English Response: The Crucible

Here we are again at another post, another english response. Methinks these responses will make up the majority of my blog in the near future, so hopefully you like them. If not, tell me so, and I'll see what I can do.

So, in English last time, we began reading The Crucible. He is what I thought of our discussions thereof:

The Crucible

From what I understand, a crucible is something that is used to melt impure metals to remove the unwanted ore. It is heated to great temperatures, and somehow the metals are separated, until you are left with the core of the metal you want. In assuming that Arthur Miller had some sort of knowledge in the matter of crucibles, one can infer that his play, The Crucible, a play written about the Salem Witch Trials, was somehow symbolically tied to a melting pot. We discussed some of the meanings behind this symbolism in class, but I would like to dig a little deeper into these ideas.

In class, the idea that the crucible was symbolic of the purification of people was brought up. We discussed the ways of the Puritans, and compared them to the uses of a crucible. We mentioned that the Puritans were trying to rid all impurities from themselves in very harsh manners. To me, this is a valid comparatively. However, I would like to go a little further with this idea of the “melting pot”.

Through my education, I had heard this term before, but it was not in reference to purification. Rather, it symbolized the various nations of the world coming to America to live. America became a sort of mixing or melting pot in the sense that our culture and diversity was all becoming drawn into one nation. The melting pot, in essence, melted the cultures, races, and traditions of various peoples into one molten lump, which was the population of America.

When comparing these two symbolisms for one item, I noticed how starkly different they were. In one case, the melting pot was used for weeding out unwanted impurities, removing certain undesirable traits. In the other, it was used for the opposite; it was used for the mixing and merging of various “metals” into one solid ore. The different substances became one, forming a united body.

If the two crucibles mentioned previously were both representative of human ambitions, then we can deduce that the driving force, the flame that urged the melting process of the melting pots forward, is not a constant variable. It must be something changing, something complex. I have come to the conclusion that human nature is demanding. When we want something, our instincts are to do whatever we can to achieve that thing. In the case of the Puritans, they wanted to drive the people who thought differently or who were impure from themselves. Their nature scourged and burned away the unwanted substances. In America’s melting pot, diversity was welcome, even promoted. It was a new nation, and we were open to new ideas and customs. All were welcome, and human nature melted the masses together.

In both cases, unity was the goal. In both cases, the flames of human passion drove the operations. And yet, what came out of the melting pots were drastically different. I would like to think that we all have the ability to make good or bad of a situation. We can choose to burn away social impurities and make society one pure body, or we can let those impurities melt into our social pot to form a strong alloy and culture. It really is up to us; we are the driving force in this world, and the way we choose to deal with one another will determine our outcome in the future. Ask yourself: is it more important for us to be pure and shiny, or strong and unrefined?

Yay for the Crucible. Hopefully this post made sense. I didnt proofread it at all, so it may be random and nonsensical, but hey, its the effort that counts, right?