The Great Depression and Entertainment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDUhTGXjEuk This is a link to a song that people may have listened to during The Great Depression.

                Music was important during The Great Depression. There were so few good events in the lives of the farmers who were forced to leave their homes. The people would scour the land for work while being forced to watch their children starve. With so few good times, it’s not surprising that people searched for something to lighten the mood. Everyone would gather to share stories and play music. When death tore families apart, gathering for entertainment was one of the few things that could bring people together. During The Great Depression it was rare for people to have a chance to see movies. When one person went to see a movie, they remembered everything they could so they could share it with everyone else which is shown in The Grapes of Wrath when the author writes, “And perhaps a man balanced twenty cents between food and pleasure, and he went to a movie in Marysville or Tulare, in Ceres or Mountain View. And he came back to the ditch camp with his memory crowded. And he told how it was.” (Steinbeck 326) Steinbeck also clearly shows how desperate people of the 1930’s were to find entertainment when he writes, “The migrant people, scuttling for work, scrabbling to live, looked always for pleasure, dug for pleasure, manufactured pleasure, and they were hungry for amusement.” (Steinbeck 325)

                During The Great Depression 25 to 60 percent of people lost their jobs. This number was dependent on a person’s race. More African Americans lost jobs than white men. When people were losing everything else, they still had their voices. They could sing and some could play the harmonica or guitar. Some people lost so much that they were homeless. One couple spent a year of their lives living in a cave. Music may not have brought them food, but it was one of the few things able to provide hope to the miserable people.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=music+great+depression&qs=ds&form=QBIR#view=detail&id=6AA21D94C887BC7D5ADC8037C9EF9E19B612AF41&selectedIndex=3 http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_depression.htm

Romanticism

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Destroyed+Homes&FORM=RESTAB#view=detail&id=48951CB3896C0282879D2E2F19BDC1EEF6C9A89B&selectedIndex=2

Edgar Allan Poe helped to shape the time he was born into. He helped to shape Romanticism by writing supernatural stories that reflected the writing of the time. Romanticism also helped to shape the way Poe wrote. If it was not the writing style of the time, Poe may have used different methods when producing his stories. Romanticism is shown clearly in Poe’s story The Fall of the House of Usher. The narrator in this story says, “At the termination of this sentence, I started, and for a moment, paused; for it appeared to me that, from some very remote portion of the mansion, there came indistinctly to my ears what might have been, in its exact similarity of character, the echo of the very cracking and ripping sound…” This quote in the story shows a supernatural aspect. The noises in the story Poe had the narrator read were the same as the ones in the house. It seemed as though the story was controlling what happened within the house. Another quote from the story that shows Romanticism in Poe’s story is when the narrator describes a scene saying, “Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me.” This quote portrays some entity coming out of the house when the Ushers have fallen. The house seemed to be connected to the life of the family. At the end of the story, it is said that the sister had managed to escape from her tomb and wander through the house. It is also stated that she was dead for about a week. Unscrewing the coffin lid and to moving the heavy door would be impossible for someone in her state. For her to do this, there would have to be some unnatural force helping her. Poe compares a tarn to the mental state of Roderick. By doing this, Poe brings out Romanticism when it is used as a form of nature. From nature to the supernatural, Poe was skilled in using the elements of Romanticism.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=roderick+usher&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=roderick+usher&sc=8-14&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&id=8A9AE60C5B7B1E80A49DA7559AF75902B72935C3&selectedIndex=3

Edgar Allan Poe

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=edgar+allan+poe&qs=bs&form=QBIR#view=detail&id=FE1593CF418D2386FEBDDA28B7985A8A0DAD89B5&selectedIndex=4

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19^th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He had no parents to care for him by the time he was three years old. He went to stay with John and Frances Allan in Virginia. When he was older, he went to the University of Virginia. John Allan did not get along well with Poe and would not fully pay for his education. To pay for the rest of his collage, Poe started to gamble. He got himself into debt and had to return home to the Allan family. Upon his return, Poe found that his fiancée had become engaged to another man. His heart was broken until he fell in love with his cousin. They were married in 1836 when she was only 13 years old. Poe based many of his writings off of his newly found love. He wrote a nationally famous poem called The Raven in 1845. His wife died in 1847 when she was about 24 years old. Poe became depressed after losing his wife and his health slowly deteriorated. He died on October 7^th, 1849. Some of his fellow writers slandered Poe’s name after his death. People believed Poe had been an insane alcoholic, and Poe himself said “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edgar_allan_poe.html

http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160?page=2

Thomas Jefferson

                            

http://ryanziegler.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/thomas_jefferson.jpg

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13^th, 1743 on a small plantation outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. He began a formal education at 9 years old which showed him to be ambitious. He wanted people to act instead of speaking to show how they feel. He showed his thoughts on the way people should work when he said “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” Thomas was a lawyer as well as a gardener, artist, astronomer, and the third President of the United States. He was an accomplished writer which he proved by writing the Declaration of Independence. He also drafted the Virginia State Bill, which was made to establish religious freedom. He bought the Louisiana Purchase without full authorization and sent men to explore it. He was a serious supporter of the American cause and sold his personal library to help rebuild the Library of Congress that burnt down in a fire in 1814. Thomas Jefferson died at the age of 83.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk254/mymoonbeam1/declaration-of-independence-729363.jpg

sources

¨http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_subj.html

¨http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-jefferson-9353715

¨http://americanhistory.about.com/od/thomasjefferson/a/tj_lapurchase.htm

¨http://www.archives.com/genealogy/president-jefferson.html

¨http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/lewis-and-clark-expedition

¨http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/jeffersons-cause-death

¨http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html

The Crucible book and movie

One major difference between the book and the movie version of The Crucible is that Abigail cares enough for John to try rescuing him from prison. Because Abigail made everyone believe so strongly in witchcraft, it was easy for Mary to get Proctor sent to jail. Proctor was innocent and Mary was trying to help him prove the innocence of the other accused, but when being hanged was discussed, Mary became hysterical and turned on Proctor. This part of the book and movie are the same. The difference is that before leaving Salem, Abigail tries to convince John to go with her. John said wouldn’t see Abigail again until they were both in hell. This specific part of the movie portrayed Abigail to be more caring than she was in the book. The book showed Abigail to be the cruel heartless girl she would have had to have been to cause so much misery. The change made in the movie was probably done by the directors to show how much Abigail wanted John. They gave her more of a reason to cry witch against his wife.

The major similarity between the book and the movie is that Reverend Hale starts out believing in witchcraft and ends trying to save anyone he can. In the beginning of both the book and the movie, Hale comes to Salem to see if any of the sick children are actually afflicted by witchcraft. Hale gradually changes over time. He realizes that Abigail is making everything up and that people should have the right to be heard when trying to defend their family. By the end, Hale is doing everything he can to save the people. He is begging them to confess to the lies the court wants them to believe. This similarity is probably kept between the book and the movie to show that there were some people in Salem who knew what was happening. It showed the care felt by some of the people in and around Salem.

The movie was interesting and helped to clarify some of the more confusing scenes in the book. It accurately portrayed many of the people. Abigail was almost as cruel as I expected and Hale was as kind. Rebecca Nurse was very well portrayed in the movie. Overall, the interpretation was excellent. Showing what happens to hysterical groups of people was Arthur Miller’s plan for the play. The movie showed the same thing with only a few changes made. The last part showed, the screen stating that 19 had given their lives, was a great way to end the movie. Proctor yelling a prayer followed by the number of people who had given their lives to keep their honor was accurate in showing that people still followed God, even when faced with death. Their last prayer showed the true reason that the people of Salem were going to die.

The Final Act

(bing.com/images)

From the start, there were problems in Salem. Everyone was bored and nobody was happy. It was hard for the selfish people to be content with what they had, so they tried to steal from others. They weren’t just going to kill someone and take it, so they found a new way to get what they wanted without getting blood on their hands. The first people to come up with this strategy were some of the children living in Salem. Betty: “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”(Miller 19) This charm was an act done by someone performing witchcraft. This was the method the children of Salem were using to try murdering anyone that they disliked. Eventually, it took hold. People were shouting witch about anyone that displeased them. Finally, after many had died and lives had been ruined, someone finally realized what must be done to stop these hysterical acts. The one person who discovered the method to stop the witchcraft was John Proctor. He helped change everyone around him when he realized that confessing would give witchcraft a meaning. By the end of act IV he had given up and decided to die with what dignity he had left. John Proctor: “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 goodness in John Proctor. . .”(Miller 144)

This sacrifice made by John, and many others who chose to die for their souls, was the one act that showed there could be hope for Salem. This is all portrayed in the last scene of the story, when John tells everyone to be strong as they march to their deaths. John Proctor: “Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!”(Miller 144) John is not the only one in this scene that portrays strength. Rebecca: “Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all!”(Miller 144) Between the deaths of these two people, there is almost no hope for the survival of witchcraft in Salem. The two of them were well thought of in this little town and their deaths would not be taken lightly. These losses were the last bit of suffering Salem could take. I only wish people would have come to the realization before so many innocent people had to blacken their names or die for their God.

Reverend Hale

Hale is a Reverend of a town near Salem. He originaly came to Salem to see if any of the sick children there were afflicted by witchcraft. "Does someone afflict you, child? It need not be a woman, mind you, or a man. Perhaps some bird invisible to others comes to you-perhaps a pig, a mouse, or any beast at all. Is there some figure bids you fly?. . ." (Miller 41) Hale is looking for a curse on the children. He doesn't seem to think anything could be wrong other than that. No one ever mentions anything related to the children faking their illnesses.

Later, Hale realizes that the children crying out against people in the town might be faking it. He comes to the sudden realization of lying children to late. No matter what he says, Danforth and Parris will not listen to him. Hale is the one person in the story to change and he changes for the better. When trying to convince Danforth, he is silenced. "Excellency, this child's gone wild!" (Miller 119) Saying everything he can against the children isn't enough. Saying anything to save innocent lives shows that Hale has changed to be a better man. Even though many of the accused are going to die bearing grudges, atleast one person has changed for the better.