(1984) - Reading Journal 1

1984, a book by George Orwell, opens up with an explanation of who Winston Smith is. He works for the totalitarian party in charge except for he's a pretty low rank. His work is to write history to make Big Brother and the Party look good. The Party is in complete control of what people are doing and what they see and hear. The only thing the Party does not have absolute control over is people's thoughts. Winston is the character who begins to interpret what he is seeing and feels a rebellion. He hates the Party. Orwell opens the book like any other hero book. Times are bad and no one likes it except the people in charge. Orwell's times are a little more cynical because the people don't even have the ability to think that the government is bad. But our hero, Winston, has this ability. He realizes the Party's lies and it looks as if he may succeed. We are also introduced to another character, O'Brien. O'Brien is an inner Party member meaning that he is the top of the food chain. For whatever reason Winston thinks he can trust O'Brien because O'Brien has a look like he would hate the Party. This again continues to follow this hero story where theres an inside man helping the protagonist out. On top of O'Brien there is a women he is interested in. He wants her yet can't have her because of the Party's rules and for this reason wants to rebel anymore. The hero's story just continues to sink in as there is lady he has to fight for which makes it all the more intriguing. It'll be interesting seeing how the story plays out.

(Dracula) - Reading Journal 2

After Harker disappears into Count Dracula's Castle, the story fades to a collection of letters and journals written by Harker's fiance, Mina, to her friend, Lucy. The writings tell whats happening in their lives and feelings. Lucy reveals her craze for three different lovers while Mina reveals her wish to help her husband in any way possible. Mina represents a stereotypical woman, being controlled by her man and being happy about it. Lucy represents an atypical woman, being able to pick whichever man she likes and controlling her men. During their stories, they also discuss this suspicious Russian ship. All that was found on the ship was a dead captain with the rest of the crew missing. There were also fifty boxes of earth on the ship, similar to the boxes Harker found in the Count's room earlier in the story. Stoker is hinting at what is going to happen with Dracula. Lucy is scared by the entire event and begins sleepwalking. The sleepwalking leads to Dracula biting her. Dr. Seward begins to try to treat her. Soon after he calls upon his old mentor, Van Helsing. Helsing puts up garlic around Lucy which seems to help. This leads to the idea that vampires can't be near garlic. Although Harker ends his scene with the words "Good-bye," he reappears in Buda-Pest with Brain Fever. Lucy's treatment ends up failing and she dies. Helsing is convinced she is undead and gets Holmwood, Seward, and Quincey Morris to finish her off. The Harkers return to England and help Helsing and gang to defeat Dracula. They collect information to track him down. In the process, Mina gets bitten. Once Dracula is killed by the team, Mina is cured and they all live happily ever after. The entire story is a quintessential vampire story. If it was written today, the story would just be cliche. The book is not cliche because it was the first real book about vampires. The book is what gives us these ideas about a cliche vampire book. Helsing as an evil hunter, vampires hating garlic, and the physical appearance of vampires all came from Dracula. That's what makes the book so interesting and makes it a classic.

(Dracula) Reading Journal 1

Bram Stoker's Dracula is a composition of letters, journal entries, and articles. Each chapter is one of the previous that describes the character's about events taking place. The actual story starts out with Jonathon Harker being invited to Count Dracula's Castle. From London to Eastern Europe he travels and talks to people of his travels. All of the people he talks to warn him of the evils that he is going to encounter. A female inn keeper even gives him her crucifix to aid him against evils. They also remind him it is St. George's Day Eve. which means that evils are stronger at his time. Also, while on the train the over passengers were pointing at him and wishing him luck against the "evil eye." When he gets off the train, his chariot is late. Once on the chariot riding to the Count, he realizes that there is no real driver of the chariot. Harker's first journal entry ends with him terrified standing at the entrance to Dracula's castle. Despite this fear, Dracula quickly cures his fear with a very warm welcome. Later on in the night Harker realizes Dracula has sharp teeth, is extremely pale, and has pointed ears. Harker continues to stay with Dracula growing more and more cautious of Dracula. Harker never sees Dracula in the day and Dracula always has an excuse. Harker also encounters three mistresses in what could be a dream or reality. They are going to harass Harker until Dracula steps in and stops the girls reassuring them that Harker is all theirs once he is done with him. Harker quickly realizes that he is not actually a guest but a prisoner of Dracula. Dracula continues to act wierd. He asks Harker to write letters with future dates. Finally, Harker decides to investigate. He scales up he castle in the middle of he day and finds Dracula eiher dead or asleep in a box. He decides to try and kill the Count with a weapon however the weapon was simply deflected by Dracula's head. Harker's journal entries end with the words, "Good-bye, all! Mina!" The interesting thing about reading this book in 2011 is thinking about how people reading Dracula in the early 1900s would think. Because Dracula is directly linked to vampires. Without Dracula there just simply are not vampires. But reading this book before that link would make the book a good bit less predictable. For instance, when Dracula tells the mistresses "after I'm done with him." We immediately know he means to suck his blood while if you were reading this book in the 1900s you wouldn't make that connection instantly. Even knowing what he means the entire thing is still creepy, so without knowing what he means and there could beinfinite possibilities the book must have been terrifying.

(The Crucible) Reading Journal 4 - All of Act 4

Act four starts out in the jail. Tituba is talking about the land of the Devil, Barbados. She says it is a great land and the Devil is going to take her there soon. Sarah Good tells Tituba to get the Devil to take her to Barbados as well after hearing about how the Devil is kind to her there. Tituba also offers Marshall Herrick if he wishes to come with them and he claims its the proper morning to go to Hell. This sets the mood for the scene; it preludes all the havoc in Salem that day. Afterward Parris, Hale, Hawthorne, and Danforth discuss the hangings scheduled for that morning. Reverend Parris reveals that his niece, Abigail Williams, has ran off with his fortune, and Reverend Hale reveals his true feelings about the court's ruling. He shows that he believes the accusations wrong and that he is trying to tell people to lie about their witchcraft to keep their lives. He believes that their deaths is as if he murdered them because he signed off on multiple rulings. They specifically address John Proctor who refuses to talk to them. They decide that they should have his wife, Elizabeth, talk to him and attempt to convince him to live. After their conversation Proctor begins to confess his dealings with the Devil, but refuses to give his name and we are led to believe he hangs along with Rebecca Nurse. The entire situation defeats the purpose of religion and God. By confessing the people of Salem are allowed to see the light of God. However, most of these people did not actually do what they are confessing to and therefore are lying which is against the word of God. So, if the people of Salem truly believed in God then there would be no confessions. The people in the "light of God" were actually disobeying God while the people who "dealt with Satin" are the people with God. It is a huge confusion that ends up with many dead. The most odd thing of it all is that Danforth refused to withdraw charges after all evidence pointed towards their innocence. The accusers have left Salem which leads us to believe it was all a lie, while the people who are accused are best Christians of them all for not confessing. It makes you wonder if this really was a Puritanical society with its corruption. In the end Proctor talks about how God's vision of his confession is enough and they shouldn't have to nail his signature to a wall, and Danforth refuses to accept this. This is especially odd since Puritans believed that God should be the only one to judge which means by not accepting his confession to God is disobeying their beliefs. Everything in this situation completely disobeys both logic and religion. Throughout the book there is a continuous build up for a need for righteousness, but it never comes. The ending is unpredictable to the unlikely events that took place in Salem. These people were crazy and from the first page to the last word Miller does an excellent job displaying their insanity.

(The Crucible) Reading Journal 3 - All of Act 3

Act three starts out in court where Francis, Giles, and Proctor have unexpectedly shown up. They claim to have evidence. The court is not happy about their appearance and takes them aside to talk to them. Reverend Parris claims they are there to uphold the court while Reverend Hale wants to hear them out. The men have brought Mary Warren with them who claims that she never saw any spirits and that the other girls are lying about them as well. It is clear she does not want to tell them but Proctor is forcing her to because good people, such as his wife, are going to be hung. They bring Abigail to check Mary Warren’s statement and she claims it false. Mary Warren calls Abigail a liar and Proctor calls Abigail a “whore.” Abigail and the other girls start repeating everything Mary says, claiming that Mary is trying to possess them. Mary finally breaks and says Proctor made her sign with the devil. The act ends with Proctor being taken to jail. There is definitely prejudice in Miller’s writing. I strongly believe that Miller does not find these events that took place in Salem sane. Although no one will ever know one hundred percent whether the girls were lying or not, Miller tries to make them look like the bad guys. Proctor was an honest man in Miller’s eyes and the “spirits” never existed. Miller uncovers these strange events as fact. It fascinates the reader that any human would take part in these events and makes the reader continue and stay engaged. There also seem to be a lot of grammar mistakes in the dialogue that make the reader stay awake or else you will soon be confused why they are using were when referring to themselves. Miller wrote The Crucible for older audiences. Due to strange plot and sequence of events, it would be rare for younger audiences to completely understand the content. Also younger audiences would not understand the references to their Puritanical society due to the lack of knowledge about American life before the revolution.

(The Crucible) Reading Journal 2 - Act 1 Appearance of Reverend Hale to the End of Act 2

Reverend Hale finally arrives in Salem. Immediately the population has questions about witchcraft, from their wives reading strange books to their children dancing in the woods. In further investigation of the children, Hale questions Abigail Williams who releases the information that Tituba forced her to drink chicken’s blood. Tituba admits to having encountered the Devil, but says that she fought his control. After the incident where Abigail tells everyone that Tituba trifled with the Devil, the girls who were dancing in the forest begin to accuse many others. They claim to have seen the Devil and his helpers. If the accused do not admit to witchcraft they are hung. The townspeople are all buzzing about the events in the court. Marry Warren, a servant of the Proctor household, went against John Proctor’s permission. When she returns from court, she informs John and Elizabeth Proctor of the horrible news. Later they find out from her arrester that Elizabeth Proctor was also accused of witchcraft. The process they use to determine whether a person is hanged or not is illogical. If the person is innocent then they did not commit an act of witchcraft. However in order to keep one’s life that person must plead guilty to their acts of witchcraft. If the population of Salem was Puritans, which they were, then they believe that no one should lie however by setting someone free they are encouraging lying. The Constitution claims that someone is innocent until proven guilty however this is not the case in Salem. It seems that in Salem, the accused is already guilty and has to prove their innocence by saying that the Devil controlled them. Despite the craziness of the events that take place in this book, it is strangely appealing. The interest is in the confusion of Miller’s writing. He writes like this on purpose to help show how confusing the actual events are and why people would actually do these things.

(The Crucible) Reading Journal 1 - Act 1 to the Appearance of Reverend Hale

Aurthur Miller, The Crucible, Published 1952,1953,1954

Reverend Parris found a group of girls dancing around a fire with his servant, Tituba, uttering foreign words. Among these girls are his daughter Betty and his niece Abigail. Betty is in a state they believe to be caused by sickness. Parris is paranoid that his enemies will remove him from the ministry with this evidence of witchcraft. It is also mentioned that Abigail was removed from service of the Proctor family because she was having an affair with the man of the house, John Proctor. Reverend Parris has called on a witch expert, Reverend Hale, to examine the town for witchcraft. The town also has many on-going territory disputes that cause people to go to extremes. Citizens have even gone to the point of naming each other witches to own the disputed land. Miller approaches the story with an interesting standpoint. He attempts to enter the confusing fight between the two factions without bias, which is difficult and only furthers the confusion of the reader. It makes it difficult to tell who is doing what and when. This fits the story of the Salem Witch Trials because the entire event is confusing as to why humans would treat each other this way and their inability to follow the religion they pretend to follow. The real question is rather if this event encourages religion or denies it. The story can either be interpreted to encourage belief in religion or to discourage belief in religion. If you see these accusations by the town’s people as a correct interpretation of the word of God then God must exist because he protected the town from the devilish beings, while if you see these accusations as false then their belief in God caused many innocent people to die and therefore religion is responsible. This is what makes the book so interesting. When you read the book you further your belief in religion whether it is negative or a positive outlook on religion. Did Miller write The Crucible for this purpose?