Reflection #6

No matter which writings you look at, Puritans writings will always be similar in one way or another. When comparing Puritans from The Crucible and other Puritan works that we have read previously, I realized that similar does not even begin to cover it. When you talk about people and you reference them, you do not tend to reference them to a religious group. But, being the way that the world is, there are always exceptions. I feel like most Christians are very similar, and that is why they do not get referenced as “Catholics” or “Lutheran” or “Christian.” They are all very similar, so you cannot really tell the difference most of the time. But then there are Jewish people and Muslim people, and they tend to be referenced to their religion. When people think of terrorists, their initial thought is Muslim. Though that is not fair, that is how terrorists are defined. Puritans, though, were such a different type of religion, that they fall into the Muslim and Jewish category.
     Puritans are whole heartedly, 100 percent, all about God. In my opinion, there is no in between. You are either a all out Puritan who believes in God in everything you do, or you are just simply not a Puritan. Throughout The Crucible, I noticed that similarity with other works by Puritans. In The Crucible I feel like everyone was totally with God, but some of them just fell short of what that really means. In my opinion, I think that Abigail and the other girls thought that they were still 100 percent with God, and they were not really doing anything wrong. They accused so many women and a few men of doing witchcraft, that they did not even think about the repercussions that would come from them doing that (Miller 48). They were just trying to save their own butts. I think Proctor really shows what a Puritan was like at the end of the story. He refused to “tell” on any of his friends or neighbors because he would not lose his good name (Miller 144). He was not going to go to live on this earth knowing that he was a liar, and God knew that too. Overall, Puritans in The Crucible were just as much Puritans as those from previous Puritan works.
     Puritans from The Crucible were just like any other Puritans of that time. From religion to government to hospitality, Puritans were similar. There was no in-between for them. You were either 100 percent Puritan, or you were not a Puritan. It is really as easy as that.
     I think that in the story, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was very accusing therefor it kind of is similar to The Crucible. I think that although both of these writings were supposed to be Puritan writing, all people have their flaws. Even though all of the people in these stories are supposed to be devoted to God, they all have their moments where they act before thinking what God would want.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1976. Print.