The Crucible by Arthur Miller

As I work to read the list I give my students of "Books to Read Before you Die," I grabbed The Crucible by Arthur Miller off my shelf.

 

As a substitute, I watched the second half of the movie multiple times, so I felt a familiarity with the characters, setting, and plot. Now I want to go back and watch the whole movie.

The story is engrossing. It ostensibly centers on the Salem Witch Trials, but is obviously so much more. The tale reveals the very dark underbelly of humanity. Lust, greed, fear. It's all in there. 

The story begins with young women doing what young women do: fighting for an escape and freedom. One has apparently seduced a married man and sees her chance to break him free from his long-suffering wife. Not only do the girls shout, "Witch" in order to absolve themselves, the town uses the opportunity to free itself of gadflies and cranks, or even obstacles to prosperity. 

The panic, the rush to judgment, the absolute certainty mirror our own during the Covid nightmare.

Nothing has changed. 

John Proctor takes center stage as he seeks to redeem himself from his sin of adultery and betrayal. He is the hero of the play. 

Interestingly, after the madness, the town returns to "normal" and consigns the horror to a never-spoken-of anecdote. This too is typical of humanity. We don't learn. We intentionally forget. 

The play is horrifying. It's a slow-motion train wreck in which multiple people yelled, "Stop!" Yet the reader knows it will not stop until the cancer has worked itself out. 

Never didactic, the play shines a bright light on our own foibles. 

 

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon

Robyn Vandewalle sent me At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon for my birthday. Set in Blowing Rock (Mitford) North Carolina, she figured I love a "hometown" novel. She was right.

The book features a variety of small town characters led by Father Tim, a gracious and good-natured bachelor. As he deals with the daily circumstances that present themselves, we fall in love with the charming and slow-paced town. 

All stories, no matter how dire, seem to end well. Small setbacks are simply fodder for spending time with the demention-adled Miss Rose, the long-suffering Uncle Billy, the misunderstood child Dooley, the opinionated secretary Emma, and rich spinster Miss Sadie, as well as the intriguing "neighbor" Cynthia Coppersmith. 

The plot is not especially relevant in this slice-of-life novel. 

Father Tim is simply going about his day trying to handle each hiccup as best he can. 

I look forward to reading more in the series. 

A Lively Kind of Learning: Mastering the Seminar Method by Jennette DeCelles-Zwerneman

A fellow teacher recommended a website to help us as we craft our Seminar class. On that site I discovered A Lively Kind of Learning: Mastering the Seminar Method by Jennette DeCelles-Zwerneman. It turned out to be a very helpful book. I recommended that our entire team read the short treatise and discuss a la "book club"!

I found several worthy gems: "The goals of the seminar are to teach the following skills and habits of mind: how to read well with sensitivity to genre; how to speak precisely in a spirited, adult conversation marked by wonder and rigor; how to defend their positions and gracefully change their minds when necessary; how to think through a thorny problem from beginning to end with precision; and how to think about the world more generally." (p. 5)

Something to reflect on: "Another more sober complaint against conducting seminars with high school students is that it invites arrogance in young people who enjoy minimal experience of the world and who are already prone to sophomoric pronouncements. (p. 6)

The goal: "If a seminar discussion is successful, the students should know that they have learned something at its conclusion." (p. 8)

Questions to ask: "Why do you say that? What do you mean by that? Where is that in the text?

Can you expand on that? How can you maintain that reading in light of this other passage? You are now contradicting what you said before; did you mean to do that? What would we have to assume to believe what you're saying is true?" (p. 9)

A call to center the text: "Seminar leaders should always begin with the concrete text before them. The rest will follow naturally. The students should know that the text is the source of their discussion and that they should not be consulting outside sources." (p. 20)

A word of advice on what to do; "When sorting through philosophical texts, an exceptionally useful habit to acquire is the practice of distilling arguments on a one-half sheet of paper in outline form. Restricting oneself this way has the effect of clarifying the issues and disciplining the mind." (p. 28)

The author outlines "Six Patterns for Leading Seminar":

1. Recreate the drama, collect the questions. "Learning to ask good questions is an important intellectual skill that should be acquired in seminar training." (p. 36)
2. Arguments: Find them first than evaluate. "The students are directed to locate the thesis of an argu-ment, the argument's logical construction, and the evidence offered by the interlocutor for that position." (p. 36)
3. Two by Two. "In this pattern, the students are working together, building a shared experience of the text. They are seeing it through the eyes of their colleagues, and they are seeing afresh what they had missed on their own." (p. 40)
4. Line by line. "We are trying to teach the students how to read, and that involves occasions of close, detailed investigation of the text." (p. 44)
5. Competing Essays. "The fifth kind of seminar discussion is based on two competing essays written by the students themselves...The essay assignment would have to solicit opposing but arguable positions." (p. 49)
6. The Big Picture. "It involves comparing and contrasting assessments of various authors on a variety of overlapping concerns an interests." (p. 50)

Finally the book ends with "Common Mistakes that Spoil a Seminar."

The Expert: "[T]hey fear the unruly and often unpredictable nature of the seminar. They are frightened when students start interrupting each other. Because they fear the seemingly gigantic pauses that sometimes open up in these conversations, they fill them, instead of patiently waiting for the students to catch up...If the seminar leader plays the Expert long enough, the students will catch on and wait for him to settle the debate..."(p. 57)

The Traffic Cop: "They believe their purpose is to stay out of the way and keep the traffic moving by calling on students to speak; directing traffic by quieting interruptions and ticketing malcontents; and waving travelers through the intersection by cueing up the next remark." (p. 60)

The best Seminar teacher functions as an "Experienced Mountain Guide."The skillful teacher needs to be intellectually alive, energetic, and opportunistic. When the students move the conversation into unexpected territory, and the issues arising are potentially fruitful, the teacher needs to guide that conversation and move in the fresh direction suggested by the students' questions and remarks." (p. 61)

And finally, my biggest takeaway: "One of the most important skills students gain in these discussions is learning how to engage each other, not just the teacher, in a lengthy and substantive exchange. It is imperative that the students be consistently redirected to address one another in these conversations." (p. 76)

In true Seminar fashion, the author details the Final Cause of Seminar: "We want them to become reflective, rigorous, intellectually honest, spiritually sensitive, and competent readers of a wide and various selection of genres. The seminar should cultivate in the students the ability to think through problems independently, collaboratively, and imaginatively; to scrutinize arguments and evaluate the truth of those ar-guments; to imaginatively observe and reflect on the created world in a piece of literature and the development and motivation of the characters who inhabit that world; and to be genuinely moved by the beauty and the suffering they confront in their reading. Finally, the students should acquire an understanding of the world and their place in it." (p. 89)

"The Reluctant Debutante" by Samuel French

For the genre "play" our book club chose, "The Reluctant Debutante" by Samuel French. The picture is from the movie version. The actual "book" is a script with a red nondescript cover. 

The play centers around a young woman, Jane, whose mother is desperate for her to find a suitable husband. A friend of the mother's also has a daughter "coming out" and in a similar search. Two very different men, both named David, provide the potential love interests. That each is initially made to understand that one particular David is the right one, and that it ultimately proves incorrect is basically the entire plot. Hijinks ensue. The reluctant debutante's parents, Jimmy and Sheila, provide a bit of a Mr. and Mrs. Bennet-style characters.

The play claims to be hilarious and warns against introducing over-the-top staging to enhanced its humor. At most, I found it slightly amusing. However, when our book club met to discuss it, someone suggested reading a scene out loud. We assigned ourselves parts and proceeded to do a read aloud. The results were actually very funny. I finally understood the initial note. Exaggerating for effect was unnecessary. 

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates by Abraham Lincoln

Although I've read most, if not all, of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates in the past, this small (58 pgs.) excerpted form was a perfect encapsulation of the arguments made by Lincoln and Douglas. The rapidity with which the reader can encounter each argument creates an easy-to-follow flow from one debate to the next. It is so much more of an extended conversation than a series of long speeches.

Interestingly, Lincoln is clearly on his heals throughout most of the debates. Although today his argument about the immorality of slavery and its incompatibility with the Founding ideal rings obviously true, it was one he sought to promulgate over enormous obstacles. 

Douglas perfectly captures the zeitgeist by pointing out that the Founders actually left slavery in place. It was Lincoln who sought to upend the delicate balance procured by Jefferson, et. al. Repeatedly Douglas accuses Lincoln of believing that blacks were equal to whites in every way, including as voters and marriage partners. This "bridge too far" kept Lincoln in the unfortunate position of arguing that is not what he meant by saying slavery is incompatible with "All men are created equal." Douglas' rejoinder that the Founders clearly meant "All white men are created equal" seemed an adequate refutation. 

Not until the seventh and final debate is Lincoln finally able to free himself of the web Douglas has wove about him. Lincon shifts gears to say that slavery is morally wrong: 

The real issue in this controversy--the one pressing upon every mind--is the sentiment on the part of one class that looks upon the institution of slavery as a wrong, and of another class that does not look upon it as a wrong...[The Republicans] look upon it as being a moral, social and political wrong; and while they contemplate it as such, they nevertheless have due regard for its actual existence among us, and the difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way and to all the constitutional obligations thrown about it...They insist that it should as far as may be, be treated as a wrong, and one of the methods of treating it as a wrong is to make provision that it shall grow no larger...

That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles--right and wrong--throughout the world...The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings... It is the same spirit that says, "You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principal...And whenever we can get rid of the fog which obscures the real question...we can get out from among them that class of men and bring them to the side of those who treat it as a wrong. Then there will soon be an end of it, and that end will be its 'ultimate extinction.' (p. 54)

As Lincoln makes clear, there is no room for someone like Douglas who "doesn't care" whether slavery is voted up or down. If something is wrong, it is wrong. And any moral person must oppose it. To stand by and let it continue or expand is to concur with its basic morality. 

Interestingly, Douglas, after Lincoln's devastating take-down of the "don't care" mindset, reverts to his strongest ground: Lincoln seeks equality in every way. This distasteful ignoring of the real issue suddenly reveals Douglas to be a cowardly racist afraid to state what is plainly true and in full alignment with the Founding of the country.

This book resonated with me greatly and will be a go-to defense of all attacks on Lincoln. 

 

Sweep the Story of a Girl and her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

Our book club decided to read the delightful book, Sweep the Story of a Girl and her Monster by Jonathan Auxier.

The tale describes the life of a little girl chimney sweep, Nan, in late 19th century London. She has lost her friend and mentor, Sweep, and now works for a horrid abusive boss. 

But Sweep left her a small lump of coal. 

This coal turns out to be a Jewish goyim, a monster that is tasked with one thing and then disappears. 

Nan and her friends work to free themselves from the grip of their evil boss. Meanwhile they learn to love a monster and live bravely. 

This review from "Happily Ever Elephants" on Amazon captures my thoughts exactly:

"I love stories that teach without being didactic, ones that encourage you to make new discoveries every time you open their pages. Sweep is that and so much more - a book that tackles tough topics and follows Nan as she puts one foot in front of the other after facing so many unspeakable losses. Sweep is separated into two sections, appropriately called Innocence and Experience, and they so beautifully illuminate Nan’s journey from a guileless young child to a tween fraught with complicated questions and even more troubling realizations about society and her place within it. Why are children forced to work dangerous jobs? Why are kids losing their lives due to nothing but their unfortunate lot in life, and what on earth can she do to change it?

Simply put, Sweep is a feat. It is an adventure of the greatest kind, an ode to friendship, a discovery of self, and a testament to the power of one voice to create change. But my favorite part? Sweep excels in its exploration of “monsters,” finds tenderness in the terrifying, and combats all of our preconceived notions about the frightening things that keep us up at night. Exquisite - this masterpiece will stay with me for a long, long time."

Ithaca by Claire North

I read Ithaca by Claire North because I saw it on a shelf of recommendation at the library and because I'm interested in the subject matter. It's fresh take on a very old story made it definitely worth it. It takes the Odyssey and flip it on its head. Rather than hear the story from Odysseus point of view, it shows us Penelope as seen through the eyes of Hera. 

The author does a good job delving into the complicated world inhabited by Penelope. She especially provides insight into the relationship with her son Telemachus and the threats he faced. She intrigues with the introduction of an "Egyptian" but we never really get the payoff. 

Penelope must prove her strength against mysterious invaders, while keeping the suitors at bay and not at each other's throats. The clock is ticking and her son is in the crosshairs. No word from Odysseus, her loyalty does not seem to be necessarily to him, as much as to keeping herself, her son, and her island alive. She seems to succeed to live another day, but so many questions remain.

That was one of the issues I had with the book. The ending was ambiguous and not fulfilling. Odysseus does not even return to banish the suitors. Who is the mysterious "Egyptian"?

I discovered this is part one of a trilogy. I'm interested to read the others. Hopefully the questions will be answered. 

Clair North has done a good job retelling an ancient story. Her narrator, Hera, is funny, irreverent, and smart. The language grates a little with anachronistic phrasing and jenky metaphors. But overall, a fun ride.