Belonging - The Cucible And The Island

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‘The Crucible’ and ‘The Island’ - Belonging To belong is to be, or have the feeling of being accepted or included by a certain group, person, place or community. Belonging to a community or group can be very beneficial, and not belonging can cause an individual to face consequences. While initially an individual may belong to a community or group, speaking their opinion can seclude them, and cause them to become an outsider. We are able to view these experiences of belonging and not belonging through the use of characters and events throughout a variety of texts. Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” and Armin Geder’s picture book “The Island” display these experiences the characters face. Individuals who do not belong to the community, either by choice or force, may face consequences. Throughout ‘The Crucible’, the protagonist John Proctor chooses not to conform, not to attend church, and disobeys the values and rules of Salem theocracy. These actions chosen by Proctor become consequential when Reverend Parris, the minister of Salem’s church, uses this against him in court, as Parris uses repetition to state to Danforth, “He’s come to overthrow this court!” Proctor’s decisions to exclude himself from the community and Salem theocracy have caused the court to accuse him of lying and following witchcraft and the devil. This is also evident in ‘The Island’, although while it was a choice of proctor’s to not belong, it was not a choice for the outsider in this text, instead it was forced upon him. The outsider faces the consequence of inhumane treatment by the community. The community derives the outsider of basic needs such as food and refuse to employ him as they believe he is too skinny and weak to withhold a job, “Look at him, we need someone who can carry heavy loads.” The repetition of “us” and “we” seclude the outsider from the group and shows that he does not

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