English 11 September 19, 2013

Agenda - 9/20/2013 Grade Sheets – MUST BE SIGNED! Journal/SSR “The Crucible” Intro

Guided Notes Vocabulary Study Guide & Character Sheet Read Act I

Homework: Get grade sheet signed & begin to study first 12 words of Act I Vocab…it will be extra credit on your Unit One: Chapter 2 Quiz

NOTE: All missing work is due (with a late pass) no later than 9/27/12 or it will stay a zero!

Writing Prompt- To Be Great - 9/20/2013

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “Everyone has the power for greatness, not for

fame, but greatness, because greatness is determined by service.”

Do you agree that everyone has the potential for greatness? Maybe you think serving others isn’t what makes someone great; if that’s the case, what do you think are the qualifying features of greatness?

The Crucible: What You Need to Know

About the Author • Born in New York City in 1915 • Jewish Family • Wrote The Crucible in 1953 during the McCarthy period

when Americans were accusing each other of Pro-Communist beliefs. (The Red Scare)

• Miller himself was brought before the House of Un-American Activities Committee where he was found guilty in beliefs in Communism. The verdict was reversed in 1957.

• He was once married to Marilyn Monroe in 1956 where they lost a child to miscarriage. They were divorced in 1961.

Point of View • In short fiction, who tells the story and how it is told are critical

issues for an author to decide. The tone and feel of the story, and even its meaning, can change radically depending on who is telling the story.

• Remember, someone is always between the reader and the action of the story. That someone is telling the story from his or her own point of view. This angle of vision, the point of view from which the people, events, and details of a story are viewed, is important to consider when reading a story.

• EX: An automobile accident occurs. Two drivers are involved. Witnesses include four sidewalk spectators, a policeman, a man with a video camera who happened to be shooting the scene, and the pilot of a helicopter that was flying overhead. Here we have nine different points of view and, most likely, nine different descriptions of the accident. (VANTAGE POINT)

Point of View • “The Crucible” is told

from a third person point of view.

– Characters do not address the audience in the first person.

– We learn a lot about the characters and how they react, which is what the entire play is centered around

Form and Structure • “The Crucible” is a play in 4 Acts with some off-

stage action

Form and Structure

• Exposition: setting the scene. The writer introduces the characters and setting, providing description and background.

• Inciting Incident: something happens to begin the action. A single event usually signals the beginning of the main conflict. The inciting incident is sometimes called 'the complication'.

• Rising Action: the story builds and gets more exciting. • Climax: the moment of greatest tension in a story. This is

often the most exciting event. It is the event that the rising action builds up to and that the falling action follows.

Form and Structure • Falling Action: events happen as a result of the climax and we know

that the story will soon end. • Resolution: the character solves the main problem/conflict or

someone solves it for him or her. • Dénouement: (a French term, pronounced: day-noo-moh) the ending.

At this point, any remaining secrets, questions or mysteries which remain after the resolution are solved by the characters or explained by the author. Sometimes the author leaves us to think about the THEME or future possibilities for the characters. – Think of the dénouement as the opposite of the exposition: instead

of getting ready to tell us the story by introducing the setting and characters, the author is getting ready to end it with a final explanation of what actually happened and how the characters think or feel about it. This can be the most difficult part of the plot to identify, as it is often very closely tied to the resolution.

Setting – “The Crucible”

• Salem, Massachusetts in the late 17th Century.

• Based on a true story • Puritan society

Dramatic Irony

• • The audience or reader knows something important that a character does not know

Situational Irony

• The contrast between what a reader or character expects and what actually happens

• Fire station burning

•

Verbal Irony

• Occurs when a writer or character says one thing but means another

• Example: I am so sad

Theme is the general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express. All of the elements of

literary terms contribute to theme. A simple theme can often be stated in a single sentence.

• Standing for truth, even to your death • Frantic hysteria (chaos) of the mob-easy

manipulation/gullible in groups • Rising over adversity • Jealousy • Young Love is dumb • Strictness of Puritan Religion

Themes in “The Crucible” :