Homework task 4

Arthur Miller was inspired by the Red Terror caused by the Mccarthyism to write the Crucible. The play was Miller's way of subtly mirroring what was happening in the US at that time. Joseph McCarthy claimed that there were many communists and soviet spies within the government. He spread doubt over the United States and this resulted in many unnecessary executions and punishments. Miller related this situation to his play where the supposed 'witches' in Salem were forced to confess or hang. Both situations arose from hysteria and the blame was shifted by one person as self preservation when something went wrong. The conflict escalated both in the play and in the US, it could have been stopped early on but as time grew those who tried to stop it were most likely executed and this put even more people in danger of being involved in the crossfire and chaos of the communities. People in America who were suspected to be communists had no way to prove their innocence and were condemned with little or no evidence. This is exemplified by Miller's play and the girls screaming names of people who were witches, they had no way to stop them or prove otherwise. The Hollywood ten, those who refused to confess as communists, were much like the accused witches in 'The Crucible' such as Rebecca and John Proctor. Nobody was willing to stand up to McCarthy or Abigail until they took it too far by accusing somebody close to the legality of the community and that was when people had sneaking suspicions. Both instances, in Salem and in the United States, innocents have been falsely accused, families separated and communities thrown into turmoil all due to the starting hysteria and shifting of blame.

Homework task 3

I will speak to him, but you hear my words: I am no witch, I do not conside with the devil, I am not made with calamity and you will respect my word! You need something from me, you need me speak sense to John, to persuae him to confess, you will not speak to me in such a manner. Leave me - I will speak with him  now, I value his life and will try for him to confess but I make no guarantees, for both outcomes will leave him a good and worthy man in my eyes.

Homework Task 2

Arthur Miller rejects the idea and takes sceptical attitude toward the devil and spirits. This is shown predominately through a passage where he states, “…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 in to a surrender to a particular church or church-state.” (38) This displays Miller’s attitude toward the devil and spirits as he admits to thinking the Devil is only used as a scaring device to lure people to surrender to certain churches. “Better minds than Hale’s were - and still are – convinced that there is a society of spirits beyond our ken.”(37). Miller talks in first person using certain words to suggest he is not including himself in the phrase that people are still convinced about a society of spirits outside our knowledge. Arthur also gives note that the Devil and other evil spirits are difficult to believe as true through political influences, “Our difficulty in believing the 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…” Therefore, sufficient evidence is provided to concur that Miller did not believe in the idea of a devil or evil spirits.

Homework Task 1

Negative: I respond negatively to Abigail, the aspects of the text that make me feel this way are that she is trying to seduce a man who is already married, lie to her father and community to protect her herself, send hundreds of innocent people to court for being bewitched and a partner of the devil including her love’s wife – Goody Proctor. In the text she acts calmly to a situation where people are imprisoned or dead because of her, she hides her true colours and what she really think - Abigail is a snake ready to bite anyone that does her wrong. “I want to open myself!... 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 Osborn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” This is an example where Abigail pretends to be holy and good to Jesus just to earn credibility when she accuses innocent people of being a witch. Positive: I respond positively with John Proctor, the texts positions me to feel this way due to the fact that he turned down Abigail after she asked for a kiss and a touch to be loyal to his wife, he raises his whip to Marry when he finds she has come back from Salem but lowers it for an explanation, he considers the possibilities of condemning Abigail and telling the law the truth before committing to it, he tells his true feelings about Mr Parris to the Reverend even if it means getting himself in trouble.. John Proctor is responsible and level headed, he considers his options before picking a side and is honest. ‘Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time, but I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again. We never touched.’ He is honest with Abigail but still stays loyal to his wife and morals.

Goldie Alexander

Goldie Alexander is an Australian writer who has published more than 60 Australian novels. She was inspired to write of the history of her country and endeavors to inform all of her readers about what has happened to our Australia in the past 100 to 200 years as well as entertain and capture their interests in action, romance and mystery.

Goldie was born in Melbourne on the 6th of September 1936. As she was born in the 1930s – the era in which she experienced consisted of world war one, world war two, and the great depression, it was also close to the time of the convicts. These histories, especially, are what she enjoys to write about most.

Her parents, Ruth and Charles Alexander, spent good money to get Goldie educated at the presentation convent, Windsor and Mc Robertson girl’s High School before paying for her to study for an arts degree at Melbourne University. Their reason for paying for Goldie’s complete education was because they thought she had good potential to be a smart and highly regarded lady of society. Ruth and Charles were disappointed to see her waste her education by becoming an author as they expected much greater things from Goldie. However, as the years progressed they came to realize that Goldie's expertise in writing was good for her future, money and her family's name.

The themes and subjects Goldie bases her novels upon are usually fictional histories and diary entries along with some action and romance books suitable for young adults. She has written mostly novels although she has written poetry, short stories and plays. The genres Goldie has chosen to focus her stories on are: history, romance, action, and mystery.

Novels that Goldie has become famous for are as follows:: Mavis Road Medley, it is a time travel fiction exploring the world of Princes Hill and her parents' struggles to survive the Depression, My Australian Story: Surviving Sydney Cove is a book that is a diary about a girl named Elizabeth Harvey and her fight to survive all the hardships of working as a convict at Rosehill, and also the book body and soul – a complicated romance set in the times of the great depression.

Although most of her books are fiction she believes that it is good to involve some real pieces of history so that the reader is informed of the time of the place in which the story was set. This information inspired other Australian authors to relate their books more to the history of Australia and really keep to the outback and rural settings of Australia rather than the cities and modern out look on this country.

Goldie Alexander’s first published young adult’s book was Mavis road medley and it was published in 1991 (when she was 55 years of age), however, Goldie has written a variety of different plays and poems in the early 1950s, which Australia enjoyed also. Some of Goldie Alexander’s achievements are: My Australian Story: Surviving Sydney Cove - CBC Notable Book, Body and Soul - Brant Point Literary prize, Scholarship for the Romanian Writers Exchange Program September 2005, 2000 & 2001 Mary Grant Bruce Award for two long short stories and Eastern port Bay - Victorian Ministry of Arts Writing grant.

The difference between Goldie Alexander’s writing and the writing of most Australian authors today is extraordinary. Goldie gets the readers absorbed with her very first sentence, her books are more thorough than many other authors, as she puts much effort into researching the era in which the book is set and demonstrates this by the characters' behavior and theway they expres themselves She also involves an exciting twist of adventure or romance in her historic tales making for a most enjoyable reading experience.

Goldie has influenced other Australian authors by her style of novels, plays and poems. She has achieved this by her attention to detail, language and the exciting twists her stories always involve. Goldie is an inspirational author with an exceptional vocabulary and thousands of good ideas. Other authors strive to be as she is and include more of Australia’ history in their writing. To have this power and influence over other writers of today as well as readers makes for an incomparable author who is not to be forgotten.

Short story - looking glass river

I based my short story on the poem of looking glass river. This poem inspired me by the double meaning in the poets words, he displays a calm, beautiful river with entracing fish and everliving tranquility but beneath his words I have invisaged a sort of mystery, that every thing in the looking glass river is not as it seems, that beneath the water lillies and array of coloured fish there is an endless depth of blackness pulling in all that come near it. therefore although R.L stevenson's poetry is calm and beautiful there is an air of mystery beneath every line!

Looking-Glass River

“Mathew!” screamed mother’s panicked voice, it scared me how one voice so beautiful and delicate, the same one that sang us lullabies, which assured us that everything was going to be all right changed to that of worry and grief in less than a second. She couldn’t stop screaming, yelling his name over and over. It was futile, father already tried to jump in, to save him from the endless depths of blackness, but I knew from the second he fell that he was gone, no use crying or trying to revive him, he had been lost, never to return.

I had just woken up to the sound of Gracie’s excited voice, “Rose! Come on, get up, and get up. We have to prepare the picnic!” It was a warm, sunny day, one that made you guilty to waste it on sleeping in or staying inside, therefore my parents had planned a picnic, a nice family outing to take our minds off school and the stress of homework, a day to go out and relax and have fun. I slowly got out of bed and eased off my pyjamas. I decided to wear some knee- length, sturdy shorts, the new white T-shirt mother had brought me as well as some hiking boots and long socks. I went down stairs to find Gracie in her pink dress with small, white ballet flats. “Gracie! How are you going to go out like that? We will have to walk for hours to find the perfect picnic spot!” I said, eyeing her shoes incredulously.

“nuh – uh, mother said we only have to walk a short distance from the car and I think what Gracie’s wearing looks pretty!” exclaimed Mathew. Gracie and him were twins, both 6 years old, they did everything together, it was an odd day when one of them decided to go somewhere or do something different from the other. Mathew was standing there in his brown khaki shorts and a red top with a picture of Thomas the tank engine on it. “Now children, we don’t have time for fighting today, Rose you look fine now will you help your father find the keys whilst your siblings and I are going to prepare the basket of food.” With a squeal of delight Gracie and Mathew left the room and I set of to find father’s keys.

Sure enough the spot our picnic was held, as promised, was only a few minutes from the car and wasn’t it exquisite! As we emerged from the last of the wattle trees there lay an amazing meadow lined with an array of flowers, all a different colour to the next, deep blues, greens, soft pink, bright yellow, you name it and it was there that, however, this was not the first thing that caught my eye or the eyes of Gracie and Mathew. For in front of us lay a river with what seemed like hundreds of fish and water creatures as well as many magnificent water lilies floating on top you would have thought the image popped right out of the enchanted garden!

“Father?” Gracie called, “can we have our picnic near this river?”

“I don’t see why not!” Replied father as he ignored mother’s ramblings about the current and how we might catch a cold, and placed the picnic mat and basket a few feet from the lake.

Lunch was delicious, we ate a meal of chicken sandwich’s and a bowl of grapes and strawberries, the chicken was juicy and flavoursome and the strawberries soft and sweet, as soon as they touched your tongue the burst with flavour, but according to Gracie that just wasn’t enough, “can’t we have something sweet, I’ve eaten my sandwich and all of my fruit, please?” Mathew joined in, “Yes, please mother, we helped you pack the food!” Mother just rolled her eyes and looked through the basket, “now let’s see what we have,” upon further examination she said “ her we go I have three apples for you dears… no? How about some short bread and banana cake?!” as Matt and Gracie called out with delight mother pulled out a big loaf of banana bread and a dozen pieces of freshly baked short bread. “Thank you mother, this is really delicious!” I said after taking the first bite of my banana bread,
“your welcome my sweet, I’m glad you think so.” Replied mother while my siblings ran to the lake to ‘help feed the fish’, I ran over to join them, followed shortly after mother and father.

We sat there eating away the warm shortbread and scrumptious banana bread, if only that small piece of happiness lasted forever, if only that moment could be frozen in time, but such is not of world and the next series of events happened so quickly I could barely comprehend. Matt reached out to feed the fish his banana bread when the current pulled him in. Screams were everywhere, our brief moment of happiness shattered in to one of chaos, father dove in – determined to save his baby boy from the clutches of the monstrous river thought so calm and comforting before, but by that time Matt was already a good twenty meters in front of us, pushed by the currents. I could no longer see his head of blonde curls, no longer see his tortured face, he was pulled under, engulfed by the water. Just then Father reached him, he dived so far into the darkness but he couldn’t see a thing, no curls, no red top, no matt. He burst up out of the water gasping heavily only to go back down to continue his search, by now Gracie was yelling hysterically, I had to hold her back from leaping into the water to find him, mother was screaming his name over and over, for me, I just looked at the depths of the river incomprehensibly, watching father take another breath and go under, no one had accepted that Matt was gone, drowned in the depths of the rapids, taken prisoner by the river that as the seconds tick by, turns as black as night, and what for exactly? To give a small trout a meal of banana bread.