For our study of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, we are going to collect, dissect, discuss, and use words from the play every class. We started today's class with a look back at our reading from last class. You all had a few silent moments to look back over the seven pages we'd already read to find a word that you consider to be a critical word. What's a critical word? Well, I'll leave that judgment up to you, but I consider a critical word to be one that is essential to help understand or explain the feelings and motivations of the characters, the plot, the themes or motifs in the books, and/ or your feelings about the story. Here are the critical words you all picked from our first reading:
Demonic
Faction
Backwards
Die
Heathen
Abomination
Unnatural
Horrify
Dissembling
Witchcraft
Quavering
Vengeful
We had quite a lively discussion about these words, during which you all demonstrated an understanding about the text and the meaning of the words. We talked a lot about the roots of some of the words and the connotations of these words. After this, we continued reading from the play. Here is the second set of words you all came up with:
Inquisitive
Hush
Trepidation
Mischief
Blood
Unnerved
Blackening
Sickness
Titillating
Desire
Murdered
We'll use these words and others that we collect throughout this unit. We're off to a great start!
