Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapters 1-3

Chapter one starts with a group of townspeople gathered on Pheoby’s porch at sunset who see Janie arrive back in town and comment on her body and clothes. When she does not stop to talk with them, they grow indignant and begin gossiping about her running away with a younger man and speculate bad things that could have happened to her. However, Pheoby reproves them for their gossiping and brings Janie food. Janie is grateful for the meal and begins telling Pheoby her story. In chapter two, Janie reflects on her childhood. She recounts living in the Washburn’s backyard and finding out she is black at the age of six. Nanny bought a home so Janie would stop being made fun of for living in a white family’s backyard. Janie then remembers sitting under a pear tree at sixteen and noticing how much the world has to offer, including sexuality. However, she gets in trouble that afternoon for kissing a boy, which leads Nanny to insist on marrying her off to Logan Killicks. After Janie’s protesting, Nanny describes the hardships she experienced as a slave and how she is just trying to bring Janie safety and stability. Janie understands and appreciates Nanny’s desire for her safety, so she accepts Killicks’ hand in marriage. In chapter three, Janie assures herself that with marriage will come love. However, a couple months into her marriage, Janie realizes she will never love Killicks. Nanny scolds Janie for her lack of gratitude for Killicks providing for her. Later that night, Nanny prays for God to take care of Janie because she has done all she can. A month later Nanny dies.

In these chapters, the reader gets a sense for Janie’s restlessness and what she dreams for herself. Janie above all else desires to experience the world and experience love. However, her situation as a black woman living with no parents or means to protect herself brought Janie to settle for a loveless yet stable marriage. It is obvious this marriage will not be enough for her. Janie’s experience under the pear tree wakes her up to her true desires. It is the day Nanny declares her grown, and from that scene on the pear tree symbolizes her sexuality and desires for love. Another symbol that is seen throughout these chapters is the mule. Nanny describes black women as the mules of the world, but she does not want that to be the world for Jamie.

What does Nanny mean by comparing black women to mules?

What do you think Janie will do about her loveless marriage?

Are Janie’s desires reasonable or is she being selfish?

The Yellow Wallpaper

     “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells the story of the narrator, a middle-class woman and her husband, John, as they spend their summer vacation in an old house. The narrator records all of her thoughts during their vacation in this secret writing. The narrator spends most of her time in the upstairs bedroom, per her husband’s request, despite her desire to move to a room downstairs. While in the bedroom, which is covered in a horrible, yellow wallpaper, the narrator nearly immerses herself in the wallpaper. 

    Between describing the patterns, or lack thereof, the narrator also briefly discusses the troubles in her marriage and her illness. Her husband, she explains, is a physician who doubts that she is sick at all, speaking to her in a way that makes her feel crazy. The pattern of dialogue in the story shows the reader that the wallpaper, although frustrating to the narrator, also serves as a distraction from the apparent issues in her marriage. Towards the end of the story, the narrator reaches her breaking point. She has convinced herself that she is surrounded by other women, who have come out of the wallpaper and “creep around” the property; she also says later that she is one of them. This abrupt ending shows the reader how ill the narrator truly was, despite her husband consistently convincing her that she was improving. 

    Throughout the story, the author tries to make the “conflict” between the narrator and the wallpaper the main point of interest. However, I could not look past the way the husband treated her. Even though John rarely made an appearance throughout the, the conflict between the narrator and her husband was blatant. It was very frustrating to watch the narrator be manipulated and controlled by her husband, even when he was not present. The narrator was often very worried about her physical state, and explained in detail the symptoms she was experiencing, which got progressively worse. The narrator would often say phrases such as “of course it is only nervousness” or “I am glad my case is not serious”, completely undermining her illness (76). Along with convincing herself that she is improving, she also convinces herself that her husband is a good man, despite his manipulative and abusive ways. She repeatedly says things to herself, for example, “[h]e is very careful and loving” (76).

    This conflict with her husband, along with the conflict she is in with the wallpaper, all lead to an internal discussion with herself, which ultimately makes her delusional. The reader sees areas in the story where the narrator almost seems to be having a conversation with herself on paper. Even though it is clear to the reader that the narrator is definitely sick, I would argue that her husband, John, played a major role in her quick decline. He was always undermining her illness, and treated her as inferior, giving her no importance in their relationship. Because of her abusive relationship with her husband, the narrator was forced to deal with these issues herself, which became too much for her in the end. 

 

The Birthmark

 This story begins as a love story between Aylmer, a scientist, and Georgiana who find perfection and fulfillment in one another. However, as it progresses, challenges arise in their relationship when Aylmer notices Georgiana's crimson birthmark. This birthmark tears his attention away from her perfection and to attempting an experiment to remove it because he sees the birthmark as her only imperfection. This idea worries and saddens Georgiana because she feels the birthmark is part of her and is holds attachments to her life. 

His wife's concerns do not stop Aylmer however, and he continues to progress his experiment attempting to remove the imperfection. After Georgiana reluctantly drinks the potion to please her husband, she becomes pale and weak. It is difficult to call this a story about love when it is more based on Aylmer's hate for Georgiana's one imperfection than it is about their love.

The theme of beauty is very present in this story as the entire experiment and outcome is due to Aylmer seeing an imperfection in Georgiana. This also relates to the theme of science versus nature in the story as Aylmer decides that fixing Georgiana's birthmark with science is more important than letting her natural beauty shine through. 

"now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight" 

"The momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all eternity, to find the perfect future in the present"

The Crucible Act 4

     After the betrayal of Marry Warren, paired with the act Abigail performs in the courtroom, John is left accused of being a "devil's man" and condemned to hang.  Act four takes place in the town's cells, where Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor are held to be hanged. A few days before Proctor and Rebecca's execution date, Reverend Paris reveals that Abigail had stolen a sum of money from him and ran off with Mercy Lewis. He believes that the revolts in a neighboring town against the witch trials prompted them to depart; Abigail's departure acts as proof of the possibility that she had entirely fabricated her accusations. The night before John and Rebecca's execution date, Reverend Paris also raises his concern for riots. Because John and Rebecca have such a strong social influence, their deaths could lead to a wave of criticism from the townspeople, ultimately leading to riots throughout the city. Paris begs for their execution dates to be postponed, though Danforth denies his request. Unsatisfied with Danforth's response Paris try to further convince Danforth by adding that he has received various threats due to his participation in the trials. Hale enters the scene and demands that the convicted be pardoned. Danforth, faced by Paris and Hale, still does not conceive, stating that 12 people had already been hung and pardoning Rebecca and John would not be fair. Hale returns to convince Rebecca and John to lie and confess to crimes falsely accused of saving their lives. 

    Hale talks to Elizabeth to try to help him convince John to give a false confession. As Elizabeth's pregnancy is far along, Hale believes this will sway John.  Elizabeth agrees and is left to talk to John. Elizabeth and John's conversation concludes with John ready to give a false confession. During John's confession, Danforth becomes adamant about having John sign his disposition, acting as proof for John's admission. John reluctantly agrees. When Danforth reaches for the paper, John suddenly grabs the document and refuses to give it to Danforth. In that short moment, John comes to a revelation. He is willing to sacrifice his integrity to save his own life but does not believe in harming others for his benefit. Ripping up his confession, John is escorted back to his cell. This leaves Paris and Hale frantically begging Elizabeth to talk to her husband again, hoping that she would be able to talk some sense into him. Her response stated that John had finally found his goodness, so she refused to change his mind. 

    Throughout act four, the themes of integrity and truthfulness are disguised as the conflict between life or death. While John initially chooses to lie over being honest and make his false confession, he would rather keep some integrity than sin and lie. While Rebecca never considered sacrificing her integrity and was willing to die for the truth, Proctor showed a moment of weakness, just as many did before him. However, even though Proctor started down the path of deceit, he ultimately changed course resulting in a moment of needed clarity. This tough choice enabled him to find peace again and finally believe he was a good man with a pure heart. 

Questions:

What did you think of the ending? 

Did you like the ending, or would you have wanted the story to go another way?   

The Crucible Act 3

    Act three begins with Giles attempting to show his wife's innocence by presenting other evidence. This scene is interrupted by the entrance of Francis and John Proctor. They present evidence that the girls are faking being bewitched but the judges question their accusation. Parris is extremely paranoid that they are attempting to overthrow the court and refuses to accept the allegations. Proctor brings Mary Warren to testify that she never saw any spirits and she confirms that the girls were pretending. The judge continues to question Proctor about his devotion to God and his reliability is questioned when it comes to attention that he plows on Sunday. The judge also asks why Proctor is telling the court the girls are faking and he says it is to prove his wife's innocence. Judge Danforth says that his wife will be spared for nine months because she claims she is pregnant. Proctor decides that he still needs to tell the truth to the court. Putnam is then accused of trying to steal Jacobs's land by accusing him of witchcraft. The court's attention shifts back to Mary Warren as she says that she is with God now and wishes to tell the truth. Abigail and the girls are asked to confirm or deny Mary Warren's accusations and Abigail denies them. Mary Warren assures the court that she used to faint because she thought she saw spirits but she never actually did. Abigail and the girls pretend that Mary Warren has sent out her spirit and Proctor becomes angry. He tells the court about his affair with Abigail and she continues to deny everything. The court brings in Elizabeth, who never lies, and she says that John never had an affair with Abigail. The court launches back into hysteria and Abigail claims to see a "bird" and all the girls repeat what Mary Warren says. Mary Warren cannot convince the judges of her innocence so she blames Proctor. John confesses to seeing the devil and is taken to jail.

    This act shows a significant amount of paranoia, not only towards the accused, but towards the accuser as well. Parris is constantly claiming that people are trying to take over the court and interrupts anyone who says something he doesn't agree with. It is also shown that Judge Danforth is quite arrogant and believes he is always right, so he often jumps to conclusions. It becomes clear in this chapter that Mr. Hale is the voice of reason. He refuses to condemn anyone without overwhelming evidence because he is doing the work of God. It seems that he would like everyone to calm down and examine all evidence closely. At one point Judge Danforth says, "Reproach me not with the fear in the country; there is fear in the country because there is a moving plot to topple Christ in the country!" and Mr. Hale replies, "But it does not follow that everyone accused is part of it". (Miller 91) Mr. Hale says what I have been thinking this whole time. People are being accused and convicted out of fear but being accused does not mean they are guilty. The people of Salem are so fearful of witchcraft that they can accuse anyone without evidence and they will be convicted. The judges feed into this fear by automatically believing these allegations. Another thing I noticed in the chapter is the change in John Proctor. In the earlier chapters he seemed to be quite selfish except when it comes to his wife. When he came to court he found out his wife would be safe because she was pregnant but he still decided to tell the truth. I think we begin to see John's moral compass because he wants to protect his friends and their wives. Also, when Mary Warren switches to accuse him of seeing the devil, he accepts that accusation. I'm not exactly sure why he choses to do that but my interpretation is that he had already ruined his reputation by telling the court about him and Abigail, so he decides to let all of the blame fall to him so that Mary Warren's reputation isn't ruined too. We also see more of Abigail's intelligence and ability to deceive in this chapter. By acting indignant about the court thinking she's lying, she can manipulate them into feeling bad for her. She also makes it virtually impossible for Mary Warren to convince the court that she is innocent because Abigail is pretending that she sent out her spirit.

Questions:

1. Why do you think John Proctor accepted the accusation from Mary Warren that he had seen the devil?

2. Do you think that Mary Warren's accusation of Abigail will lead to consequences from the girls?

The Crucible Act 2

    Tension are high throughout the many different relations which are seen throughout Proctor's interactions. There are obvious flaws between Proctor and Elizabeth, because he will not come clean about his relations with Abigail. Things escalate when Elizabeth realizes her name was mentioned in court. She cannot understand why people in their town would think to accuse her. Mary Warren eases Elizabeth by saying she defended her in court and gives her doll the was working on. Elizabeth believes that Abigail accused her of witchcraft because she knows Abigail does not like her. It is reasonable for Abigail to hate Elizabeth because she wants Proctor to herself and Elizabeth is standing in the way. Ezekiel Cheever and Herrick come to the Proctor's residence and asks for Elizabeth. Their reasoning for taking her is that she supposedly had a doll and they see the doll that Mary Warren gave her. This makes Elizabeth hysterical because she does not understand why the Marshal would believe the accusations against her. When they take her away, it infuriate Proctor because he does not believe the have probably cause to take her. 

    Although the relationship between Proctor and Elizabeth is tense, they still have a lot of love for each other. Elizabeth has every right to be mad at her husband because he is an adulterer but will come clean about his actions. But when the Marshal comes to take Elizabeth, Proctor fights for his wife because she believes she is innocent. It is ultimately it is Mary Warren's that Elizabeth is arrested because she could have planted the doll. It is the only thing that links Elizabeth to the crime, but it does not belong to her. Mary Warren realizes her error and tries to help, but her efforts are futile.

The Crucible Act 1

 

Rebecca seems to be the most sensible of all the characters we have met thus far.  On page 25, she discusses how she believes that Ruth will wake with time.  She continues, “I have seen them all through their silly seasons, and when it come on them they will run the Devil bowlegged keeping up with their mischief.  I think she’ll wake when she tires of it”.   We will see how long it takes for Ruth and Betty to “wake” from this act and end this witch hunt.  It was interesting how Rebecca’s character was used as foreshadowing.  On page 26 she states, “If so he is, then let us go to God for the cause of it.  There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits.  I fear it, I fear it.  Let us rather blame ourselves and— “.  The danger Rebecca speaks of is of course the ruining many lives that will occur because of this witch hunt.  Rebecca foreshadows the future problems in Salem and we see these problems begin to surface between Parris, Abigail, Tituba, Putnam, and Hale.   

We also learned more about Abigail.  She seems to cause all the problems of the play.  At first, it seemed like she wasn’t completely trying to blame Tituba.  Parris cuts her off so she cannot finish her sentence.  Parris and Hale assume that she is going to say that Tituba called the Devil.  I think Abigail was panicked and frantic so she went along with that story.  Her lies accumulated to her saying that Tituba made her and Betty drink the blood of chicken and that Tituba forces her to dream corruptions.  Parris, Putnam, and Hale’s persistent questions cause fear and escalate the situation.   Parris demands that Tituba confess herself or threatens death.  Putnam continues, “This woman must be hanged!  She must be taken and hanged!” (42).  Tituba becomes desperate. Her life is threatened.  Fear for her life causes her to say that somebody else is bewitching the children and she starts naming people after Parris presses her on page 44. 

Questions for the group:

Do you guys think anyone will accept the accusation that they are a witch or do you think everyone will deny?  Also, do you all think everyone will name a different witch?