Modern Puritans

    A group of modern-day Puritans is the Amish. The Amish share a very large amount of similarities to the Puritans and are still practicing throughout the country. Amish people live lifestyles based off of simplicity: no cars, cell phones, or any of the tools that "regular" people use. Amish men tend farms and exchange their harvests with their neighbors. They also take jobs like dentistry, shopkeeping, and medicine in order to keep their community operating in and by itself. Amish women typically stay in the house and perform household duties like cleaning and cooking. They are not an important part of outside community and are mainly there to keep things within their own doors in order. Generally, they don't make any decisions for the family and take a backseat to the male in the household. Amish people don't dress for fashion but rather simplicity and functionality. All garments are sewn by the women in the community and everyone dresses, essentially, the same way. Amish girls and women don't wear makeup or outgoing accessories. This is meant to keep everyone equal in each others' eyes and place focus elsewhere (on religion). Amish people view vanity as a sin and shun members of the community who act vainly. In fact, almost all Amish people have seen their own face only a few times because they don't have mirrors or cameras. The only way one could see them self is a reflection from water or glass. The Puritans, just like the Amish, practiced anti-vanity and simplicity in their lives and decided that they, as a people, should strive to be as much like Jesus Christ, who selflessly and unselfishly gave himself up so that mankind could be.

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

     In my opinion, John Proctor is a hero. Throughout the story, he stood up for what he believed in and put his reputation aside to help others. He showed the Salem community that often times the unpopular approach is the correct approach. This is the reason why he became a leader in the town even when he was not officially appointed to a position of leadership.

     Proctor's affair with Abigail was indirectly the demise of Salem and the beginning of the witch trials. Abigail's attempt to be with him resulted in her drinking a charm to kill his wife, thus causing a town-wide conversation about witchcraft. In court, his own wife was accused of witchcraft. Proctor decided to confess to his own sin in an attempt to save her and many of the other people convicted with witchcraft. It takes a true hero to publicly admit to their own shortcomings because doing so only benefits other individuals. He also called the court out on the unjust trials and recognized that they were doing no good for Salem. Instead, they were causing a pattern of lies and accusations.

     In addition, Proctor himself was accused of witchcraft at the end of the story. If he was not a hero, he would've lied and accused somebody else and continued the pattern. Instead, he decided to break it and selflessly gave up himself refusing to confess falsely against another citizen who was most likely innocent. This act of heroism resulted in his hanging. In refusing to give a false confession he obligated himself to previous statements and to his moral values. Most leaders today cannot do that and appear to be a certain way one week and another way the next week. Proctor put self-interests aside and operated with morality (even when it hurt him) and that makes for a genuine hero.

Arrivals... There Goes the Neighborhood

     "There goes the neighborhood" is a phrase people use when their way of living is going to be disrupted  or changed by something new entering into it. Usually, the "something new" is a group of people now occupying a place that they didn't before. Some examples of this in history are the English settlers settling the Native Americans' United States and Chicago's African-American project dwellers being relocated to some of the city's suburbs. In some cases, the arrival of the new inhabitants really isn't a cause for conflict. Stereotypes and prejudices dictate people's opinions on others. That causes them to be viewed in a negative sense without the opportunity to first establish a proper relationship. It's very easy for someone to be judged based on their religion, race or sexuality as opposed to their individual personality. In other cases, the new group of people really is a problem for the established community! For example, the English settlers' takeover caused bloodshed, disease and near-extinction for the Native American people.

     A "there goes the neighborhood" instance that stands out in my mind is the African slaves being "freed" into society in the United States. The country's new citizens faced an oppressive movement that I believe is still taking place today against them. The general viewpoint of African-Americans in the country was that they were a nuisance to their community and the people did most everything they could to keep them contained and out of their way. This included voter suppression, segregation, restriction of resources, racism, social injustice, manipulation of the media and a lack of educational opportunities for African-Americans. Most of these undemocratic acts still take place today and are silently keeping the African-American community from being fully integrated into society. "There goes the neighborhood" said the people of the United States, and for over 100 years they've fought (unjustly and unfairly) to get their neighborhood back.