in a colonial city was as bad as being a slave. In late 1779, Wheatley tried to get a second book of her poems published, but war-torn, financially strapped Boston had lost interest in her.
Letter to John Adams by Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams was the wife of the second U.S. president, John Adams, and mother of the sixth, John Quincy Adams. But she is equally well-known for her outspoken opinions as expressed in thousands of personal letters.
Abigail Adams
Intelligent and Competent The daughter of a wealthy minister, young Abigail 1744-1818 read extensively in her father’s wellN O TA BLE Q UO TE stocked library. After marrying John “Remember all Men would be Adams, she moved with him to a farm in tyrants i f they could. ” Braintree, Massachusetts. As John became increasingly involved in colonial politics and the struggle for independence, Abigail took over management of the household and farm as well as John’s business affairs.
An Early Feminist? Because of her support for women’s education and her acute awareness of men’s “absolute power,” many have championed Abigail Adams as an early advocate of women’s rights. However, although her thinking was clearly advanced for her time—she also favored the abolition of slavery—she held quite conventional views about a woman’s subordinate role in society.
Explore the Key Idea
# LITERARY AN A LYSIS: DICTION Diction is a writer’s choice of words. Diction includes both vocabulary (words) and syntax (arrangement of words). Diction can be formal or informal, common or technical, abstract or concrete. Note the formal diction in this excerpt from the letter written by Abigail Adams:
How many are the solitary hours I spend, ruminating upon the past, and anticipating the future, whilst you, overwhelmed with the cares o f state, have but a few moments you can devote to any individual. Writers often communicate tone, or attitude toward a subject, through their diction. As you read the letters, notice words and phrases that reveal each writer’s attitude toward the issues of
RULES? KEY IDEA Those in authority make the rules for others— whether it’s in the halls of Congress or the classroom. The authors of these two letters, while agreeing wholeheartedly with the patriot cause, still felt left out of the process and the benefits of the American Revolution.
DISCUSS People today have not only
liberty and freedom.
0 READING STRATEGY: READING PRIM ARY SOURCES Primary sources are materials written or made by people who took part in or witnessed the events portrayed. These sources can provide unique insights on a subject. To get the most out of a primary source, consider the following: • Who was the writer? The age, nationality, and social class of the writer can influence the point of view. • What is the form of the document: letter, diary, speech? How might the form have affected the content? • When and where was it written? The time and place of a primary source’s writing can provide clues to the culture and history of the period. • Who is the intended audience? In a private letter to a loved one, a writer might voice thoughts and feelings more freely than in an open letter to a public audience. For help analyzing the letters of Wheatley and Adams, complete a chart such as the one shown here as you read each letter.
W riter: FormWhen and Where WrittenIntended Purpose/Audience-
Who gets to make the
'
more freedom than people did in colonial times but also more ways to change the laws. Think of at least three situations in which rules directly impact your life. Then for each situation, discuss ways that are available to change or modify those rules.
etter to the 'R e v e r e n d
SA M SO N O C C O M Phillis W h e a tle y
BACKGROUND The Reverend Sam son Occom was a M ohegan Indian w ho became a m inister after converting to Christianity. In a letter to Phillis W heatley, he had criticized some of his fellow m inisters for ow ning slaves. W heatley’s response to her friend, dated Februaryn, 1774, w as later published in colonial newspapers.
Reverend and honored sir, I have this day received your obliging kind epistle, and am greatly satisfied with your reasons respecting the negroes, and think highly reasonable what you offer in vindication of their natural rights: Those that invade them cannot be insensible that the divine light is chasing away the thick darkness which broods over the land of Africa;1 and the chaos which has reigned so long, is converting into beautiful order, and reveals more and more clearly the glorious dispensation of civil and religious liberty, which are so inseparably united, that there is little or no enjoyment of one without the other: Otherwise, perhaps, the Israelites had been less solicitous for their freedom from Egyptian slavery;2 1 do not say they would have been contented without it, by no means; for in every human breast God has implanted a principle, which we call love of freedom; it is impatient © of oppression, and pants for deliverance; and by the leave of our modern Egyptians3 1 will assert, that the same principle lives in us. God grant deliverance in his own way and time, and get him honor upon all those whose avarice impels them to countenance and help forward the calamities of their fellow creatures. This I desire not for their hurt, but to convince them of the strange absurdity of their conduct, whose words and actions are so diametrically opposite. How well the cry for liberty, and the reverse disposition for the exercise of oppressive power over others agree—I humbly think it does not require the penetration4 of a philosopher to determine.— Q
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
This im age shows a slave auction in New Am sterdam (New York). W hat does this tell you about slavery in colonial Am erica?
©
D IC T IO N
Describe W heatley’s diction in lines 1-11. How
do you th in k her w ay of w riting m ight have struck w hite readers at the tim e?
Q
P R IM A R Y S O U R C E S
Does W heatley’s letter deal w ith private or public issues? W hat are they? 1. insensible . . . the land of Africa: unaware that Christianity is spreading throughout Africa. 2. Israelites . . . Egyptian slavery: a biblical allusion to the Israelites who were led out of Egypt by Moses. 3. modern Egyptians: the owners of African slaves. 4. penetration: understanding; insight. First Slave Auction in New Amsterdam, 1655. U N I T l : .E A R L Y A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
The Granger Collection, New York.
Xetter to
J ohn A d a m s A bigail Adam s
B A C K G R O U N D In March of 1776, w hile John Adam s w as in Philadelphia w ith other delegates drafting a code of laws for the new independent country, A bigail wrote a letter asking him to “rem em ber the ladies” in the new laws: "Be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlim ited power into the hands of husbands.” John's response was to laugh and remark,"You are so saucy.” The follow ing is the next letter she sent to him.
Braintree, 7, May, 1776
10
How many are the solitary hours I spend, ruminating upon the past, and anticipating the future, whilst you, overwhelmed with the cares of state, have but a few moments you can devote to any individual. All domestic pleasures and enjoyments are absorbed in the great and important duty you owe your country, “for our country is, as it were, a secondary god, and the first and greatest parent. It is to be preferred to parents, wives, children, friends, and all things, the gods only excepted; for, if our country perishes, it is as impossible to save an individual, as to preserve one of the fingers of a mortified hand.” Thus do I suppress every wish, and silence every murmur, acquiescing in a painful separation from the companion of my youth, and the friend of my heart. Q I believe’t is near ten days since I wrote you a line. I have not felt in a humor to entertain you if I had taken up my pen. Perhaps some unbecoming invective1 might have fallen from it. The eyes of our rulers have been closed, and a lethargy has seized almost every member. I fear a fatal security has taken possession of them. Whilst the building is in flames, they tremble at the expense of water to quench it. In short, two months have elapsed since the evacuation of Boston,2 and very little has been done in that time to secure it, or the harbor, from future 1. unbecoming invective:
inappropriate abusive language.
2. two months . . . Boston: British troops under General William Howe and more than a thousand Loyalists evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776.
258
U N I T l : EARLY A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
These pastel portraits of Abigail and John Adam s were done in 1766, about two years after their marriage. How do these portraits compare with those that m ight be done today of a young couple?
Q
P R IM A R Y S O U R C E S
Does A d am s’s letter concern itself w ith private or public issues in lines i - i o ? W hat does she say about the relationship between the private and the public?
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invasion. The people are all in a flame, and no one among us, that I have heard of, even mentions expense. They think, universally, that there has been an amazing 20 neglect somewhere. Many have turned out as volunteers to work upon Noddle’s Island, and many more would go upon Nantasket,3 if the business was once set on foot. “T is a maxim of state, that power and liberty are like heat and moisture. Where they are well mixed, every thing prospers; where they are single, they are destructive.” A government of more stability is much wanted in this colony, and they are ready to receive it from the hands of the Congress. And since I have begun with maxims of state,4 1 will add another, namely, that a people may let a king fall, yet still remain a people; but, if a king let his people slip from him, he is no longer a king.5And as this is most certainly our case, why not proclaim to the world, in 30 decisive terms, your own importance? © Shall we not be despised by foreign powers, for hesitating so long at a word? I cannot say that I think you are very generous to the ladies; for, whilst you are proclaiming peace and good-will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives. But you must remember, that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken; and, notwithstanding all your wise laws and maxims, we have it in our power, not only to free ourselves, but to subdue our masters, and, without violence, throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet;— “Charm by accepting, by submitting sway, 40 Yet have our humor most when we obey.”6 Q I thank you for several letters which I have received since I wrote last; they alleviate a tedious absence, and I long earnestly for a Saturday evening, and experience a similar pleasure to that which I used to find in the return of my friend upon that day after a weeks absence. The idea of a year dissolves all my philosophy. Our little ones, whom you so often recommend to my care and instruction, shall not be deficient in virtue or probity,7 if the precepts of a mother have their desired effect; but they would be doubly enforced, could they be indulged with the example of a father alternately before them. I often point them to their sire, 50 “engaged in a corrupted state, Wrestling with vice and faction.”8 Q
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3. Noddle’s Island ... Nantasket: sites near the city of Boston. Noddle’s Island is now called East Boston. 4. maxims of state: rules or short sayings related to government. 5. king: a reference to King George III, who ignored colonists’ protests and put Massachusetts under military rule. 6. “ Charm . .. obey” : a couplet taken from Alexander Pope’s poem Moral Essays.
7. deficient . .. probity: lacking in goodness or integrity. 8. "engaged .. .faction” : lines taken from Joseph Addison's play Cato. Cato (234-149
politician who fought for high moral standards in the Roman Senate.
260
U N I T l : EAR LY A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
b .c .)
was a Roman
©
D IC T IO N
Reread lines 2 5 -3 0 . W hat words suggest a concern w ith political issues? W hat does this diction tell you about the w riter’s comfort w ith discussing the subject of governm ent?
Q
P R IM A R Y S O U R C E S
W hat inconsistency in the attitudes of the tim es does A bigail Adam s point out in lines 3 2 -4 0 ?
Q
D IC T IO N
Reread lines 4 6 -5 1. W hat does the form al language used to discuss both public and private matters tell you about fam ily relations at the tim e?
Comprehension
a
1. Recall What does Phillis Wheatley praise the Reverend Occom for doing?
ALABAMA STANDARDS
READING STANDARD 1 Analyze use of literary elements includingtone
2. Clarify In Wheatley’s opinion, what is the cause of slavery? 3. Recall Why does Abigail Adams put her country before personal happiness? 4. Clarify What is the situation in Massachusetts that Adams complains to her husband about?
Literary Analysis 5. Compare and Contrast In both letters, Wheatley and Adams reveal their powerlessness to change what they clearly see as wrong. How do they personally deal with this lack of authority? Discuss how they cope with the following situations: • slavery • lack of security due to inaction • absolute power of men
6. Analyze Diction For each letter, look for examples of diction that reveal the writer’s tone. Then compare and contrast the tone of each, explaining possible reasons for any differences you find.
7. Analyze Primary Sources What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of these personal letters as historical documents? For example, what insights do they provide that more formal documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, do not? How are the letters useful or limited in their historical value? How does the identity of the writer influence the content? Draw upon your chart to cite examples from the letters to prove your points.
8. Evaluate Argument Each woman makes an argument in her letter: Wheatley against slavery, and Adams against the “arbitrary power” of men. In your opinion, who presents the stronger case? Cite evidence to support your opinion.
Literary Criticism 9. Historical Context Personal letters, even ones such as Wheatley’s that were later published in newspapers, offer a rare opportunity to hear women’s voices from the past. What distinguishes Wheatley’s and Adams’s writing from the rhetoric of Patrick Henry,Thomas Jefferson, and Tom Paine? What do their letters reveal about how women were expected to behave in early America?
L E T T E R TO T H E R E V E R E N D SA M SO N O C C O M
/
L E T T E R TO JO H N A D A M S
261
Writers of the Revolution READING STANDARDS 1 Analyze use of literary elements including point of view 3.b Drawing conclusions to determine author intent
O
fro m
The Autobiography
by Benjamin Franklin
document by a vote of 39 to 3. A man of great integrity, intelligence, and charm, Ben Franklin embodied the best of the new nation and became its first celebrity. N O TA BLE Q UOTE
Pulling Himself Up Bom in Boston as the
“Ifyou would not be forgotten As soon as you are dead and rotten, Either write things worth reading, Or do things worth the writing. ” FY I Did you know th at B en ja m in Franklin . . .
Benjamin Franklin 1 7 0 6 -1 7 9 0
• started th e first p ublic library and fire
Printer, publisher, writer, scientist, inventor, businessman, philosopher, • founded w h a t becam e statesman—Benjamin Franklin’s numerous th e U n iversity of roles only hint at the man’s tremendous Pe n n sylvan ia? versatility and talent. As the oldest • invented bifocal founding father, Franklin had already lived eyeglasses? a full life when at the age of 70 he joined 40-year-old John Adams and 33-year-old Author On|ine Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence. Soon afterward, he For more on Benjam in Franklin, visit the loaned Congress a large sum of his own Literature Center at money and sailed on a leaky ship to France ClassZone.com. to arrange for more loans and a crucial alliance to fight the British. His masterly efforts abroad on behalf of the American Page from Poor Richard’s cause earned him a reputation as one of the Almanack most successful American diplomats of all time. Only a few years before he died, his F h, B R U A presence at the Constitutional Convention helped unify the delegates. So great was We fmile at Florifts, we his influence that he is credited with [And think their H earts ei convincing them to approve the final d ep artm en t in A m e rica?
But are thofc w ifer, w ho Survey w ith E n v y , and puriue w ith r ir e F vVhat’ s he, who fights fo r W ealth , or F a m e , or Power'? Another Flor/o, doating on a -Flower, \ fh o rt-Irrd F lo w e r, and w h ich has often {prung,
youngest of 15 children, Franklin did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps to become a candle and soap maker. Instead, he joined his brother in the printing business as an apprentice. With only two years of formal education, Franklin taught himself to write by imitating the great essayists of his day. At the age of 16, he was contributing satirical pieces to his brother’s newspaper. By his own account “too saucy and provoking” as a youth, he soon quarreled with his brother and struck out on his own for Philadelphia. Franklin did very well in Philadelphia, prospering in his own printing business, running the successful Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper, writing his popular Poor Richard’s Almanack for 26 years, and being active in colonial politics. Citizen of the World Franklin’s writing—
from humorous satires and wise sayings to serious political essays and scientific observations on electricity—as well as his diplomacy and charismatic personality made him an international celebrity. Although respected by the great minds of his age, he never lost his connection to the common people. In the words of John Adams: “His reputation is greater than that of Newton, Frederick the Great or Voltaire, his character more revered than all of them. There’s scarcely a coachman or a footman or scullery maid who does not consider him a friend of all mankind.” ■pifmpwsf
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• LITERARY ANALYSIS: CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Explore the Key Idea
An autobiography is the story of a person’s life, written by that person. As you read this excerpt from Franklin’s autobiography, notice the following characteristics of autobiography:
• First person: The author of an autobiography usually writes from the first-person point of view.
• Dual perspective: Often the author of an autobiography writes as an older person looking back on him- or herself as a younger person, providing opportunities for reflection.
• Significant moments: Autobiographies may vary from straightforward chronological accounts to impressionistic narratives. In either case, especially important events and people in the author’s life are highlighted.
■ READING SKILL: MAKE INFERENCES ABOUT THE AUTHOR Making inferences means “ reading between the lines”— making logical guesses based on evidence in the text to figure out what is not directly stated. As you read the Autobiography, make inferences about the values and motives that seem characteristic of Franklin’s personality. Use a chart like the one shown to record details from the text about the 13 virtues he hopes to acquire and how he goes about doing so. What inferences can you make about him?
Details or Bvid&nce. from Tixt
Inference
Review: Connect
A VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT Franklin uses the following boldfaced words in describing his efforts to improve himself. Restate each phrase, using a different word or words for the boldfaced term.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
unremitting storms that went on for weeks felicity over her great good luck a mansion as one symbol of affluence dreamed up an artifice to avoid doing his job incorrigible behavior that disgraced the family a trifling problem, easily cleared up would often contrive to secretly meet his friends worked to eradicate smallpox around the world
Is PERFECTION possible? KEY IDEA As a young man, Benjamin Franklin believed that human beings could actually achieve perfection in a given area. All you needed was a reasonable plan and a lot of selfdiscipline. Many people today also aim for perfection, although their quest may take a different path. Bookstores have whole sections devoted to selfimprovement in a variety of areas, including diet, exercise, careers, and dating.
QUICKWRITE Do you think perfection is possible or at least worth striving for? If you think so, outline a selfimprovement plan that shows how you might achieve your goal. If you don’t think perfection is possible, write a paragraph in which you explain why you think it is unattainable.
C Autobiography Ben jam
in
Fr a n k l in
B A C K G R O U N D Franklin was a prolific writer, producing volum es of essays, travel journals, newspaper articles, satires, speeches, alm anacs, letters, and even ballads. But his great m asterpiece was his Autobiography, w hich is still very popular today. The follow ing excerpt details Franklin’s plan to achieve moral perfection. He was about 20 years old w hen he first conceived the idea on one of his long, trans-A tlantic voyages. The plan reveals his faith in reason, order, and hum an perfectibility, w hich w as typical of 18th-century thought.
10
It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the following method. Q In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different writers included more or
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A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S
W hat do the details of this fam ous painting suggest about Franklin?
©
A U T O B IO G R A P H Y
W hat characteristics of autobiography do you find in the first paragraph of th is selection?
Benjamin Franklin (1767), David Martin. Oil on canvas. © W hite House Historical Association, Washington, D.C.
20
fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice and ambition. I proposed to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning. These names of virtues, with their precepts were: 1. T em p eran ce.
Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2 . S ile n c e .
Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. O rd er.
Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4 . R e so l u t io n .
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5 . F r u g a lit y .
Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6 . I n d u st r y .
Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7 . S in c e r it y .
Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8 . J u s t ic e .
Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. M
Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
o d e r a t io n .
1 0 . C lea n lin ess .
Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
1 1 . T r a n q u il l it y .
Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
1 2 . C h a s tit y .
Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
1 3 . H u m i li t y .
' Imitate Jesus and Socrates.1Q
My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone through the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I 30 arranged them with that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, as it tends to 1. Socrates (sok'ra-tez'): Greek philosopher <470?-399 B.C.) who believed that true knowledge comes through dialogue and systematic questioning of ideas; he was executed for his beliefs.
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EAR LY A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
trifling (tri'flTng) adj.
frivolous; inconsequential trifle v.
O
M A K E IN F E R E N C E S
Based on Franklin’s list of virtues, w hat inference can you make about his view of his own moral character? Explain.
procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquired and established, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improved in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtained rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the second place. This and the next, Order, I expected would allow me more time for 40 attending to my project and my studies. Resolution, once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses,2 daily examination would be necessary, I contrived the following method for conducting that examination. Q I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I crossed these columns with 50 thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by Form o f the pages. a little black spot, every fault I found TEMPERANCE upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. upon that day. I determined to give a week’s S. M. T. W. T. F. S. strict attention to each of the virtues T. successively. Thus, in the first week, • • • • S. 60 my great guard was to avoid every3 • • • • O. • • • the least offense against Temperance, • • R. leaving the other virtues to their • • F. ordinary chance, only marking every • • I. evening the faults of the day. Thus, S. if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T, clear of spots, I JM. supposed the habit of that virtue so much strengthened, and its opposite C. weakened, that I might venture T. 70 extending my attention to include the C. next, and for the following week keep H. both lines clear of spots. Proceeding
unremitting
(un'rT-mTt'Tng) adj. constant; never stopping
affluence (af'loo-ans)
n.
w ealth
v. to plan skillfully; to design
contrive (ksn-triv')
Q
M A K E IN F E R E N C E S
W hat can you infer from lines 2 5 -4 6 about Franklin’s approach to problem s?
2. Pythagoras (pT-thag'ar-0s)... Golden Verses: Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher and mathematician (
580? ~ 500?
b .c .) .
3. every: even. T H E A U TO B IO G RA PH Y
267
80
thus to the last, I could go through a course complete in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year. And like him who, having a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on one of the beds at a time, and, having accomplished the first, proceeds to a second, so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I made in virtue, by clearing successively my lines of their spots, till in the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a clean book, after thirteen weeks’ daily examination. . . . © The precept of Order requiring that every pa rt o f my business should have its allotted time, one page in my little book contained the following scheme of employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural day.
The Morning.
Rise, wash, and address Powerful Goodness! Contrive day’s business, and take the resolution of the day; prosecute the present study, and breakfast.
Question. What good shall I do this day?
8 9
10
Work.
11
Noon.
12 1
,1
Read, or overlook my accounts, and dine.
2 3 4
Work.
5
Evening.
6
Question. What good have I done today?
7
Night.
8 9
10 11 12 1 2 3 4
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Put things in their places. Supper. Music or diversion, or conversation. Conversation. Examination of the day.
Sleep.
eradicate (T-rad'T-kat') v.
to destroy com pletely
©
A U T O B IO G R A P H Y In w hat w ay do lines 4 7 -8 0 provide an exam ple of Franklin’s dual perspective?
I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continued it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To avoid the trouble of renewing now and then my little book, which, by scraping out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a new course, became full of holes, I transferred my tables and precepts to the ivory 90 leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines were drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain, and on those lines I marked my faults with a black-lead pencil, which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a while I went through one course only in a year, and afterward only one in several years, till at length I omitted them entirely, being employed in voyages and business abroad, with a multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I always carried my little book with me. Q My scheme of Order gave me the most trouble; and I found that, though it might be practicable where a man’s business was such as to leave him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master, who must mix with the world, and 100 often receive people of business at their own hours. Order, too, with regard to places for things, papers, etc., I found extremely difficult to acquire. I had not been early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method. This article, therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect, like the man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbor, desired to have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge. The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel; he turned, while the smith pressed 110 the broad face of the ax hard and heavily on the stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The man came every now and then from the wheel to see how the work went on, and at length would take his ax as it was, without farther grinding. “No,” said the smith, “turn on, turn on; we shall have it bright by-andby; as yet, it is only speckled.” “Yes,” says the man, “but I think I like a speckled ax best. ’’And I believe this may have been the case with many, who, having, for want of some such means as I employed, found the difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in other points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle, and concluded that “a speckled ax was best; ” for something, that pretended to be reason, was every now and then suggesting to me that such extreme nicety as I 120 exacted of myself might be a kind of foppery in morals,4 which, if it were known, would make me ridiculous; that a perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance. Q In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on the whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of
Q
M A K E IN F E R E N C E S
Reread lines 8 4 -9 5 . W hat can you infer about Franklin’s persistence in pursuing his goals?
O
CO N N ECT
W hat insight does Franklin come to about his quest for perfection? Consider w hat you have learned in your own life about perfection. Does his insight seem reasonable? incorrigible (Tn-kor'T-je-bsl) adj.
incapable of being reformed or corrected
4. foppery in morals: excessive regard for and concern about one’s moral appearance. T H E AU TO B IO G RA P H Y
269
JD & 6 h l
UANKS,
obtaining, but fell short o f it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by imitating the engraved copies, though they never reach 130 the wished-for excellence o f those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavor, and is tolerable while it continues fair and legible. 0 It may well be my posterity should be the blessing o f God, their ancestor owed to his 79th year, in which this is written. is in the hand o f Providence; but, if they
informed that to this little artifice, with the constant felicity o f his life, down W h at reverses may attend the reminder arrive, the reflection on past happiness
enjoyed ought to help his bearing them with more resignation. To Temperance he ascribes his long-continued health, and what is still left to him o f a good constitution; to Industry and Frugality, the early easiness o f his circumstances and acquisition o f his fortune, with all that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful 140 citizen, and obtained for him some degree o f reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the confidence o f his country, and the honorable employs it conferred upon him; and to the joint influence o f the whole mass o f the virtues, even in the the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness o f temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his company still sought for, and agreeable even to his younger acquaintance. I hope, therefore, that some o f my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit. C^>
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0
A U T O B IO G R A P H Y
W hat significant moment or insight is described in this paragraph? artifice (ar'te-fTs) n. a clever m eans to an end felicity (fT-ITs'Y-te) n. great
happiness
Connect: Aphorisms
Poor Kichard s "T\ •
fro m
1
1
}
Almanack B
e n ja m in
F
r a n k l in
I He that cannot obey cannot command.
2, Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. bat to live and not live to eat. - A mob’s a monster; heads enough but
\( j
no brains.
Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.
W ell done is better than well said.
\1
Better slip w ith foot than tongue.
Lost time is never found again.
\g Three may keep a secret, i f two o f
(j
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a
them are dead.
man healthy, wealthy and wise. \C\ Never leave that till tomorrow, which
7
I f you would know the w orth o f
you can do today.
money, go and try to borrow some. A penny saved is a penny earned. <0 A friend in need is a friend indeed. A rolling stone gathers no moss. Fish and visitors smell in three days.
Li.
M ake hay while the sun shines.
[q Love your neighbor; yet don’t pull Beware o f little expenses; a small leak
down your hedge.
w ill sink a great ship.
II G od helps them
that help themselves. He that goes a borrowing goes a
I f you would keep your secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend.
sorrowing. Honesty is the best policy.
13 Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.
'Ijj-, Little strokes fell big oaks.
Don’t throw stones at your neighbors’, if your own windows are glass.
2SJ
He that lies down w ith dogs shall rise up w ith fleas.
c o n n e c t
: a ph o r ism s
271
Comprehension
a
1. Recall Name seven of Franklin’s virtues.
READING STANDARD 1 Analyze use of literary elements including characterization
2. Recall Who are Franklin’s models for the virtue of humility? 3. Clarify Why does Franklin list the virtues in the order he does? 4. Summarize What is Franklin’s method for acquiring the 13 virtues?
Literary Analysis 5. Make Inferences About the Author Look at the details and inferences you recorded in your chart. Now assign each of Franklin’s 13 virtues to one of the following categories. What can you infer about Franklin’s beliefs and values in general from his list of virtues? • healthful living
• succeeding in the world
• getting along with others
6. Analyze Autobiography Like most autobiographies, Franklin’s has a dual perspective in which he is both main character and narrator. Go back through the excerpt to find characterizations of Franklin as a young man and as an older man looking back on his life. Record your answers in two charts as shown. What differences do you find?
P"
“
"™‘
Young Franklin
“ “ *.—
.— .—.— — |
Old Franklin
Character T ra rt
Evidence. in Text
Character T ra rt
Evidence, in Text
1. AMbitious
I. “1conceded the. bold and arduous project o f arriving at Moral perfection' (lines l-Z)
1. Honest
1. “In truth, 1found M i/se lf incorrigible w ith respect to Order, and now 1am grown old, ... I feel v&rij sensibly the want o f it'.' (lines 114-115)
Z. Z
7.
Interpret Analogy Reread lines 105-115. How does the analogy about the man buying an ax help explain Franklin’s problems with order? How is Franklin like or different from the man with the ax?
8. Evaluate Conclusions Franklin ultimately fails to achieve moral perfection. What conclusions does he draw about his original plan? In terms of selfimprovement, is it better to aim high and fall short or to set a lower goal?
Literary Criticism 9. Critical Interpretations Throughout history, Franklin has had his detractors as well as his admirers. Some consider him self-righteous and materialistic; others have ridiculed his plan for moral perfection as too regimented and superficial. Do you find any evidence for these charges in the excerpt? Explain. 272
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ALABAMA STANDARDS
Vocabulary in Context VOCABULARY PRACTICE
W O R D L IS T affluence
Show your understanding of the vocabulary words by answering these questions.
artifice contrive
1. Which would cause felicity, doing well on a test or having trouble sleeping? 2. If someone created an artifice, would that person be shrewd or naive?
eradicate felicity
3. If you want to eradicate the weeds in your yard, should you use a plant book
incorrigible
ora garden tool?
trifling
4. To contrive, would you act impulsively or by plan? 5. Who is more likely incorrigible, a person with five parking tickets or one with
unrem itting
five burglary convictions?
6. Is a trifling problem one you should ignore or act on immediately? 7. If you wanted to hide your affluence, would you probably drive an inexpensive car or take a trip around the world?
8. Is a person with unremitting joy constantly happy or never happy? VOCABULARY IN W RITING Choose a virtue from Franklin’s list on page 266 that you have trouble with in your own life. Using at least two vocabulary words, write a brief plan explaining steps you could take to improve in this area. Here is a sample beginning.
ALABAMA STANDARDS
a
READING STANDARD 3.c Apply context clues and structural analysis to determine word meaning
EX A M P LE SENTENCE
Uke Frank]in, I ne&d to contrNe. a plan to b&coMe. More, frugal.
VOCABULARY STRATEGY: THE LATIN ROOT f i c You are probably familiar with the Latin root fac, which means “ make” or “do.” Another common spelling of this root isfic, as in the vocabulary word artifice. Identifying a word’s roots, as well as looking at context and at the other parts of the word, can often help you to figure out the
artifice orifice
efficacy
word’s meaning.
beneficiary
deficiency
PRACTICE Choose the word from the word web that best completes each sentence. Use context clues to help you or consult a dictionary. 1. Who is th e 2. A
munificence
on Grandma’s life insurance policy?
in vitamin D can lead to rickets, a disease of the bones.
3. One in the pipe was blocked, causing water to back up into it. 4. Due to th e of the Kelly family, the town has the money to build a new pool. 5. The speaker described the
several ailments.
of acupuncture as a treatment for
&
VOCABULARY P R A C T IC E For more practice, go to the Vocabulary Center at ClassZone.com.
T H E A U TO B IO G RA PH Y
273
Reading for Information MAGAZINE ARTICLE Benjamin Franklin’s drive for self-improvement may seem a little excessive, but it remains a great American ideal. This article looks at the continuing American urge to change oneself for the better.
— S Q w a y s.
to Fix Your Life by Carolyn Kleiner Butler
Americans have long been captivated by the notion of self-improvement—none more so than Benjamin Franklin. An accomplished printer, author, postmaster, scientist, inventor, and diplomat who taught himself to speak five languages, this Founding Father “conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.” Today, self-help is not just a way of life—it’s practically a national obsession. There are 7,500 books on the topic on amazon.com alone, covering just about every imaginable bad habit or dilemma. Such offerings “appeal to the deeply felt American idea o f‘before and after,”’ says Robert Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University in New York, who points out the underlying similarities between Franklin and, say, Dr. Phil. “If you were born a peasant in a medieval village, you knew who you were and it was very hard to change that, but here there is fluidity of class, and entire industries pop up that reflect the ultimate optimism that really anybody can be a ‘swan’ and completely turn [his or her] life around.” Time to change. The hard truth is that lasting change doesn’t usually happen in a single TV season. In reality, of the 40 to 45 percent of people who will make New Year’s resolutions come January, fewer than half will succeed within six months, according to John
U N IT l: EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
Norcross, professor of psychology at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania and coauthor of Changingfo r Good. But the fact is that when someone makes a serious commitment to transform his or her life, it is possible. How can you cross that far-off finish line? First and foremost, you really have to be ready to do it and understand that the pros outweigh the cons. Also, research shows that keeping track of your development in a visible way— charting your weight loss, for one, or graphing your heart rate and stamina— is associated with sustainable lifestyle change, as is social support, whether in the form of friends, online discussion groups, or reliable, proven, self-help books. Lastly, and most important, don’t give up if you tumble off the wagon now and then. Triumphant changers often see a setback as a reason to recommit to their goal, and they get back on the horse immediately. In the end, simply making a concerted effort to improve your lifestyle can have lasting benefits, no matter what the final result. Indeed, Franklin recounts, “On the whole, tho’ I never arrived a t . . . perfection . . . I was, by the endeavour, a better and happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it.”
Wrap-Up: Writers of the Revolution
Revolutionary Ideas For colonists living in the 1770s, there was one topic around which
Extension
most conversation and writing revolved: the Revolution. The writing of this period was political, and it was persuasive. It had a life-and-death purpose: to win over the hearts and minds of American colonists— and
SPEAKING & LISTENING Imagine yourself on the village green, part of an impassioned gathering of colonists arguing both sides of independence from England. Recast your letter as a speech and deliver it
the rest of the world—to the belief that rebellion was necessary.
Writing to Persuade Reflect briefly on each of the pieces you have just read, and select one or two you find particularly persuasive. Then, imagine you are a colonist of the time and write a letter to your local paper in which you voice your support for the ideas of the writer or
to your friends, neighbors, and political opponents.
writers chosen. Be sure to cite specific phrases or lines that you find convincing. Add your own thoughts and opinions to try to further persuade readers to support the rebellion. Consider • thought-provoking or incendiary sentences or passages • your opinions on the issues discussed in the selections • how to express your viewpoint clearly and convincingly Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death. Patrick Henry delivering his great speech on the Rights o f the Colonies before the Virginia Assembly, Richmond, March 23, 1775. The Granger Collection, New York.
Persuasive Essay
Writing Workshop
Here’s an opportunity to think about what you believe in— and to persuade readers to agree with you and take action. Follow the Writer’s Road Map to get started on a persuasive essay that will help you make your own mark on the world.
W RITER'S ROAD M A P
Persuasive Essay W R IT I N G P R O M P T 1
K E Y T R A IT S
Writing for the Real World
S o m e tim e s an issu e affects
you so stro n g ly th a t yo u w a n t to co nvin ce o the rs to act in a certain w ay. W rite a p ersuasive e ssa y on an
1. ID E A S
issue • Presents a thesis statement th a t • C le a rly id e n tifie s th e
issue th a t is im p o rta n t to you.
m akes a clear, lo g ic a l,a n d fo rceful
Issues to Consider
claim
• a local p o litica l issue, such as a cu rfew
• U ses relevan t and co n vin cin g
evidence to support th e
• issues in v o lv in g th e e n v iro n m e n t or so cial ju s tic e • freedom s and re sp o n sib ilities o f th e m edia
• A n ticip a te s and answ ers
arguments and W R IT I N G P R O M P T 2
Writing from Literature
p osition
opposing
co u n te rcla im s
2. O R G A N IZ A T IO N
C h oose an issu e fro m U n it i
• Introduces th e
th a t you feel stro n g ly ab o u t. W rite a p e rsu a sive essay th a t e x p la in s th e issu e and m e n tio n s th e lite rary w ork
g e ttin g w ay • C o n n ects ideas w ith
in w h ich you fo un d it.
Literature to Consider • Patrick H e n ry’s speech to th e V irg in ia C on ve n tio n (W h at is lib e rty w o rth ?) • B e n ja m in Fra n k lin ’s proverbs (Is h o n e sty a lw ays th e best policy?) • The Way to Rainy Mountain (H ow can op p ression be stopped?) • Th e D eclaratio n o f In d ep en d ence (W hen is it right to rebel?)
For prew riting, revision, and editing tools, visit the Writing Center at ClassZone.com.
transitional
words and phrases •
Concludes w ith
a s u m m a ry or a call
to actio n 3. V O IC E
• C ap tu re s an ap p ro p riate
tone for the
su b je ct m atte r 4. W O R D C H O IC E
• A d d resses th e
audience directly,
u sin g a p p ro p riate la n g u a g e • U ses
W R I T I N G TO OLS
issu e in an a tte n tio n -
persuasive techniques
effe ctively 5. S E N T E N C E F L U E N C Y
• Em p loys rhetorical devices such as p a ra lle lism and rep etitio n •V arie s
sentence types and lengths
6. C O N V E N T IO N S
• Em p loys
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correct grammar and usage
□
Part 1: Analyze a Student Model
Bruce Lomibao Plainview High School Cell Phone Use in Cars: Hang Up— Don’t Bang Up!
WRITING/LANGUAGE STANDARD
8 Write with attention to word
choice, orga nization, tra nsitions, tone
K E Y T R A IT S I N A C T IO N M em orable title identifies
IF
the issue. The parallelism and repetition of “Hang Up— Don’t Bang Up!” is an effective rhetorical device.
Picture this: a man gets into a car, puts on a blindfold, starts the engine, puts his foot on the gas, and takes his hands off the wheel. That would never happen, you say? Maybe not, but something just as dangerous is
Introduces the issue with a startling idea.
happening all around you every day. Every time a motorist carries on a 5 cellular-phone conversation, that person is endangering not only his or her own life but also the lives of everyone else walking, bicycling, or driving nearby. Using cell phones while driving must be banned—now. A new study by the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet
Strong words (every time, endangering, must) help to establish a serious tone. Thesis statement forcefully
states a specific claim.
Association found that more than 200 million Americans use cellular 10
telephones. People talk on the phone while watching a ballgame, walking the dog, washing the dishes, or driving to work. Although talking on a cell phone distracts people from what they are doing in each of these cases, this distraction can have serious—even fatal—consequences for drivers. I have just learned to drive myself, so I know how complicated it is and how much
15 concentration it takes. “It’s absolutely clear from the research literature that talking on a cell phone while driving does elevate the risk of a crash,” said Dr. Donald Reinfurt of the University of North Carolina’s Highway Safety Research Center. “Using cell phones slows reaction times and degrades drivers’ tracking abilities.” 20
Do these slowed reflexes cause accidents? According to a study that Dr.
Relevant and convincing evidence, including an
expert opinion and a statistic, add support.
Reinfurt conducted, about one of every 600 driving accidents involved the use of a cell phone. However, he believes that “cell phones are involved in many more crashes” because most drivers won’t admit to police officers that they were on the phone at the time of the crash. According to a study of 25
drivers in Canada, “the risk of a collision when using a cellular telephone was four times higher than the risk when a cellular telephone was not being used.”
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277
Despite these frightening statistics, some people may say their time is so valuable that they absolutely need to talk while driving. What they fail to
30
consider is how much time they’d lose if they were injured—or worse— in a car accident. Others might argue that if lawmakers ban talking on a cell phone while driving, they will also have to ban other distractions such as eating, listening to music, and talking to passengers in the car. However, the Insurance Information Institute reports that “there is increasing
35
Transitional word
(Despite) tells the reader that the w riter is about
evidence that the dangers associated with cell-phone use outweigh those of
to discuss and rebut
other distractions.” One reason may be that talking on a cell phone takes
opposing arguments and
the driver’s hands, mind, and even eyes away from the car and the road
counterclaim s.
for extended periods. What about hands-free phones, then? In 2004, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that drivers using
40
hands-free sets had to redial their calls more than twice as often as those using handheld phones. They also braked more slowly and were less aware of other drivers, pedestrians, and roadside landmarks. Obviously, many people are already aware of this problem. But what are governments doing about it? Nearly 50 countries from Australia to
45
Zimbabwe have banned or restricted the use of cell phones while driving.
Varied sentence types and
In the United States, three states and the District of Columbia have
lengths throughout the
forbidden motorists from driving while talking on the telephone, and four
essay give the message m axim um im pact.
states have declared that only mature drivers may do so. More than twothirds of the states and the federal government are considering legislation
50
related to cell phones and driving. You could be the next victim of a driver distracted by a cell-phone conversation. So before that happens, remember: “Hang up—don’t bang up!” Send letters or e-mails to your local, state, and federal legislators urging them to ban the use of these devices in cars. Do it today.
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U N I T l : EARLY A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
Strong conclusion addresses the audience directly. The appeal to fear (You could be the next victim) is a dram atic persuasive technique.
The last tw o sentences are a call to action.
Writing Workshop
o
Part 2: Apply the Writing Process
1. Make sure you understand the prompt. Reread the prompt you chose on page 276. Underline the type of writingyou will do and(circie)the purpose of that writing. Look for information about your audience. If that information is not given,you can assume that your teacher and your classmates are your
WRITING/LANGUAGE STANDARD
10.a Editing for usage and style
W R IT IN G P R O M P T S o m e tim e s an issu e affects you so stro n g ly th a t you w a n t to co nvin ce others to act in a certain w ay. W rite a p ersu a sive e ssav(to co nvince yo u r) (read ers to agree w ith y o u r p oin t o f v ie w .)
I s h o u ld w r i te a b o u t so M e th in g i h c d r e a lly M a tte r s t o Me. & u t w h a t?
audience.
2. Think of issues that you truly care about. Use a graphic organizer to help you examine your opinion— and opposing viewpoints—
Issue.
Ml/ View
Opposing 'Views
low er voting age to 16
M any te e n s w o rk, p a y ta x e s
16-year-olds not
use o f c ell p h o n e s w h ile d riv in g *
e x tr e M e ly d a n g e ro u s
n e c e ssa ry in t h is busy w o r ld
freed o m o f speech on the Internet
a
r ig h t w e s h o u ld p r o t e c t
s h o u ld b e f m i t e d — soM e id ea s to o d a n g e ro u s
about issues that concern you. Put an asterisk by the issue you want to write about. CHUM Be sure that there are two ways to
look at your issue. There’s no need to persuade people if everyone already agrees.
3. Write a working thesis statement. Focus on your claim—the main idea that you want to persuade readers about. Then express that idea clearly in a sentence or two. You can modify your statement as you gather evidence
M a tu re enoug h
It would be. a good idea to consider banning the use o f cell phones while driving. If we dont, who knows how Many innocent people w ill be injured or killed?
and start drafting.
4. Collect support for your claim. Search the Internet and talk to experts to find facts, statistics, and other details that strengthen and clarify your ideas. See pages 1270 - 1273 : Choosing the Right Research Tools
• Mi/ own experience.- Driving takes focus and
concentration. • University study- Using cell phones slows drivers reaction
t/M es.
• Canadian study: Using a cell phone
M a kes crash risk
four times higher1 .
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279
^ D R A FTIN G
i
What Should 1 Do?
1. Put your ideas in a sensible order. First, introduce the issue. Next, present your thesis statement. As you plan the rest of your essay, be sure to think of opposing arguments. Make sure that you think of at least one answer, or counterclaim, for every opposing argument. To be certain that you include all the points you want to make, you may want to create an outline before you start writing.
j
W hat Does It Look Like? I. Introduction II. Evidence that the. problem is widespread A. M any people, use cell phones. (How many?) B. Driving takes concentration I know from experience.
III. Evidence that cell phone users cause accidents A. Cite statistic from university study. B>. Cite statistic from Canadian study.
IV. Opposing arguments (and counterclaims) A. 77m is valuable, (lose time in an accident) 3.
O ther distractions (phones even more distracting)
C. Hands-free phones (users brake slow ly)
V. legislation passed or pending A. In other countries &.
W ith in the United States
VI. Conclusion
2. Support your statements with reasons and evidence. Include logical reasons foryour point of view. Quote experts and share facts and statistics that make your position convincing. Explain how each piece of evidence backs up your claim.
This distraction can have serious— even fata l— consequences.
— M ain idea
“It's absolutely d e a r from the research literatu re th a t talking on a cell phone while driving does elevate the risk o f a crash',' said Dr. Donald Reinfurt o f the University o f N o rth Carolinas
Support-expert opinion
Highway Safety Research Center.
Use persuasive techniques.
Every time, a m otorist carries on a cellular-phone
Depending on your topic and your audience,you might appeal to readers’ ethics or to their emotions. However, no one likes to feel bullied. Choose words that are strong but not overbearing.
conversation, th a t person is dooming everyone who
See page 245 : Persuasive Techniques
280
U N I T l : EARLY A M E R I C A N W R I T I N G
comes near.^endangering not only his or her own life but also the lives o f everyone else walking, bicycling, or driving nearby.
Writing Workshop
1. Energize your language. • Read your draft aloud. [Bracket] words that sound vague or hesitant: a good idea, fairly important, maybe, kind of, and possibly.
Using ce.il phones while driving
M o s t be banned— now.
• Replace these words with ones that appropriately express your strong feelings: imperatives such as should and must, adjectives such as crucial, and adverbs such as immediately.
2. Prop up any weak arguments. • Reread your essay, underlining statements that have few or no supporting details or explanations. • Think of clear, convincing reasons to strengthen your position. Add facts, statistics, or other evidence.
Others Might argue th a t if lawmakers ban talking on a cell phone while driving, they w ill also have to ban other distractions such as eating, listening to music, and talking to passengers in the car. How ridiculous can you get?^owever, the Insurance Information Institute reports th a t"there is increasing evidence th a t the dangers associated w ith cell-phone use outweigh those o f other distractions'.'
3. Watch for mistakes in logic. • Ask a peer reader to (circle)any illogical statements in your essay. For example, have him or her look for words such as all,
N early 50 countries from A u stralia to 2-imbabwe have -eountrfis>utsid& o f the United States^bas)banned or restricted the use o f cell phones while driving.
every, no one, and never, which often signal overgeneralizations. • Instead, make accurate statements. See page 282 : Errors in Reasoning
4. Conclude concisely.
You could be the next victim o f a driver distracted
• Have a peer reader review your concluding paragraph. Does it sum up the issue? Does it spell out what you want him or her to do?
b\j a cell-phone conversation. So before th a t happens,
• Add information that summarizes the issue or makes a clear call for specific action.
urging them to ban the use o f these devices in cars.
remember■“Hang up— don’t bang up1 .'^Send le tte rs or e-mails to your local, state, and federal legislators Do it today.
See page 282 : Ask a Peer Reader
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Apply the Rubric A strong persuasive essay...
0 0
has a compelling introduction identifies the issue and the writer’s claim in a strong thesis statement
IZf persuasively supports the claim with reasons, facts, or statistics
2 f presents and answers opposing arguments Ef connects ideas clearly with transitional words and phrases
Errors in Reasoning Circular reasoning: supporting an idea by simply restating it (“Cell phones are distracting because they divert drivers’ attention.”)
Overgeneralization: making a statement that is too broad or general to be proved (“ Everyone has a cell phone nowadays.”)
Either/or fallacy: ignoring possible alternate outcomes of an action (“ Either you stop phoning while driving, or you’ll have an accident.”)
False cause: assuming that an event that
Ef varies sentence types and lengths
follows another was the result of the first event
Ef is targeted to a specific audience
("Countries that have banned phone use in cars have experienced economic growth.”)
and addresses that audience directly
See page R 22 : Identifying Faulty Reasoning
[Zf maintains an appropriate tone concludes with a summary or a call to action
Ask a Peer Reader • Did my essay change your position on the issue? Why or why not? • How could I strengthen the reasons and support in my essay?
Check Your Grammar Use parallel structure to express similar ideas.
P ic tu r e th is : a M an g e ts in to a c a r, p u t s on a p u ts b lin d fo ld , s t a r t s t h e engine.,.p u t t i n g h is f o o t ta k e s on t h e gas, a n d ^ h is h a n d s a r e o f f t h e w h e e l
I
• How could I improve my conclusion? See page R68: Parallel Structure
WritingOn|ine P U B L IS H IN G O PTIO NS For p u b lish ing options, visit the W riting Center at ClassZone.com.
ASSESSM ENT PREPARATION For w ritin g and gram m ar assessm ent practice, go to the Assessment Center at ClassZone.com.
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U N IT l: EARLY A M E R IC A N W R IT IN G
O
WRITING/LANGUAGE STANDARD 8 Write the text for an oral presentation
Presenting a Persuasive Speech You’ve spent time and effort crafting an outstanding persuasive essay. Now put your words into action by presenting a speech on the same topic.
Planning the Speech 1. Remember your purpose and audience. Review the reason you wrote your essay, and think about the readers you were originally addressing. Then consider what the audience for your speech might know about the issue. Will you speak to the audience as an authority or as a peer? If necessary, collect additional background information or consider eliminating specific points.
2. Turn your essay into a script. Mark up a copy of your essay indicating where to insert or delete information. Highlight statements you want to stress and indicate how you want to stress them— for example, by slowing down, raising your voice, or including gestures. Also think of helpful visuals to include, such as posters or video clips. Mark your script to indicate when you want to show them. 3. Fine-tune your speech. Practice in front of a mirror and with friends and family. Smoothly integrate the visuals with the speech. Ask for feedback and suggestions.
Delivering the Speech 1. Look at your audience. As you deliver your speech and display the visuals you have created, focus on different people throughout the room. This will show your audience that you are addressing everyone, even people who may not agree with your stance on the issue.
2. Make your voice, facial expressions, and gestures work for you. Vary your pace, tone of voice, and volume to hold your audience’s attention and emphasize your points. Augment your message with appropriate facial expressions and gestures. For example,you might frown slightly when describing an opposing argument. 3. Stay relaxed and responsive to audience reactions. Remind yourself to stand naturally and speak slowly. Calmly respond to talking or fidgeting in the audience by picking up the pace or speaking more loudly and clearly. See page R82 : Evaluate a Persuasive Speech
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283
Assessment Practice
Reading Comprehension DIRECTIONS
Read these selections and answer the questions that follow.
Defense of the Constitutions of Government in Massachusetts During the Revolution
fr o m ASSESS
The practice test item s on the next few pages m atch skills listed on the U nit G o als page (page 14) and
John Adams
addressed th ro u gh o u t th is u n it.Takin g th is practice test w ill help you assess yo ur know ledge of these skills and determ ine yo ur readiness for the U nit Test. REVIEW
After you take th e practice test, yo ur teach er can help you id e n tify a n y sk ills you need to review. • Elem en ts o f an A rg u m en t • Persuasive Techniques • H istorical Context • D escriptive D etails • Prim ary Source • M u ltip le -M e a n in g W ords • Specialized V ocab ulary: Political W ords • Adverb C lau ses • C om plex and C o m p o u n d -C o m p le x Sentences • Prepositional Phrases
/ A
ASSESSM EN T
ONLINE For more assessm ent practice and test-taking tips, go to the Assessment Center at ClassZone.com.
284
It is become a kind o f fashion among writers, to admit, as a maxim, that if you could be always sure o f a wise, active, and virtuous prince, monarchy would be the best o f governments. But this is so far from being admissible, that it will forever remain true, that a free government has a great advantage over a simple monarchy. The best and wisest prince, by means o f a freer communication with his people, and the greater opportunities to collect the best advice from the best o f his subjects, would have an immense advantage in a free state over a monarchy. A senate consisting o f all that is most noble, wealthy, and able in the nation, with a right to counsel the crown at all times, is a check to ministers, and a security 10 against abuses, such as a body o f nobles who never meet, and have no such right, can never supply. Another assembly, composed o f representatives chosen by the people in all parts, gives free access to the whole nation, and communicates all its wants, knowledge, projects, and wishes to government; it excites emulation among all classes, removes complaints, redresses grievances, affords opportunities o f exertion to genius, though in obscurity, and gives full scope to all the faculties o f man; it opens a passage for every speculation to the legislature, to administration, and to the public; it gives a universal energy to the human character, in every part o f the state, such as never can be obtained in a monarchy. There is a third particular which deserves attention both from governments 20 and people. In a simple monarchy, the ministers o f state can never know their friends from their enemies; secret cabals undermine their influence, and blast their reputation. This occasions a jealousy ever anxious and irritated, which never thinks the government safe w ithout an encouragement o f informers and spies, throughout every part o f the state, who interrupt the tranquillity o f private life, destroy the confidence o f families in their own domestics and in one another, and poison freedom in its sweetest retirements. In a free government, on the contrary, the ministers can have no enemies o f consequence but among the members o f the great or little council, where every man is obliged to take his side, and declare his opinion, upon every question. This circumstance alone, to every manly mind, 30 would be sufficient to decide the preference in favor o f a free government.
U N IT l: EARLY A M E RIC A N W R IT IN G
CL
SKILLS PRACTICE
fr o m
Boston Tea Party George Hewes
It was now evening, and I immediately dressed m yself in the costume o f an Indian, equipped w ith a small hatchet, which I and m y associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in the shop o f a blacksmith, I repaired to G riffins wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. W hen I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place o f our destination. . . . We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests o f tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to 10 execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests w ith our tomahawks, so as
thoroughly to expose them to the effects o f the water. In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing o f the tea in the same way, at the same time. W e were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us. W e then quietly retired to our several places o f residence, w ithout having any conversation with each other, or taking any measures to discover who were our associates; nor do I recollect o f our having had the knowledge o f the name o f a single individual concerned in that affair, except that o f Leonard Pitt, the 20 commander o f my division, w hom I have mentioned. There appeared to be an
understanding that each individual should volunteer his services, keep his own secret, and risk the consequence for himself. No disorder took place during that transaction, and it was observed at that time that the stillest night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for many months. . . . Another attempt was made to save a little tea from the ruins o f the cargo by a tall, aged man who wore a large cocked hat and white wig, which was fashionable at that time. He had sleightly slipped a little into his pocket, but being detected, they seized him and, taking his hat and wig from his head, threw them, together with the tea, o f which they had emptied his pockets, into the water. In 30 consideration o f his advanced age, he was permitted to escape, w ith now and then a slight kick. The next morning, after we had cleared the ships o f the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities o f it were floating upon the surface o f the water; and to prevent the possibility o f any o f its being saved for use, a number o f small
A S SE S SM E N T PR A CTICE
285
boats were manned by sailors and cidzens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles so thoroughly drenched it as to render its entire destruction inevitable.
Comprehension DIRECTIONS Answer these questions about the excerpt from “Defense o f the Constitutions o f Government in Massachusetts During the Revolution. ”
1. Which position on government does Adams favor? A Monarchies are the best form of government because they have wise and virtuous rulers. B Writers should be consulted when a country forms its government because they are well informed. C A free state is the best form of government because its ideas and opinions come from the people. D Only the best and wisest prince who communicates with his subjects should rule a nation. 2. The words enemies, informers, and spies in lines 20-26 appeal to the emotion of A excitement C anger B fear D guilt 3. Which claim does Adams make about a free government in lines 26—29? A The best way to run a free government is with a large assembly and a small one. B Members of a free government often take a tough-minded approach to governing. C People who serve in a free government often express strong opinions. D The leaders in a free government usually have few hidden enemies.
4. “Every manly mind” in line 29 is an example of which persuasive technique? A an appeal by association B an appeal to authority C an ethical appeal D loaded language 5. Which quote contains loaded language? A “monarchy would be the best of governments” (lines 2—3) B “such as a body of nobles who never meet” (line 10) C “gives free access to the whole nation” (line 12) D “poison freedom in its sweetest retirements” (line 26) 6. This excerpt reflects the view of colonists who A believed that political rivalries would destroy the British monarchy
B
questioned British rule and tried to form a new government C upheld the ideals of a monarchy D had simple ideas about government DIRECTIONS Answer these questions about the excerpt from “Boston Tea Party. ”
7. Which descriptive details most clearly place this account in its historical context? A tomahawk, chests of tea, coal dust B armed ships, hatches, small boats C evening, three hours, next morning D sailors, citizens, aged man
Assessment Practice
a 8 . This narrative is a primary source because it is
A B
a political argument a participant’s report
C an accurate history
D
a published document
SKILLS PRACTICE
1 2 . The descriptive details in this account
emphasize that the Boston Tea Party was
A B C D
poorly planned carried out in secret led by Native Americans authorized by the British
9 . This account by a colonial shoemaker calls
attention to
A B
an alliance between Native Americans and tradespeople a lack o f leadership during the Revolutionary War
C the tension between wealthy and poor people in the colonies
D
the role o f the common people in the Revolution
DIRECTIONS
Answer this question about both
selections. 1 3 . Both primary sources give the reader insight
into the
A B C D
origins o f the United States benefits o f a constitution advantages o f a monarchy fashions o f the period
1 0 . The colonists most likely dressed as Native
Americans to
A B
honor Native American traditions forge an alliance against the British
Written Response Write three or fou r sentences to answer this question.
SHORT RESPONSE
C protect themselves from the British
D
cause economic problems in the colonies
1 1 . The descriptive anecdote in lines 2 5 -3 1 suggests that
A
B
tea was a prized commodity among the colonists in Boston the elderly were treated with disrespect in colonial times
C many participants thought the Boston Tea Party was amusing
1 4 . Cite three details from George Hewes’s
account that identify it as a primary source.
Write two or three paragraphs to answer this question. EXTENDED RESPONSE
15. W hat argument does John Adams make in lines 1 1 - 1 8 in favor o f an assembly o f representatives? Cite three reasons he gives to support his argument.
D violent attacks were characteristic o f the Boston Tea Party
■>87
Vocabulary Use context clues and your knowledge ofspecialized vocabidary to answer the following questions about political words in the excerpt from “Defense o f the Constitutions o f Government in Massachusetts During the Revolution. ” DIRECTIONS
1. What is the most likely meaning of the word monarchy as it is used in line 2? “It is become a kind of fashion among writers, to admit, as a maxim, that if you could be always sure of a wise, active, and virtuous prince, monarchy would be the best of governments.” A a state headed by a leader who usually rules by hereditary right B a body of elected officials who hold the supreme power in a nation C a small group of persons or a family who rule together D a government that shares power with the people 2. What is the most likely meaning of the word cabals as it is used in line 21 ? “ . . . secret cabals undermine their influence, and blast their reputation.” A social clubs B religious denominations C groups of conspirators D military organizations 3. What is the most likely meaning of the word ministers as it is used in line 27? “In a free government, on the contrary, the ministers can have no enemies of consequence. A church leaders B public officials
C foreign diplomats D business tycoons
DIRECTIONS Use context clues and your knowledge o f multiple-meaning words to answer the following questions based on the excerpt from “Boston Tea Party. ”
4. Which meaning of the word execute is used in line 10? “ . . . and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water.” A create B carry out C kill D validate 5. Which meaning of the word several is used in line 16? “We then quietly retired to our several places of residence. . . . ” A same B separate C small number of D more than two or three 6. Which meaning of the word measures is used in line 17? “. . . without having any conversation with each other, or taking any measures to discover who were our associates . . .” A actions B dimensions C quantities D legislative bills
Assessment Practice
a
SKILLS PRACTICE
Writing & Grammar DIRECTIONS
Read this passage and answer the questions thatfollow.
(1) George Washington hired engineer Pierre L’Enfant to plan a new capital city. (2) The new capital would be called Federal City and would be located in Maryland. (3) L’Enfant was later fired. (4) Surveyor Andrew Ellicott redrew the plans but upheld much of L’Enfant’s vision. (5) By 1800, President John Adams had moved into the White House. (6) It was far from finished. (7) It was damp. (8) The city was later renamed. (9) Today, Washington, D.C., reflects L’Enfant’s vision of a city of open space. 1. How might you rewrite sentence 1 by using an adverb clause? A George Washington hired engineer Pierre L’Enfant to plan a new capital city, which would be situated between two rivers. B In 1791, George Washington hired engineer Pierre L’Enfant to plan a new capital city. C When George Washington decided to establish a new capital city in 1791, he hired engineer Pierre L’Enfant to do the planning.
D
3.
A B C D
Excited about the prospect of a new capital city, George Washington hired engineer Pierre L’Enfant to plan it. 4.
2.
How might you combine sentences 3 and 4 to form a compound-complex sentence? A L’Enfant was later fired, but when surveyor Andrew Ellicott redrew the plans, he upheld much of L’Enfant’s vision. B L’Enfant was later fired, and surveyor Andrew Ellicott redrew the plans but upheld much of L’Enfant’s vision. C When redrawing the plans, surveyor Andrew Ellicott upheld much of L’Enfant’s vision, even though L’Enfant was fired. D Much of L’Enfant’s vision was upheld by surveyor Andrew Ellicott, who redrew the plans after L’Enfant was fired.
How might you combine sentences 5 and 6 to form a complex sentence? By 1800, President John Adams had moved into the White House, even though it was far from finished. By 1800, President John Adams had moved into the White House, but it was far from finished. By 1800, President John Adams had moved into the White House; however, it was far from finished. By 1800, President John Adams had moved into the White House; it was far from finished.
Identify a prepositional phrase that would add descriptive detail to the end of sentence 7. A and leaked incessantly B in many of the rooms C because the plaster was wet D and very musty
5. Identify a prepositional phrase that would add descriptive detail to the end of sentence 8. A even as it grew B to reflect Washington’s involvement C Washington, D.C. D after Washington’s death
289
Ideas for Independent Reading Continue exploring the Questions of the Times on pages 16-17 with these additional works.
Who owns the LAND?
What makes an EXPLORER?
The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson
The Four Voyages
by Mary Rowlandson In February 1676, during a land dispute called King Philip’s War, a m inister’s w ife named M ary Rowlandson w as taken hostage by W am panoag warriors. Packed w ith violence, cruelty, piety, and anger, Rowlandson’s account of her three-m onth captivity became one of the first bestsellers in colonial Am erica.
by Christopher Columbus In these jou rnals and eyew itness accounts, Christopher C olum bus com es across as a com plex, driven, yet entirely understandable person. In place of the confident adventurer o f story, we see a man of mixed motives, influenced equally by greed, religious passion, and scientific curiosity. These journals shed light on the im pulses that pushed Colum bus to make the m ost significant journeys of his tim e.
The Portable North American Indian Reader edited by Fredrick W. Turner As an introduction to the verbal art of Native Am ericans, this anthology has few equals. It includes myths, tales, poetry, and speeches from the many diverse Native Am erican cultures w ho thrived before, during, and after contact w ith European explorers and settlers. Modern selections show how traditional Indian kinship w ith the land continues to the present day.
Love and Hate in Jamestown by David Price In 16 0 7,10 5 Englishm en arrived in w hat would become the V irginia settlem ent of Jamestown. They cam e seeking gold, a route to the Orient, and survivors from the lost Roanoke Colony. W hat they found instead were Native Am erican people— some friendly, som e brutally hostile— and day after day o f challenges, hardship, and misery.
Finding the Center: The Art of the Zuni Storyteller translated by Dennis Tedlock Thought to have descended from the Anasazi, a cliff-dw elling people of 1,000 years ago, the Zuni of present-day New M exico enjoy a rich oral heritage handed down from long before the first Europeans arrived. The folklorist Dennis Tedlock has collected, translated, and transcribed m any key Zuni stories in this volume, placing the words on the page in a m anner that m im ics their oral performance.
290
Voyages and Discoveries by Richard Hakluyt Early English explorers were a fascinating breed. These sailors were w illing— even eager—to face unknown dangers for the sake of their country and the glory and adventure it would bring. Using ships’ records, charts, and logs, Richard Hakluyt pulls togetherthe stories of such adventurers as Sir Francis Drake, whose yen for exploration enabled the European settlement of America.
Are people basically GOOD?
Who has the right to RULE?
The Diary and Life of Samuel Sewall
1776
edited by Mel Yazawa
by David McCullough
Samuel Sewall served as one of the judges in the Salem w itchcraft trials, voting to hang 19 people for w holly im aginary offenses. Yet in his diary, we see another side of this forbidding figure. He w restles w ith lingering guilt over his role in that public hysteria, feels remorse over the unfair treatm ent of the Indians, recalls the pleasures of food and marriage, and grieves bitterly over the loss of friends and fam ily.
How did a ragtag group of farm ers m anage to defeat the w orld’s m ost powerful arm y? Th at is the question historian David M cCullough explores in this fascinating look at one pivotal year in our nation’s history. Persistence, optimism, ingenuity, leadership, luck, and w eather are the elem ents to w hich M cCullough attributes the colonists’ success in the Revolutionary War.
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
The Puritan DilemmarThe Story of John Winthrop
by Bartolome de Las Casas
by Edmund 5. Morgan
A Spanish priest and missionary, Las Casas w as appalled by the abuse and enslavem ent of Native Am ericans. He dedicated him self to their em ancipation, returning to Spain to plead their case before the king, then going back to the New World to serve as their official protector.
As the leader of M assachusetts Bay Colony for nearly 20 years, John W inthrop spent his life com bining religious devotion with power politics. This biography shines a spotlight upon issues that m attered m ost to W inthrop: the relationship between individual liberties and co m m un ity harmony, and the legitim acy of political authority.
Letters from an American Farmer by Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecaeur Crevecoeur’s "letters," originally w ritten as essays, paint a mesm erizing portrait of a fertile country populated w ith roughmannered yet skilled and kindhearted people. Crevecceur addresses such difficult topics as the hardships of the frontier, the plight of women, and the evils of slavery. Yet such problems fade before his faith in the righteousness of Am erican individualism .
The Adams-Jefferson Letters edited by Lester J. Cappon Divided by political party and regional affiliation, Thom as Jefferson of Virginia and John Adam s of M assachusetts were united in their love of country and their concern for the future o f democracy. This collection of letters, including contributions by Abigail Adam s (John Adams's gifted wife), touches upon virtu ally every m ajor issue that faced the young republic.
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LITERARY ANALYSIS
Understand rom anticism as a literary m ovem ent Identify elem ents of transcendentalism Identify and analyze blank verse Identify and exam ine stanza, rhym e scheme, and meter Analyze elem ents used to create mood Identify and evaluate sound devices and im agery Interpret symbol and allegory Identify and analyze satire and unity of effect Analyze elem ents of an essay
READING
Paraphrase m ain ideas; sum m arize inform ation; take notes C larify m eaning of archaic vocabulary; exam ine com plex sentences
WRITING AND GRAMMAR
W rite a reflective essay Use rhetorical questions Identify and use parallelism and adjective clauses Use im perative sentences and dashes
SPEAKING, LISTENING, AND VIEWING VOCABULARY
Conduct an interview Analyze how m eaning is conveyed in visual media Use knowledge of word roots and affixes to determ ine word m eaning Research word origins
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
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rom anticism
• allegory
• blank verse
symbol
• satire
• transcendentalism
) C L A S S Z O N E .C O M
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Literature and Reading Center W ritin g Center Vocabulary Center
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American Romanticism
1800-1855 C E L E B R A T IN G T H E IN D IV ID U A L • The Early Romantics
• The Transcendentalists
• The Fireside Poets
• American Gothic
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Questions of the Times DISCUSS In small groups or as a class, discuss the following questions. Then read on to learn how writers— and other Americans— grappled with these issues during the American romantic period.
Is the p rice o f progress ever
Is it patriotic to protest one’s
TOO HIGH?
GOVE RNM EN T?
D u rin g th e ro m an tic period, A m erica seem ed lim itle s s—
D em o cracy w as flo u ris h in g in th e e a rly 19th cen tu ry and
new fron tiers w ere b eing explored every day, and in v e n
citize n s fe lt o p tim is tic a b o u t th e ir country. Yet th e problem s
tio n s advanced both fa rm in g and ind ustry. Yet to m a n y
o f th e age— slavery, w o m e n ’s d ise n fra n ch ise m e n t, th e m is
people, life felt fran tic and soulless. Is progress alw ays
tre a tm e n t o f w o rke rs— w ere severe, and protestors ag itated
w orth its price?
for ch an ge . W h a t role do you th in k a ctiv ism p lays in a d e m o cracy? U n d er w h a t circu m sta n ces, if any, should citize n s lose th e ir rig h t to protest?
Does everyone have a “D A R K S I D E ” ?
Where do p eop le look fo r TRUTH?
A lth o ug h m ost ro m a n tic w riters reflected th e o p tim ism
To escape th e m a te ria lis m and h ectic pace o f in d u stria liz a
o f th e ir tim es, som e pondered th e darker side o f h u m an
tio n , m a n y w rite rs o f th e age tu rn e d to n ature and to the
nature. Edgar A llan Poe, for e xam p le, co njectu red th a t in
se lf for sim p lic ity, tru th , and beauty. In e a rlie r centuries,
extrem e situ a tio n s people w o u ld reveal th e ir true, evil
people had looked to reason or to God for answ ers. W here
natures. Do you th in k everyone has a d ark sid e ? W h a t
do you th in k people tu rn to m ake sense o f th e ir lives to day?
m ig h t m ake th e dark side p revail?
Patriotic and individualistic, urban and untamed, wealthy and enslaved—Americans in the first h a lf o f the 19th century em bodied a host o f contradictions. Struggling to make sense o f their complex, inconsistent society, writers o f the p eriod turned in w ardfor a sense o f truth. Their movement, known as romanticism, explored the glories o f the individual spirit, the beauty o f nature, and the possibilities o f the imagination.
Romanticism: Historical Context IA ’ XM IM iW Historical forces clearly shaped the literature of the American romantic period. Writers responded— positively and negatively—to the country’s astonishing growth and to the booming Industrial Revolution.
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ALABAMA STANDARDS
READING STANDARD 3 Read with comprehension
informational reading materials
The Spirit of Exploration Writers of the romantic period were witness to a period of great growth and opportunity for the young American nation. With that growth, however, came a price. In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the country’s size. In the years that followed, explorers and settlers pushed farther and farther west. Settlers moved for largely practical reasons: to make money and to gain land. But each bit of land settled by white Americans was taken from Native American populations who had lived there for generations. The Indian Removal Act of 1830, for example, required Native Americans to relocate west. As whites invaded their homelands, many Native Americans saw no choice but to comply. And those who did not were simply—and often brutally—forced to leave. Toward the middle of the century, Americans embraced the notion of “manifest destiny”—the idea that it was the destiny of the United States to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican territory. Mexicans disagreed, of course. When Texas was annexed from Mexico by the United States in 1845, it set off the Mexican-American War. Many Americans, including writer Henry David Thoreau, found the war to be immoral— a war fought mainly to expand slavery. “Can there not be a government,” he wrote, “in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?” In the end, the United States defeated Mexico and, through treaties and subsequent land purchases from the Mexican government, established the current borders of the 48 contiguous United States. W E S T W A R D E X P A N S IO N
TAKING NOTES Outlining As you read this introduction, use an outline to record the main ideas about the characteristics and the literature of the period. You can use article headings, boldfaced terms, and the information in these boxes as starting points. (See page R49 in the Research Handbook for more help w ith outlining.)
1. Historical Context A. S p irit o f Exploration /. W estw ard Expansion Z. M anifest D&st/nif
£>. Growth o f Industry
Growth of Industry The stories and essays of the romantic period reflect an enormous shift in the attitudes and working habits of many Americans. When the War of 1812 interrupted trade with the British, Americans were suddenly forced to produce many of the goods they had previously imported. The Industrial Revolution began, changing the country from a largely agrarian economy to an industrial powerhouse. The factory system changed the way of life for many Americans, but not always for the better. People left their farms for the cities, working long hours for low wages in harsh conditions. In addition, Northeastern textile mills’ demand for cotton played a role in the expansion of slavery in the South. Writers of this period reacted to the negative effects of industrialization— the commercialism, hectic pace, and lack of conscience—by turning to nature and to the self for simplicity, truth, and beauty. Detail of Summer Afternoon on the Hudson (1852), Jasper Francis Crospey. © Christie’s Images/Corbis.
A D D IT IO N A L BACKGROUND For more on the American romantic period, visit the Literature Center at CiassZone.com.
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Cultural Influences Many romantic writers were outspoken in their support for human rights. Their works created awareness of the injustice of slavery and called for reform in many other areas as well.
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The Tragedy of Slavery From 1793 to I860, cotton production rose greatly, due to the invention of the cotton gin and other farming machinery. So did the number of enslaved workers. Plantation owners were the wealthiest and most powerful people in the South, yet they were relatively few in number. Most Southern farmers held few or no slaves, but they aspired to. They felt that slavery had become necessary for increasing profits. For slaves, life was brutal. Field workers—men, women, and children—rose before dawn and worked in the fields until bedtime. Many were beaten or otherwise abused. And worst of all, family members were sold away from one another. Often family members attempted to escape to be with one another again. Unfortunately, escapes were rarely successful. Tension over slavery increased between the North and the South. Many in the North saw slavery as immoral and worked to have it abolished. Others worried as the balance of power between free and slave states shifted with each new state entering the Union. Romantic poets James Russell Lowell and John Greenleaf Whittier wrote abolitionist journalism and poetry, and even Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published a volume of antislavery poems. Perhaps the greatest social achievement of the romantics was to create awareness of slavery’s cruelty.
This antislavery medal was created to help grow support for the abolition movement.
A Voice from the Times M en! Whose boast it is that ye Come o f fathers brave and free, I f there breathe on earth a slave, Are ye truly free and brave? I f ye do not feel the chain, When it works a brother’s pain, Are ye not base slaves indeed, Slaves unworthy to be freed?
Call for Social Reform By the mid-19th century, many Americans had joined together to fight slavery and the other social ills of the time. Many leading writers of the romantic movement were outspoken in their support for human rights. William Cullen Bryant and James Russell Lowell, for example, were prominent abolitionists who also supported workers’ and women’s rights. The abolition movement began by advocating resettlement of blacks in Africa. But most enslaved African Americans had been born and raised in the United States and resented the idea of being forced to leave. Instead, white and black abolitionists (including women) began to join together to work for emancipation. They formed societies, spoke at conventions, published newspapers, and swamped Congress with petitions to end slavery.
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—James Russell Lowell fro m "Stanzas on Freedom”
In the 1830s and 1840s, workers began to agitate as well, protesting low wages and deteriorating working conditions. Many struck, but few were successful—a large pool of immigrants was always ready to take their places. Still, workers began forming unions, and slowly conditions improved. Women in the early 19th century found much to protest. They could neither vote nor sit on juries. Their education rarely extended beyond elementary school. When they married, their property and money became their husband’s. Many even lacked guardianship rights over their children. Throughout this period, women worked for change, gathering in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York, to continue their long fight for women’s rights.
THE ARTISTS GALLERY
Ideas of the Age KW M H M M Reflecting the optimism of their growing country,
American romantic writers forged a national literature for the very first time. Yet sectionalism threatened to tear the nation apart.
Nationalism vs. Sectionalism In the early 1800s, many Supreme Court decisions strengthened the federal government’s power over the states. At the same time, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams established a foreign policy guided by nationalism —the belief that national interests should be placed ahead of regional concerns or the interests of other countries. Reflecting the national pride and optimism of the American people, writers of this age forged a literature entirely the nation’s own. For the first time, writers were not imitating their European counterparts, but were listening to their own voices and writing with a distinctly American accent. However, this new spirit of nationalism was challenged by the question of slavery. Up until 1818, the United States had consisted of ten free and ten slave states. As new territories tried to enter the Union, the North and South wrangled over the balance of power between free and slave states. Economic interests also challenged nationalism. Tariffs on manufactured goods from Britain forced Southerners to buy more expensive, Northern-manufactured goods. From the South’s point of view, the North was getting rich at the South’s expense. Sectionalism, or the placing of the interests of one’s own region ahead of the nation as a whole, began to take hold.
The Hudson River School The paintings on pages 296 and 300 are excellent examples of the works of the Hudson River School artists. This group of landscape painters flourished between 1825 and 1870. The artists knew one another and used similar techniques for portraying nature scenes. American Style Thomas Cole painted A View o f the M ountain Pass Called the Notch o f the White M ountains (1839), shown here and on page 293. He and the other Hudson River artists created passionate wilderness scenes that appealed to the imagination and made earlier American landscapes seem weak and unobserved. Like the American romantic writers of the time, the Hudson River School artists made a conscious effort to create an American style— one based on nature and the emotions. Real-Life Inspiration The painting shown in detail here has an interesting history. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story about a real-life landslide at Crawford Notch that took the lives of nine people. The story may have piqued Cole’s interest in the scene. In the painting Cole highlights the insignificance and vulnerability of the human figures in the face of the coming storm. One barely notices the settlers’ homes or the rider, who seems oblivious to the ominous clouds gathering at the upper left— hinting of disaster to come.
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Romantic Literature llW dfrH M -'k Themes of individualism and nature unified the
For Your Outline
writing of the American romantic movement, despite dramatic differences in the writers’ focus and style.
THE EARLY ROMANTICS
The Early Romantics The early American romantic writers may have been influenced more by the literature of another continent than by that of their own. Romanticism had first emerged in Europe in the late 18th century, in reaction to the neoclassicism of the period that had preceded it. Where neoclassical writers admired and imitated classical forms, the romantics looked to nature for inspiration. Where neoclassicists valued reason, the romantics celebrated emotions and the imagination. The first American romantic writers grew
• were inspired by the beauty of nature • emphasized emotions and the imagination over reason • celebrated the individual spirit
Kindred Spirits (1849), Asher B. Durand. © Francis G. Mayer/Corbis.
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A N A L Y Z E V IS U A L S This painting is a memorial to painter Asher B. Durand’s friend and fellow Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole (here shown with romantic poet W illiam Cullen Bryant). Although Durand was influenced by Cole, his works express stillness and a realistic imitation of nature, in contrast to Cole’s more expressive rendering. Compare this painting with Cole’s on the previous page. How are they similar? How are they different?
A collection of major works by early American romantics
out of this European tradition, shaping and molding it to fit their unique American identity. They too were reacting to what had come before—the rationality of the Age of Reason and the strict doctrines of Puritanism. Indeed, much had changed since the Puritan era in America, and the writers of the early romantic period reflected the more modern sensibilities of their day. As the U.S. population exploded and the country’s borders moved westward, American writers aimed to capture the energy and character of their growing country. They saw the limits of reason and instead celebrated the glories of the individual spirit, the emotions, and the imagination as basic elements of human nature. The splendors of nature inspired the romantics more than the fear of God, and some of them felt a fascination with the supernatural. William Cullen Bryant’s 1817 poem “Thanatopsis” A Voice from the Times went a long way toward establishing romanticism as the major force in the literature of mid-19th century America. To him who in the love o f N ature holds Bryant followed the trend of the English romantics by C om m union w ith her visible form s, she speaks celebrating nature in his work. Romanticism was not only A various language; f o r his ga yer hours a movement in poetry, however. Washington Irving, She has a voice o f gladness, a n d a sm ile the first American writer esteemed abroad, pioneered And eloq u en ce o f beauty, a n d she glid es the short story as a literary form. He put America on the Into his darker musings, w ith a m ild literary map and also influenced other writers, particularly Nathaniel Hawthorne. Janies Fenimore Cooper is And h ea lin g sympathy, that steals aw ay remembered for writing the first truly original American Their sharpness, ere he is aware. . . . novel. He celebrated the American spirit in all his frontier —William Cullen Bryant novels, known as The Leatherstocking Tales. The early from “Thanatopsis” romantic writers were the pioneers of America’s national literature, setting the course for those who would follow. U N I T IN T R O D U C T IO N
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The legendary Hiawatha, memorialized in Longfellow’s poem “ The Song of H iaw atha”
The Fireside Poets Other writers influential in forging an American literature were the Fireside Poets, a group of New England poets whose work was morally uplifting and romantically engaging. The group’s name came from the family custom of reading poetry aloud beside a fire, a common form of entertainment in the 19th century. With the Fireside Poets, the poetry of American writers was, for the first time, on equal footing with that of their British counterparts. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the best-known member of the group, stressed individualism and an appreciation of nature in his work. His poems took for their subject matter the more colorful aspects of America’s past. “Evangeline,” for example, tells of lovers who are separated during the French and Indian War, while “The Song of Hiawatha” takes its themes from Native American folklore. Longfellow’s fame was so great that after his death, he was honored with a plaque in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey in London—the only American poet ever to receive such an honor. The other Fireside Poets, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and John Greenleaf Whittier, were strongly committed to using poetry to bring about social reform. They were interested in such issues as abolition, women’s rights, improvement of factory conditions, and temperance. They also championed the common person—perhaps as an outgrowth of the form of democracy that had been sweeping the land since President Jackson took office in 1829. Jackson had crusaded against control of the government by the wealthy and promised to look out for the interests of common people. One can see this regard for the common person in the work of Whittier, for example, who wrote of farmers, lumbermen, migrants, and the poor. 302
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► For Your Outline THE FIRESIDE POETS • emphasized moral themes in work • were viewed as equals of British poets of the day • stressed individualism and an appreciation of nature • were committed to social reform
The Transcendentalists By the mid-1800s, Americans were taking new pride in their emerging culture. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a New England writer, nurtured this pride. Emerson led a group practicing transcendentalism —a philosophical and literary movement that emphasized living a simple life and celebrating the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and imagination. Exalting the dignity of the individual, the transcendentalist stressed American ideas of optimism, freedom, and self-reliance. The term transcendentalism came from Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who wrote of “transcendent forms” of knowledge that exist beyond reason and experience. Emerson gave this philosophy a peculiarly American spin: he said that every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own, through intuition. The transcendentalists believed that people are inherently good and should follow their own beliefs, however different these beliefs may be from the norm. Both Emersons essay “Self-Reliance” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” address this faith in the integrity of the individual. Not surprisingly, a major target for the transcendentalists’ criticism was their Puritan heritage, with its emphasis on material prosperity and rigid obedience to the laws of society. The transcendentalists disliked the commercial, financial side of American life and stressed instead spiritual well-being, achieved through intellectual activity and a close relationship to nature. Thoreau put his beliefs into practice by building a small cabin on Walden Pond and living there for two years, writing and studying nature. Transcendental ideas lived on in American culture in the works of later poets such as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Wallace Stevens and through the civil rights movement of the 20th century. In the short term, however, transcendentalists’ optimism began to fade when confronted with the persistence of slavery and the difficulty in abolishing it.
► For Your Outline THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS • emphasized living a simple life • stressed a close relationship to nature • celebrated emotions and the imagination • stressed individualism and self-reliance • believed intuition can lead to knowledge • believed in the inherent goodness of people • encouraged spiritual well-being over financial well-being
A Voice from the Times Go con fid en tly in the direction o f y o u r dream s! Live the life y o u ’v e im agined. As y o u sim plify y o u r life, the laws o f the universe w ill be simpler. —Henry David Thoreau V»-■ ■■
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A replica of Thoreau’s io-by-15-foot cabin on the shore of Walden Pond
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American Gothic: The “Brooding” Romantics Not all American romantics were optimistic or had faith in the innate goodness of humankind, however. Three other giants from this period, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville are what have been called “brooding” romantics or “anti-transcendentalists.” Theirs is a complex philosophy, filled with dark currents and a deep awareness of the human capacity for evil. While Irving had been satisfied if his work kept “mankind in good humor with one another,” Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe were haunted by a darker vision of human existence. Their stories are characterized by a probing of the inner life of their characters, and examination of the complex and often mysterious forces that motivate human behavior. They are romantic, however, in their emphasis on emotion, nature, the individual, and the unusual.
For Your Outline AMERICAN GOTHIC: THE “ BROODING” ROMANTICS • did not believe in the innate goodness of people • explored the human capacity for evil • probed the inner life of characters • explored characters’ motivations
Poe and Hawthorne, and to a lesser extent • agreed with romantic Melville, used gothic elements such as grotesque characters, bizarre situations, emphasis on emotion, nature, and the individual and violent events in their fiction. The gothic tradition had begun in Europe, perhaps inspired by the gothic architecture of the Middle Ages. European • included elements o ffa n ta s ya n d th e writers of the 19th century, such as Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, supernatural in works delighted readers with their deliciously creepy accounts of monsters, vampires, and humans with a large capacity for evil. The romantic movement itself also gave rise to gothic literature. Once the romantics freed the imagination from the restrictions of reason, they could follow it wherever it might go. For the dark romantics, the imagination led to the threshold of the unknown—that shadowy region where the fantastic, the demonic, and the insane reside. Edgar Allan Poe, of course, was the master of the gothic form in the United States. He explored human psychology from the inside, using first-person narrators who were sometimes criminal or even insane. His plots involved extreme situations—not just murder, but live burials, physical and mental torture, and retribution from A Voice from the Times beyond the grave. I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere Nathaniel Hawthorne agreed with the romantic house, an d the simple landscape features o f the emphasis on emotion and the individual. However, he did not see these as completely positive forces. domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant His works, such as The Scarlet Letter and “The eye-like windows—upon a fe w rank sedges—an d upon Minister’s Black Veil,” examine the darker facets a fe w white trunks o f decayed trees—with an utter of the human soul—for example, the psychological depression o f soul which I can compare to no earthly effects sin and guilt may have on human life. sensation more properly than to the after-dream o f Herman Melville’s early works were mostly the reveller upon opium—the bitter lapse into everyadventure stories set in the South Pacific. Moby 1'ife—the hideous dropping o f f o f the veil. Dick, however, departed from that pattern. By concentrating on a ship’s captain’s obsessive quest —Edgar Allan Poe for the whale that took his leg, Melville explores from "The Fall of the House of Usher” such issues as madness and the conflict of good and evil. Later, in “Bartleby the Scrivener,” Melville E X P L O R IN G T H E D A R K N E S S
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Like an Open-Doored M arble Tomb, George Klauba. Acrylic on panel, 18" x 14.5". Courtesy Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago. © George Klamba.
reveals the dark side of material prosperity by exploring how the struggle for material gain affects the individual. Perhaps the dark vision of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe foreshadowed the tumult and tragedy that was soon to erupt in civil war in America. There is no question that these three writers profoundly affected the development of the American literary voice throughout the remainder of the 19th century.
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Connecting Literature, History, and Culture Use this timeline and the questions on the next page to gain insight about how developments during the American romantic period reflected what was happening in the world as a whole.
A ME RI C AN LITERARY MILESTONES 1800
r
1820
1810
1806 Noah W e b ster’s first dictionary
1817
"Thanatopsis,” composed by
1824 Irving’s “ The Devil and Tom
is published. It includes 5,000
W illia m Cullen Bryant at age
W a lk e r” is published.
words related to Am erican
18, is published in The N orth
customs th a t have never
A m erican Review. ▼
before been collected.
1826 Jam es Fenim ore Cooper w rites The Last o f the M ohicans.
1827 Freedom ’s Jou rn al, th e first
1809 W ashington Irving publishes
African-American newspaper,
A H istory o f N ew York,
is founded. ▼
satirizing th e young nation.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT 1800
1810
■SSh I
1820 1820 Missouri Com prom ise prohibits slavery in w estern territories but allow s slavery in Arkansas Territory and Louisiana.
1823 The M onroe Doctrine bans European colonization in the Am ericas.
1803 Thomas Jefferson doubles ▲ the country’s size by buying Louisiana Territory from France.
1825 The Erie Canal is opened, linking 1812
on Great Britain. Am erican
1807 Robert Fulton launches Clermont, the first steamboat.
United States declares w a r ▲ industry booms.
1815
1808 United States bans slave trade.
Quaker Levi Coffin establishes
Lake Erie w ith the Hudson River.
1828 Construction begins on the first railroad in th e United States.
the Underground Railroad.
r WO RL D CULTURE A N D EVENTS
8 1
fttsffjpt
0 0 00
vI
1804 Napoleon is crowned em peror o f France.
1806 The Holy Roman Empire reaches its last days.
1807 British slave trade is abolished.
1810 1813
Jan e Austen publishes Pride and Prejudice.
1816 Rossini w rites th e comic opera The Barb er o f Seville.
1819 Factory w ork is outlaw ed in England for children under nine years old.
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1820 1821 Venezuela and M exico declare independence from Spain. ►
1823 Beethoven com pletes his Ninth Symphony.
1829 Slavery is abolished in Mexico.
M A KIN G CONNECTIONS • • • •
Which European authors were contemporaries of American romantic writers? What evidence do you see that slavery was not only an American problem? What nations were battling for independence or dealing with its challenges? What inventions were moving the world into a more technological age?
1830 1835 Emerson,Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and others form the Transcendental Club.
1838 Henry Wadsworth Long
1840 1845 Henry David Thoreau moves to Walden Pond.
1846 Herman Melville’s first novel, Typee,
is published. ▼
fellow’s "A Psalm of Life” is published.
1839 Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Fall
1850 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter
is published.
1851 Sojourner Truth delivers her“Ain’t I a Woman?’’ speech to the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. ►
1852 Harriet Beecher
of the House of Usher” is published.
Stowe publishes U ncle Tom’s Cabin.
1850 1830 Indian Removal Act authorizes relocation of southeastern Native American tribes to territories west of Mississippi
1845 Florida and Texas become the 27th and 28th states.
1848 Gold discoveries in California lead to first gold rush. ▼
1850 Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, forcing officials in Northern states to return escaped slaves to their owners.
1851 Isaac Singer devises the sewing
1832 Samuel B. Morse invents the
machine. ▼
telegraph. ▼
1843 Charles Dickens writes A Christm as Carol.
1847 Emily Bronte publishes W uthering Heights.
1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 1838 Slaves mutiny aboard the A Spanish ship Am istad.
publish The Com m unist
1852 Dr. Livingston explores Zambesi.
1853 Verdi’s opera La Traviata is first performed in Venice; Crimean War begins, involving Turkey, Russia, Britain, and France.
M anifesto.
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