Crucible Blog Post 2

"At one point, Proctor tells Hale that he believes in witches even though he does not. Would you be willing to lie and tell people you believed in something you do not in order to protect yourself? Why or why not?"

Sometimes what people don't know won't hurt them. I would lie about somethings in order to protect myself. If it would hurt me in the long run then I would rather save myself and let people believe what they want to. In general people would rather hear what they what to hear. If it was a matter of life or death like in John Proctors situation then I would not hesitate to give someone the satisfaction of what they would like to hear to protect myself. Although it would be hard to"betray" my own beliefs it would be worth it to me to save my life.
However, if my decision to lie were to hurt anybody else then I would like to hope that I would not choose to lie. In Act IV Proctor realizes that his decision to admit to witchcraft would danger Goody Nurse and this greatly upsets him. He tries to backtrack and not accuse her further, which would finalize her death sentence. If I knew from the beginning that my my decision would hurt somebody else then I would not make it. However i beleive that okay to lie to someone about little things that might save oneself from unnecessary drama or ridicule.

The Crucible Post 1

The power in Salem has changed dramatically by the end of Act I. By the end of Act I the girls have taken control of the power in the Puritan society of Salem, MA in 1692. A Puritan town such as Salem was strongly based patriarchal society. This is very important because the newly acquired sense of power that the girls have gained from the town on the beliefs of witchcraft may lead to trouble in the future. At the beginning of Act 1 Reverend Parris holds the power in the town. However, because of the strong belief in witchery and support of the devil one can slowly see the power shifting to the girls by the end of Act I. Because good Christians do not lie the town believes the children's stories and fall ill to their accusations. On page 48 Abigail says, "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 Sara Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!" This line shows the significance of the power that Abigail and the girls have discovered. They realized that accusing witches is a affective way to gain power.

Sinners Follow Up Post

Today's reaction to the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" would not be as drastic as it was back in 1741. When John Edwards preached his sermon it frightened so many people that it started a religious movement called the Great Awakening. If such a sermon like this was preached today, it would not cause as great as a controversy as it did back then. Sure, some people would react the same as people did back then but the majority of people would not be as effected. Our generation is very different from the 1700's. Nowadays there are many different religions and much tolerance towards other religions. Back then the religion was dominated by Catholics. So it is understandable how a sermon where a preacher is telling you that God hates you and is just waiting to send you to Hell would easily scare the population into a religious movement.

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Post

2nd paragraph: what you expect to hear in the serman that scared so many people

The introduction to the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” preached by Jonathan Edwards strains the huge impact that it had on the people of the time, and still to this day. It is considered to be the most remembered sermon in America. On July 8^th, 1741 Jonathan delivered the speech which brought the New England colonies trembling to their knees. The sermon caused a great deal of controversy at the time.  It is included in Anthology of American Literature books and usually is the only sermon throught the whole book. The sermon terrified the people of the time and began the Great Awakening.

I expect to hear in the sermon about the terrors of hell. The introduction said that it brought terror to all who heard it. I think that Jonathan talked about the levels of hell. He painted a picture of hell throughout the sermon going into such great detail and descripition that it brought hell to life. He explained how one would get to hell and what would happen when you got down there. I think this must have terrified many people because the reasons to go to hell might have been something they have already done. The people in the colonies never heard such detail of what hell is like, therefore it shocked them. Jonathans sermon must have been deep in discription to have an impact on people to this day.  

Descriptive Post

http://www.netmusicworks.com/what-is-a-still-life

This is a still life picture, painted with detail and dimension. Like many still life drawings it is of an arrangement of fruit. An abundance of fruit toppling out of a large red-ish orange bowl.There is a thin shadow along the bottom rim of the bowl to the left. The right side of the bowl is even darker, covered in shadow. There are plums, apples, grapes, a lemon, and oranges. The bowl contains one yellow lemon, a red-ish orange apple, and one orange closest  to the rim. Behind the lemon is another orange. Behind and in between the red apple and orange in the front sticks out a large green apple. Right behind the orange in the front is the top of a plum sticking out. Next to that there are two grape vines, one purple and one green. Next to the lemon in the front there is another dark purple grape vine toppling over the rim. In the middle of the red apple and orange there is a green grape vine hanging over the rim, leaving a stray grape underneath. To the right of the bowl there a red apple placed on the table surrounded by two stray green grapes to the left and one on the right. To the left of the bowl lies a deep purple plum. To the left of the plum there are four stray green grapes and the the right is a dark purple grape vine resting over the edge of the table. Lastly they all rest on a light orange table cloth.

Class Expectations

Students in an Honors American Literature class should be expected to show dedication, participation and respect.

Signing up for an Honors American Lit. class one should be anticipating a challenge. Challenges make one mature and grow. An honors student should be able to participate in the class as a whole. Students would be expected to participate in class by joining class discussions and debates. However, participation is not limited to talking out loud. It also includes being attentive during class, and completing work that is assigned. Doing homework and turning it in on time is an important part of participating in the class. Participating in class discussions and work is important because it shows that the student is serious and interested about the topic being discussed in class.

Students in Honors American Lit. are expected to dedicated to their work. To me dedication means missing out on getting ice cream with friends to make sure that an A is achieved. To do well this school year one must be dedicated to being successful in the class. Being dedicated means putting forth one's best effort and working hard to achieve a good grade. Dedication also means not giving up. High school is a learning process and mistakes are bound to be made along the way. Sometimes it is hard to recover from mistakes but one must be dedicated to be triumphant. The key to success is to learn from those mistakes and work harder the next time.

Last but not least, the last expectation of an Honors American Lit. student would be to show respect. Respect towards others and one's own self. Students who respect others are therefore respecting themselves. Respecting others means accepting and appreciating their work, ideas, and thoughts. It also means not judging others on their looks or work. Respecting oneself means that one can appreciate the work they have done. If a student has respect for their own self and towards other peers it shows that he/she is an admirable and attractive person. Showing respect is an important expectation to be met during this school year.

About Me

My name is Mai Qiang Hipsley. People usually call me MQ for short. My birthday is in only 3 days. I am 14 now turning 15. I know, im a baby! However this year, my birthday happens to fall on a saturday! This is both good and bad. It it good for the obvious reason, it is not a school night. The bad thing is that saturday's are my cross country meets, which means I will have to run a 5K on my birthday!

As I mentioned before, I run xc or cross country. Cross country and I have a love-hate realationship. To be honest, I do cross country because of the family that devolps on the team. I love the strong bonds and relationships that develop on the team. Everybody on the team works hard and supports their teammate. I also love that we have one of the best teams, and dominate at the meets. That leads me to the hate part of the relationship. Every saturday we have a meet which means no sleepovers friday nights, and waking up early the next morning to meet the buses. Theres also that little issue of running 3.1 miles. Although cross country is hard work it is worth it to get in shape and feel achievment.

Now here's a little imformation about me. I am 5"1. I remember being the shortest girl in my grade all through middle shcool. But I grew and now I am taller than alot of girls in my grade! I have dark brown eyes and jet black hair. At the moment I have two faded red streaks in my hair. I died them for the Britney Spears and Nikki Minaj concert and I guess they were permenant. Whoops! I have two cats named Bessie and Sadie at home. I also am an only child although I have always wanted siblings. If I could pick I would want an older brother and sister and a younger sister.

My weakness is good food. I love food, and I love eating. Whenever I am sad or upset I will eat "comfort" food and feel instantly better. One of my favorite foods is pasta. I like pasta with arrabiata sauce, pasta with olive oil, and pesto pasta. I also love my desserts. Sometimes I will even buy a cake at Kroger to keep around the house and snack on whenever! I love cake and cupcakes. I also love Thai food. My favoirte dish is Pad Egplant from the T.N Thai in the Village.