1. Sponge: WRITE out a revised version of this pitifully written paragraph.
Accusation were blindly being made in the “Crucible.” More than two hundred “card carrying” people where publically accused of being communist infiltrated into the U.S government, by Senator Joseph McCarthy. The people that were accused of being part of communisms were sent to trails. The trails were long and tiring.

2. Sample Revised Version
In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many accusations of witchcraft were blindly and falsely made without adequate evidence. Mirroring post-World War II America, this play is an allegory to the communistic accusations made by Senator McCarthy in the 1950s. McCarthy publically accused hundreds of American citizens of infiltrating the American Government with communistic ideals and he subjected the accused to long, tiring, and unfair trials.

3. Introduction
Read the hand-out titled “Introduction” on one side and “Notes on Concepts of Puritanism” on the other side.
On the side titled “Introduction,” highlight or underline key ideas in each paragraph.

4. Historical Context for The Crucible
Crucible background video: Miller interview:

5. The Crucible is an ALLEGORY:
Allegory comes from the Greek word allēgoreîn, which means “to speak so as to imply something else.”
Definition: The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning.
In some allegories, for example, an author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction like hope or freedom.
The allegorical meaning usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human existence. ‎

6. Allegory is connected to other literary terms:
Extended metaphor: A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work.
Motif: a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work.
The Crucible is an allegory because it is a story in and of itself (a story about the witch trials), but it represents an actual moment in history, the 1950s Communist “witch hunt.” ‎

7. Read and discuss John Steinbeck’s argument in his article.
The Crucible
Read and discuss John Steinbeck’s argument in his article.
What is his claim?
What is he saying about Congress—through implication as well as direct speech?