Crucible Speech Essay

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Assessment Task Two: HSC English Advanced Area of Study ‘Belonging’ My name is Reverend Parris and I was brought here to talk to you children about the concept of belonging and share with you my experiences of belonging in my previous town ship of Salem. To help develop my concept of belonging I did some research on that search engine you call Google and found a film called D9 and a picture book called “Woolvs the Sitee” by Margaret Wild. Now to be honest, I found it rather hard to find my way into the community of Salem. To belong to a community, it’s best to have a common factor, interest, a link. My link was the shared devotion to God. I was the community’s priest you see. But even then, I felt that some members did not respect me completely. For example, John Proctor, a fellow citizen of Salem, disliked me greatly. Once he said I only preached hellfire bloody damnation! He said I hardly mentioned God in my services. The nerve. Mr Danforth, the community’s most authoritative judge, also disliked me, for some absurd reason calling me a “brainless man”! I believe since Danforth and Proctor, being such highly valued men in the society, did not respect me, the community – being the sheep they were at the time – did not either. I am sure you all know of the history of Salem, how Abigail and her minions grouped with Danforth’s stubbornness destroyed the town. Many people believe this was my fault also. They think that if I had only told someone, anyone, what I saw that night – of Abigail, Betty and the rest, or if I had talked to Betty into confessing the truth – none of this would have happened. No one would have died. But this is not my fault, and I will not take the blame. If I did tell the community that my own daughter and niece were practicing witchcraft, I would have surely been disgraced from the town. I had a reputation to consider and I was not willing
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