John Proctor, Hero or Stooge

John Proctor was a one of the most important characters in the play. Although he’s only somewhat complicated, one of the ways that the story could be viewed is through having him be the central character. The central characters are Abigail, Parris, Proctor, and Hale and as such, the story could be viewed in its entirety through their points of view and could make perfect sense. Abigail’s point of view is that she’s in love with Proctor and most of her actions are motivated by this fact. Parris is a paranoid minister that wants to protect his position from the supposed faction collaborating against him. Hale is a minister that wants to use this town as his experimental setting to learn and utilize his skills of uncovering the devil’s work. Proctor is a farmer that has had an affair and is trying to make up for it while maintaining his silent protest of Parris’s ways. Hale and Parris, especially Hale, have journeys that change how they feel from the start of the story to the end yet Proctor doesn't have this type of journey. His journey is one that helps him to find true peace. Since the start of act one, he has been trying his absolute hardest to earn Elizabeth’s forgiveness and has begged her time and time again for it, yet she never gave it to him. She knew that in order for him to truly be at peace, he had to forgive himself first, and she told him that. He thought that he had forgiven himself but he really hadn't, not until the end. He confessed his sin to the whole court and let out all of his secrets. Even when his confession wasn't received kindly, he persisted that he was telling the truth. In the last scene, his pleads with his wife one last time but even then she repeats her message that it isn't her place to forgive him. When he finally does give the “confession” to witchcraft, although everyone else saw it as witchcraft, he knew that it was much more than that. He finally proved to himself that he was a good man by not giving up on his friends, a man that deserved forgiveness for the sin that he so regretted and that allowed him to die a happy man. He may have had to give his life for it, but John Proctor was a hero that died at peace, and just so happened to saw the town in the process.

Arrivals...There goes the Neighborhood

The Native Americans had just about every right to think “there goes the neighborhood” when the Europeans first came. They really did not help them at all. When a person or a group comes to a new place, the point is that eventually both the newcomers and the people that already live there should benefit from it. Only one party may benefit at first but eventually, both parties should get something significant out of it. That wasn't the case here at all. The Europeans came through and actually needed the help of the Natives in a lot of cases. Then they repaid them by killing them off, if not personally then through new diseases like small pox and measles that killed hundreds of thousands.

The Native Americans are a relatively peaceful people. They view nature in a different way than the newcomers and that was a major problem. There are of course exceptions but most of the tribes helped the Europeans in some way in most of the stories that we've read. Now if a group of foreigners came into your land with weapons that you've never seen before, what would you do? Would you offer your help and after their diseases kill most of your tribe and their guns kill even more of the local tribes alongside yours, would you still be courteous to them? After they exploit the land that you treasure so much and care so much for, would you still give them corn to eat? The Native Americans were right to think “there goes the neighborhood” and they certainly can’t be blamed for it.

We’re not the Native Americans in the 1600s and the 1700s however and we often tend to think “there goes the neighborhood” to many situations when it just doesn't apply. For instance, the United States tends to be hostile towards any new group that enters the country. Like when the Irish first came to America after the potato famine in their homeland. They were treated roughly just because they were new and were even blamed for the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. We’re still hostile towards new groups today, the most notable one being the Mexicans. The Mexican American population is increasing significantly and as a result, there are political battles over their right to stay here and for a quick path to citizenship. I believe it’s just part of human nature to oppose anything this drastic but it’s certainly something that we should all work on as human beings.