Letter to Cormac McCarthy

Dear Mr. McCarthy,
I think that your book is an amazing novel.  I think it has a great plot and is fabulously written to match it.  Your novel has a plot that makes people think about things that they would not necessarily want to think about.  For example cannibalism, this is something that in the modern day United States people don't think about because it does not happen.  However the fact that these people are resorting to cannibalism shows the ugly side of human nature.  It shows that humans would be willing to do anything to ensure their own survival.  This is especially well shown when they find the people locked up in the basement because they are being penned up like animals to be slaughtered.  Your novel is also very well written.  This shows in the emotion of the characters.  When you describe their feelings you know exactly how they feel and you almost get those same emotions.  Also you describe everything in such detail you can really see it in your mind. One last thing you mqnged to do is emotionally attach us to the characters we really care what happens to them. Overall I think you have written a great novel and can't wait to find out how it ends.

Hero or Stooge?

I think that John Proctor is both a hero and a stooge depending on where you look at it.  For us looking at him in the 21st century America he is a hero.  He is risking his own life just to stand by his principles.  In modern day society your principles is something that people often use to define you.  This means that our principles and whether or not you stand by them will effect they way you are viewed in the society.  John Proctor has good principles and the fact that no matter what he is standing by them makes him a hero from the view of modern society.
However in the Puritan society of Salem at the time of this play he seems like a stooge.  They seem to think that it is best to just keep their heads down and blame the problems on others or lie to get that lesser sentence of jail time.  This makes his actions that go against the general opinion of how to deal with this situation if it arises.  He would have been looked at as foolish or straight stupid by his fellow puritans.
Whether John Proctor is a hero or a stooge is an idea that changes through time with people in one time period having a totally different opinion then even the next generation.