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Each student will devote 275 words to each of his / her four written responses (to Dead Poets Society, to Halo, to The Crucible, and to his / her choice from the assigned poems).A
Individual Response Topics for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible
(choose any one topic from the six listed below)
Topic 1: Describe the “Christian” community of Salem as it is portrayed in Act One. What kind of society does Miller present and what sort of “Christian” people live there? Be specific.
Topic 2: Arthur Miller’s voice punctuates his play in several places. Discuss the content and significance of Miller’s insertions.
Topic 3: Describe and discuss the dramatic significance of the love triangle presented by Miller: Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor. How does this triangle differ from the actual historical context the play is based upon? And how is this triangle linked to the witch hunt in the play?
Topic 4: Describe how witchcraft and the actions of the devil are portrayed, understood, judged, and punished by the “Christian” people of Massachusetts. How is the witch hunt conducted? Be specific.
Topic 5: Describe what happens to Elizabeth and John Proctor in Act Four. Also, is John Proctor’s death ultimately rooted in his “goodness,” or in his “pride . . . [and] vanity”?
Topic 6: As Christians in the 21st century, what can we learn from Miller’s play, both regarding the witch hunts of the 17th century and the witch hunts for communists in the 1950s? Also, should contemporary Christians be “hunting” anyone under any circumstances?
Individual Response Topics for Josh MacDonald’s HALO
(choose any one topic from the six listed below)
Important note: The numbered headings you see below, e.g. (2) Stagecraft/Setting, are linked to the sections in the FORMALIST drama document above (pages 15-18). Please respond to these HALO study questions in light of the questions and guidelines in that Formalist document.
Topic 1: (1) The Purpose of the play as a whole, plus, (4) Characterization & Conflict: focus on Case
Topic 2: (2) The Stagecraft / Setting of the play as a whole, plus, (4) Characterization & Conflict: focus on Jansen
Topic 3: (3) The Structure of the play as a whole, plus, (4) Characterization & Conflict: focus on Donald
Topic 4: (4) Characterization & Conflict: focus on Lizzie and Meg
Topic 5: (4) Characterization & Conflict: focus on Father J.J. and on Fat Bob
Topic 6: (5) The Climax (or Climaxes) of the play as a whole, plus, (6) The Overall Effect of the play as a whole, plus, (7) the Specific Value of the play as a whole
DEAD POETS SOCIETY: Individual Response topics
(choose any one topic from the six listed below)
Topic 1: Note that Mr. Keating takes his first class out into the hall and there asks Mr. Pitts to “open his hymnal to page 542.” Immediately we are introduced to Keating’s sacred vision of poetry. Note, however, that the poem Keating has Pitts read is actually a seduction poem written within the carpe diem (seize the day) tradition of seduction poetry. The poem is “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” by Robert Herrick (1591 – 1674). Is Keating in any sense seducing his students into his own philosophy of life? And if so, is that good or bad?
Topic 2: The film is set in 1959 (on the verge of the 60’s, a period of social revolution), the 100 year anniversary of the school’s founding in 1859. Welton Academy was founded just prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War (April 12, 1861—April 9, 1865). With the arrival of Mr. Keating, another revolt / civil war is about to break out. Within this context, in the hall scene Mr. Keating immediately invites the boys to see him as an Abraham Lincoln figure (1809-65): “O Captain! my Captain!” Lincoln was president 1861-65, and was assassinated in a theater (by an actor) on April 14, 1865. Discuss the significance of the boys seeing Mr. Keating as their captain.
Topic 3: The basic foundational image in the film is war: opposing hostile forces; the two sides are represented by McAllister’s “realism”: “Show me a heart unfettered by foolish dreams and I will show you a happy man”; and Keating’s “romanticism”: “Only in their dreams can men be truly free, it was always such, and will always be.” McAllister (the Latin professor) sees dreams as enslaving, and realism as liberating; Keating, by way of contrast, sees realism as enslaving (“We skipped the realists,” says Cameron at the film’s end); for Keating dreams are liberating. This war between “realism” and “romanticism” sets up the slavery / oppression imagery which links to the American Civil War and the French Revolution. Keating never discusses contemporary American poets who exemplify the fusion of realism and imagination; for example, Wallace Stevens, an insurance lawyer (1879-1955); William Carlos Williams, a pediatrician (1883-1963); and T.S. Eliot, a bank clerk (1888-1965). Instead, Keating insists on maintaining a war, rather than reconciliation format at the heart of his teaching style. Why does he adopt this teaching strategy? Is it rational? Is it wise?
Topic 4: Why does Schulman use A Midsummer Night’s Dream as his play within his screenplay? How does Dead Poets Society mirror Shakespeare’s play?
Topic 5: Schulman also effectively uses soulscape; the film begins at the end of summer, moves towards winter and Neil’s suicide, and ends in the winter with the students standing on their desks like defiant seeds sprouting freedom against all odds: Keating’s influence will remain, we suspect, as Tod stands upon his desk with the United States flag behind him. Spring is coming. Apparently they’ll continue to follow Thoreau’s advice as quoted in Keating’s poetry text: “. . . live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” They’ll seize the day, but ironically the viewer will recall Keating’s earlier advice to Charlie after the “phone call from God” stunt: “There’s a time for daring and a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.” Keating tells Charlie it would be stupid for him to get kicked out of Welton because he’d then miss out on Keating’s lectures, but now Keating’s gotten himself kicked out and all of the school’s future students will miss out. Is he a victim of his own teachings? Is he “a wise man”? What’s the film’s final message?
Topic 6: Should Mr. Keating be held responsible for Neil Perry’s suicide? Would Neil still be alive if he did not have Mr. Keating as his teacher?
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