Free Essays on Analysis Of I Tituba Black Witch Of Salem, The Crucible & Young Goodman Brown

, the evil acts were not instinctive; but rather, ‘the Devil made them do it.’ Maryse Condà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s 1992 novel, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem; Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1835 short story, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† and a 1996 film based on Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, The Crucible, feature the theme of good vs. evil, and consider its repercussions on the respective protagonists and antagonists. In none of these works do the characters ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. This seems to suggest that once their moral foundations had been cracked, the damage was irreparable. In I, Tituba, the Black Witch of Salem, the protagonist is the misunderstood Tituba, a real-life woman who had been transported to Salem from the West Indies at the height of the seventeenth-century slave trade. She is a strong-willed woman who brought much of her African culture with her in the form of healing concoctions (misconstrued as spells) that she uses to assist her master, Reverend Samuel Parris, his wife Elizabeth, daughter Elizabeth (â€Å"Betsey†) and niece, Abigail Williams. The novel’s first-person narrative allows author Maryse Condà © considerable creative license to mold Tituba into the kind of person she wanted her to be to deliver the message she deemed relevant. Condà © candidly acknowledged, â€Å"I was not inte... Free Essays on Analysis Of I Tituba Black Witch Of Salem, The Crucible & Young Goodman Brown Free Essays on Analysis Of I Tituba Black Witch Of Salem, The Crucible & Young Goodman Brown Ever since the beginning of time, the classic conflict of humankind has been the moral struggle between good and evil. Evil can take many forms, but it is always rooted in Satan or the antichrist. The natural assumption has historically been that since God created man/woman in His own image, he/she is inherently good. Therefore, whenever a man or woman takes a detour from the moral straight and narrow, there has to be some type of external cause responsible for the dramatic shifting of course. The logical conclusion to draw was that a spell must have been cast upon the unfortunate person’s soul. In other words, the evil acts were not instinctive; but rather, ‘the Devil made them do it.’ Maryse Condà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s 1992 novel, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem; Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1835 short story, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† and a 1996 film based on Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, The Crucible, feature the theme of good vs. evil, and consider its repercussions on the respective protagonists and antagonists. In none of these works do the characters ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. This seems to suggest that once their moral foundations had been cracked, the damage was irreparable. In I, Tituba, the Black Witch of Salem, the protagonist is the misunderstood Tituba, a real-life woman who had been transported to Salem from the West Indies at the height of the seventeenth-century slave trade. She is a strong-willed woman who brought much of her African culture with her in the form of healing concoctions (misconstrued as spells) that she uses to assist her master, Reverend Samuel Parris, his wife Elizabeth, daughter Elizabeth (â€Å"Betsey†) and niece, Abigail Williams. The novel’s first-person narrative allows author Maryse Condà © considerable creative license to mold Tituba into the kind of person she wanted her to be to deliver the message she deemed relevant. Condà © candidly acknowledged, â€Å"I was not inte...

How to Become a Critical Reader

How to Become a Critical Reader Whether you are reading for pleasure or for school, its important to understand basic structural and content elements about the text you are studying. These questions and idea generators should help you to become a more critical reader. Understand and retain what you read!   Steps to Becoming a Critical Reader Determine your purpose for reading. Are you gathering information for a writing assignment? Are you determining whether a source will be useful for your paper? Are you preparing for a class discussion?Consider the title. What does it tell you about what the book, essay, or ​literary work is about?Think about what you already know about the topic of the book, essay, or play. Do you already have preconceived notions of what to expect? What are you expecting? Do you hope to learn something, enjoy yourself, be bored?Look at how the text is structured. Are there subdivisions, chapters, books, acts, scenes? Read over the titles of the chapters or sections? What do the headings tell you?Skim the opening sentence of each paragraph (or lines) under the headings. Do these first words of the sections give you any hints?Read carefully, marking or highlighting places that are confusing (or so wonderful that you want to re-read). Be careful to keep a dictionary close at hand. Looking up a w ord can be an excellent way to enlighten your reading. Identify key issues or arguments the author/writer makes, along with important terms, recurring images and interesting ideas.You may want to make notes in the margin, highlight those points, take notes on a separate sheet of paper or notecard, etc.Question the sources that the author/writer might have used: personal experience, research, imagination, popular culture of the time, historical study, etc.Did the author effectively use these sources to develop a believable work of literature?What is one question you would like to ask the author/writer?Think about the work as a whole. What did you like best about it? What puzzled, confused, angered, or irritated you?Did you get what you expected out of the work, or were you disappointed? Additional Tips The process of reading critically can help you with many literary and academic situations, including studying for a test, preparing for a discussion, and more.If you have questions about the text, be sure to ask your professor; or discuss the text with others.Consider keeping a reading log to help you to track your perceptions about reading.