Salem, Puritans, House of Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne...They're all related?!

As one of our Blog entries, we were asked to research and write about Salem, Puritans, House of The Seven Gables and Nathaniel Hawthorne. I didn't realize that they were all connected until I did further research on them.

So the story all started when I learned about the Puritans living in this place called Salem. In Salem, the Puritans worshiped god and feared the devil. That was how kids were born and raised. It was a sin to be happy and kids were punished for have "fun". Also it was a sin to born on Sunday...Yeah, I know right~! For sometime, Salem had "Salem Witch Trials", basically trials that determined whether or not you practiced witchcraft (a Sin). What happened was that a group of girls went around accusing people for practicing witchcraft. They claimed that they felt or saw the person's ( in which they were accusing) "ghost". The girls said they felt them touch them. Later, Scientist suggest that the Hallucinations and itching sensations that they felt were because of a fungi called Ergot. Ergot was found in rye. Rye was in the food in which they consumed.

One of the judges of the Salem witch trial was John Hathorne. He killed innocent people by believing the girls. He is Nathaniel Hawthorne's great grand father. Nathaniel was so ashamed of his ancestor that he changed his name from hathorne to hawthorne, so he wouldn't have any ties with them.

The Book House of Seven Gables was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. There is an actual House called the House of The Seven Gables. It's called that because of the Seven pointed tops the house has. The house is in Salem, Massachusetts. It was built by John Turner, who sold it to Captain Samuel  Ingersoll. When Samuel died, he left the house for lady named Susanna. Susanna turned out to be Nathaniel's Cousin. So he would often times visit her when she was still alive and lived in that house. It is believed that she still haunts the house today.

The Puritan roots still affect the decisions America makes today because even though they want to separate religion and state, there's still going to be a connection/bias behind those decisions. They're always going to be there because that was how things were. That was how things/society started, the background will always be there.  So when people say bad habits die hard, in this case so do bias decisions. 

The Moment I Knew I was an American

The moment I was an American was the moment I took my first breath. Like a lot of people, I was born and raised here. I never really put much thought to why being an American was so special...until I started to go to school and realized that there are people that aren't like me. Some were still applying for their citizenship, which made me question if I've done that yet. After learning that I don't have to "apply", I realized that I have more privileges than others. I have the rights that they're applying for right when I was born. My trip back to China during the summer of 06 empathized how lucky, privileged, and special I am. Going there to visit made me realize that they have to pay for their education. They have very little or no say as to who their ruler is. Also, They don't have the choice of how many kids they want to have. All of these restrictions made me think of how different it would be to grow up knowing that there are people out there that have all of those privileges. But, for some odd reason, I don't have them. I'm so glad that I'm AMERICAN.

Us vs. Them = Us and Them??? O.o

The title makes me think of enemies becoming friends. In most cases, it's possible. But in the Crucible, I don't think it's happening. Actually, I know it's not going to happen because I know how it ends. For example, The people that weren't killed, knew innocent people that were killed. Killed for something they didn't do. So their families are left with pain and sorrow. If I were a family member of one of the innocent people that were killed, I would NEVER forgive those who didn't speak up. I would even want revenge. It could also turn out to be Us and Them = Us vs. Them because in the story Abigail and a few other girls were in the lie together, but because of the lie. They turned on each other. The equation can go both ways. It just depends on how you look at it.