Teaching the Crucible in a Christian School Environment

Essay On Teaching the Crucible Within a Christian School Environment

For the most part, I think that wether or not the Crucible should be read in an environment such as this would be what underlying message the author is trying to convey. The book was pretty much a metaphor for McCarythism. It is an attempt to come to grips with the problem of evil in man and to provide a solution to this problem. As Miller said, “not so much by setting forth these values as such, but by showing, so to speak, the wages of sin.” And in another he says that without the “perverse example” of evil people “we should not know the good”. A reason that The Crucible should be taught in Christian School’s is that, no matter what, there is always going to be evil in this world, and gaining insight on such ideals could somehow possibly benefit us, strengthening our faith in God and striving to believe much more profusely. It also goes to show how people are awful, and evil, which in turn can teach us valuable lessons. One of Miller’s reasons to write The Crucible was to show that, “a political objective, knowledgeable campaign from McCarthianism was capable of creating not only terror, but a new subjective reality, a veritable mystique which was gradually assuming even a holy resonance”. And, according to an article, telling about how the Bible brought David back to an awareness of his sin and the Lord’s saving Grace through Nathan’s parable of the rich man who robbed the poor man of his only pet lamb, asked if there was ever a child who could not understand this simply story, and “How we must pray that our parents, pastors, and teachers will be able to teach our young to know how to shun evil and turn to our God in the understandable way the Scriptures show us. This is a far surer way the Miller’s deceitful dramatizations”. The article I read seemed to go rather in-depth about the whole of The Crucible, and also seemed biased. But, I think, the main idea that I am getting from this is that, reading the book can show us how to turn to God, and to, as before, be able to shun sin. Reasons against teaching it in Christian school’s is that, some might feel that it goes against God’s teaching because it’s all about witchcraft, and evil, and such things. During the time Miller wrote this, the United States was let to a significant amount of paranoia within the American Government, as to which you can compare the paranoia about witchcraft in Miller’s play. The way Abigail acted in this story, was utterly selfish and cruel, and also, on top of that, the community leaders willingness to rule with fear and violence, instead of attempting to use common sense, the fear over-road that, and these are valuable lessons but at the same time tragic and painful to witness. Since the town was consumed with fear, the idea of witchcraft was one not hard to believe, and as a result of that, these occurrences took place. We, as Christians, can learn from this book, that, no matter what, we have to try our hardest not to let our fears, pressures, and all of those things, sway us from what truly matters the most. Life is not easy. People die every day and people are born every day. Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future. I am coming to to realize, slowly but surely, how precious life really is. Everything can disappear in the blink of an eye. It’s hard to even fathom something like that, and it truly is scary. Although there is so much hatred in the world, and so much evil, there is also an equal amount of goodness, and love. There is a short Cherokee Legend, titled Two Wolves, that I think has a relevance to this topic. An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. A fight is going on inside of the man, and lets the boy know. It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil, he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false, pride, superiority, etc. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside of everyone. The boy looks intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins?” The Grandfather smiled and quietly told the boy the the wolf who wins is the wolf that you feed. In some odd way, I think that, we can learn this, to some extent, through reading The Crucible. As a Christian, I would respond to the critique that Miller provided, as wondering how he knows any of this for sure. It was literally worth your life to deny witches and/or their powers, with the Bible saying “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” And Miller thinks that there had to be witches in the world or the Bible had lied, and that the structure of evil depended upon Lucifer’s plotting against God. I don’t know why God did what he did, or does what he does, and no one knows but him. I feel as if what Miller says leads me to ponder mind-boggling questions, about everything. The earth’s perfect distance from the sun, the unique chemical properties of water, the human brain, DNA, the number of people who attest to knowing God, and the gnawing in our hearts and minds to determine if God is there. Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow, a self-described agnostic, stated, “The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe was planted in that first instant: every star, every planet and every living creature in the Universe came into being as a result of events that were set in motion in the moment of the cosmic explosion…the Universe flashed into being, and we cannot find out what caused that to happen.” These are all reasons to believe that God is there. Although no one can really wrap their heads around all of this, it does make sense. I’m not sure if the positives of teaching it outweigh the negatives, in my opinion. I wasn’t too thrilled about reading this play, because reading about such things as the Devil and witches and evil, make me uncomfortable, and there’s a lot of fear. I just feel as if reading about such things will only enhance my fears, but at the same time, I know that there has got to be a creator, and that there is not only evil, but something much more powerful than that. This just comes to show again, that there is both good and bad in this world. In conclusion, I see no problem with teaching The Crucible within a Christian School environment, given that the play seems to reject our belief in God and the Devil, and paints fervent Christians in an unfavorable light, people deserve to know the evils of the world, and to come to the decision to face them, and all of the struggles that follow with life. Life is way too short.