Cambridge English Class

[daine2]

Bronwyn listened as their teacher spoke, a slightly disappointed look on her face as he handed out the books. She'd read this particular book several times before. She pushed the disappointed look away, thoug,h and smiled slightly as she thumbed through the thick reading. It was always a good read, and she'd nevertheless enjoy it again.

She pulled a pad of paper and her sharpie pen towards her, uncapping the lid and bending over the wide-ruled paper. She didn't like ringed notebooks, for they made a mess when taking the paper out, and had instead gotten a notebook with no spiral binding. with a sigh, she began to write a little, not putting down a lot, in case the teacher chose to go over different topics later on.

'The Crucible is a tragedy that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. It is based on witchcraft, rumors, and trials that reveal the characters true identities. Their are several conspiracies that keep the trials going throughout the play, and several of the characters face their own 'crucibles'. Overall, it is a great read.'

She recapped her pen, not really liking that she'd written so little, but she supposed it would do, as she didn't want to write a lot down without knowing exactly what their teacher wanted them to focus on.

[lizziebrookes]

An alarm sounded from the phone sitting on the nightstand beside the bed in Izzy's room. It continued beeping for roughly two minutes before Izzy rushed from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her wet hair to turn it off. She wasn't even sure why she bothered setting an alarm. She didn't know how to not wake up at the crack of dawn. She was just afraid of oversleeping and missing her first English class. Of all her academic classes, she was most excited for Cambridge English. Her old school didn't have such an advanced English class, and she always found those basic literature classes boring.

Once her alarm was silenced, she headed back into the bathroom. She blow-dried her light blonde hair and french braided it loosely down the back of her head, tying it off with a rubber band. She hurried into her bedroom and grabbed an outfit from her wardrobe. Within a few minutes, she had dawned a pair of dark denim skinny jeans and a fitted white tee-shirt. She pulled on a pair of tan uggs and grabbed her canvas bag before heading out the door.

Izzy was a little nervous because she had just arrived on campus the day before, so she had most likely missed a few classes already. But she was still excited. Reading was one of her favorite things to do, and she could spend hours alone writing if she had the time to spare. She finally reached the door to the classroom, took a deep breath, and opened it. To her surprise, the room was pretty full already. She must be running late.

She quietly let herself in and headed to an empty chair in the front of the room. "Sorry," she muttered quickly as she crossed in front of the teacher. As she sat down and faced the board, Mr. Stone - according to the board - began speaking to the class. Apparently the first novel they were reading was The Crucible. It was one of her favorite pieces of American Literature.

Instantly, she pulled her notebook from her bag, grabbed a pen from her collection of colored writing instruments, and began to jot things down.

The Crucible

• Written by Arthur Miller
  
• Massachusetts Bay Salem Witch Trials of 1960s
  
• Young girls in beginning attempt to summon spirits, are accused of witchcraft, and put blame on other women in the society who are consequently accused of witchcraft - Irony
  
• Abigail (young single woman) has affair with Proctor (married), and proceeds to accuse Proctor's wife Elizabeth of witchcraft so that she will be executed, making Proctor available to marry
  
• Putnam uses the confusion over property and the trials to his advantage by accusing neighbors of witch craft in order to gain control over their property
  

[Annabelle Archer]

As Mr. Stone began to speak, out of the corner of her eye she saw about two, three more people coming quickly into the room. Her attention fully turned to the teacher when they were settled, and thought about what he was saying. Taking it all in, processing it before writing anything down. Pulling out a notebook and a purple inked ball-point pen, she began writing about The Crucible.


The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the U.S. government blacklisted accused communists.

Laying the pen diagonally across the white paper, she didn't want anything to smudge. Belle was happy with the short amount that she had writing down. It showed that she wasn't exactly clueless about this kind of stuff. Her hand brushed through the blond locks of curls, twirling a few pieces every now and then. Ready for whatever Mr. Stone would say next. She was completely ready for this year of Cambridge English.

[Richard Stone]

Richard looked around the room, his eyes wide at the silence the answered his question. These teenagers were the top English students, so he knew that they would have at least something intelligent to say, or at least he hoped so, otherwise they were in the wrong class and this was going to be a very long semester.

"Right, as much as I hate to do this, I'm going to call on people." He used the dry-eraser as in indicator as he swept around the room with it, finally stopping on the one girl who would be the last to speak up. "Cara? What can you tell me about The Crucible?" He gave her an encouraging smile. "And after Cara, I'd like to hear from...Sara, followed by Sam, then Belle and I can keep going if no one else speaks up. I am going to find this class boring if I'm the only one offering ideas." He put the eraser back on the ledge at the bottom of the board and turned his attention to the tiny girl he had asked to speak.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara lifted her pen from her paper, slightly horrified that no one had spoken up. When Mr Stone started speaking again, she wanted to vanish - especially when the eraser he was holding stopped, pointing at her. Her face took on a pained look, she could feel the colour draining from it, but she knew she had no choice but to answer the man's question. "Contrary to popular belief, The Crucible is inspired by the McCarthy Hearings, not the Salem witch trials. The McCarthy Hearings, which took place two and a half centuries after the Salem witch trials, were referred to as witch-hunts because of their similarity to the Salem witch trials. They both struck fear in the people due to the "guilty until you confess" attitude which ruled the courts. In Salem the only way to escape death was to confess and repent; in the McCarthy hearings if you were accused, whether guilty or not, you would always be viewed as a Communist.

"The title, The Crucible, was appropriate for the play. A crucible is a container made of a substance that can resist great heat. A crucible is also defined as a severe test. Within the context of the play the term takes on a new meaning: not only is the crucible a test, but a test designed to bring about change or reveal an individual's true character. The witch trials serve as a metaphorical crucible, which burns away the characters' outer shells to reveal their true intentions and character beneath." Her voice, never above a whisper, got softer and softer as she spoke. She placed a hand on her stomach as she finished speaking, feeling ill. It amazed her, that she had performed on stage in front of thousands, she went to horse shows and was watched by people, but the thought of her peers looking at her as she spoke, and possibly judging her, made her feel ill.

[Sara Jane Lyena]

Sara grimaced as Mr. Stone told them that he would be picking people. She had never heard of the book, and had no clue what it was about. As she was told that she would be right after Cara, she sighed. No other way to make her seem even more clueless, she had to go after the one person that she was sure would give a wonderful answer to the teacher's question. She listened to Cara speak, realizing that her earlier thoughts had been an understatement, very much of one, actually, and hoping that Mr. Stone wouldn't make too much of a deal out of her ignorance of the book. As it came her turn to speak, Sara focused her gaze on Mr. Stone, that she couldn't see the expressions on her classmates' faces, "I have only heard of The Crucible in passing before I came in, so I don't know anything about it other than the title." After she had finished speaking, she glanced down at the book on her desk, feeling that her face was burning, even though she knew that her skin didn't flush.

[Peter Holden]

Peter sat at his desk, notebook open. The teacher seemed pretty intimidating so far, and he definitely would not want to do anything that would cause him to be called out. Peter worked in a balanced sort of manner: he spoke enough in class to get a good participation grade, but not so much that he would be noticed. He hadn't read the play, but had heard enough about it to pen out a couple of sentences in his notebook:

• The Crucible is a play based on the Salem witch trials in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during the 17th Century.
  
• It was written by Arthur Miller, an American playwright.
  
• It's now a classic play, and remains a prominent part of American drama.
  

He stopped, pen in hand, and stiffened a bit when Mr. Stone started calling on other students. He felt a hole start deepening in his stomach as the girl addressed as Cara was forced to speak. She was clearly very nervous, and he felt horrible for her, but kept his eyes focused on his own notes in front of him, not wanting to call attention to himself. He's speak up eventually, but this was his first English class at Blue Ridge, and he didn't want to be focused on quite yet.

[warrie]

February fumbled with her bag, trying to shove everything she would need into it, her nerve were making it harder to focus. She was so nervous about her first day at Blue Ridge, she had been shown around the school the day before and she remember where every class was but when she got nervous she tended to become a little clumsy. Which was that last thing she needed. Would it be great to walk into class and drop her bag or trip over her own feet? No it wouldn't it would be embarrassing and people would probably start to judge her for her not so graceful entrance. She took a deep breath making herself calm down, she wasn't even in class yet and she was already freaking herself out.

She stopped messing with her bag and decided to get dressed, she pulled on a of jeans the had slits in the knees and a little up on her thighs but not in a place where it would be to showy. Then she looked the her bag until she found her favorite shirt it was a sesame street one with all the characters in a group waving like they were getting a picture taken, not caring that she might look like a little kid. Then she pulled a brush through her long black naturally curly hair that went down to her butt, she set it so her bangs were slightly over her eyes. Before adding some black mascara and eye liner, then she looked in the mirror focusing on her the scar on her face that started right below her left eye and stretched down to right under her jaw.

Once she was done getting ready and everything was in her bag she made her way out of her dorm and in the direction of her first class. She was practically running after the bell rang, she sighed lowing to a walk she was already late so she would have to deal with it and hope the teach weren't one of those hard arse ones who would give her detention on her first day. She mentally shook off the thought has the class room came into sight, her heart beat quickened at the thought of entering and having everyone stare at her.

She stopped outside the room taking a deep breath, before opening the door and entering. She paused in the door way seeing all the students, she turned slightly heading toward Mr.Stone. Her whole body trembling as she neared the full grown man. "I...Er Sorry I'm L-Late, I'm February, I'm knew here."She stuttered slightly at the beginning, her voice was soft with a slight scared tone to it and she avoided meeting his eyes. She was terrified of men, she hadn't realized how strong and mean they could be until she had been jumped a few of them a few month before she decided to join Blue Ridge. She quickly made her way to an empty seat that was as far from the other students as she could get.

[selmalove]

Charlie was very upset with herself. It was her first day back and she was late! Sure, she knew the school alright, but it had been a while and there had been a mix up of her schedule and where she was supposed to go. Finally, they just put her in the Cambridge English Class, which was good for the teen, because English was her best subject.

The teen got to the classroom quickly, and quietly opened the door to the class. She snuck into the room and quickly scanned the room looking for a empty desk, and was more than happy to find one close to the back, and the door of which she had just entered from. Charlie sat down and quickly took out one of her notebooks labelled 'English', out of her brown book bag that hung across her shoulder. As well, she grabbed a blue ink pen from her old book bag.

Quickly she started writing down some notes, just things that other students, as well as the teacher had said. After the class ended, the teen decided she would go up and talk to the teacher personally to apoligize for her tardieness. Charlie sighed as she scribbled away on her peice of lined paper.

[Annabelle Archer]

A wave of heat shot upwards to the eighteen year old's face. She of course was the fourth student that Mr. Stone called on. In her past expirence in English classes there her teacher hadn't really done anything but scraped the surface of The Crucible. Listening to Cara she felt sorry for the girl as she wasn't exactly the most vocal student, but knew she was well spoken so Belle knew she wouldn't make even the slightest fool of herself, then it went Sara, Sam, finally all eyes were on her. Clearing her throat she focused on her paper, "Pretty much what Cara said, The Crucible is based on the McCarthy Hearing, but is associated with the Salem witch trials." A slight grin appeared upon her lips signaling she was finished. Although her cheeks might have not shown it her face felt like it was burning. Not looking around she hoped that the other students weren't looking at her anymore, and to be honest she wasn't paying enough attention to be positive they were looking at her in the first place. Taking a deep breathe and thinking that time she didn't stutter or speak too fast or slur words, she did just fine.

[Henrietta Charleston]

Henri looked at her nails, just anywhere but the teacher. He seemed to be quite frustrated or some other negative emotion about the lack of hands raised in the air. The brunette sucked in her lips, begging something up there that he wouldn’t start randomly picking people. She had seen the same thing happen in a movie she’d watched and the poor student there had actually had to speak up in such a class. She wasn’t used to answering questions, that she could or couldn’t be right in front of other people. Just thinking of her information on the play to be terribly wrong, the girl blushed. Maybe being tutored at home wasn’t such a bad idea sometimes.

Her pleas weren’t met as Mr. Stone explained how he was going to just that. Henri nearly chewed her lower lip right off, she looked at the teacher, but not directly into his eyes hoping that if she didn’t make eye contact, he wouldn’t her. To her relief, the man went on to ask three other girls to speak, one of them being one of the people in her house. Henri lips nearly dropped open in surprise as the first girl seemed to have been somewhat like a human encyclopedia. She doubted she would’ve been able to tell the teacher that amount of information. Thankful again, she wasn’t picked, Henri looked at the other two explaining about this play.

[madison]

The prof seemed convinced to get the group speaking, and while Madison didn’t mind speaking before a class of peers she did like to have knowledge on what she was speaking about. Having not read the play or seen it in any true format she felt unqualified to add to the discussion, instead she listened carefully as the others spoke. Cara seemed well versed, oddly well-spoken though evidently unnerved by the process - she seemed to spew the facts without any real attachment to the words. Madison looked down to her desk, perhaps she should write something down but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Instead she continued to watch students pour in after her, it seemed like she wasn’t the only one who was new, or struggled in some respect to find the class. Tugging at her cross necklace she busied her hands, it was a habit – always moving. She changed tasks and busied herself with her feather ring, her cell phone vibrated quietly she couldn’t really hear it – just feel it on her leg. Fighting the urge to check it the petite blonde forced herself to listen.

Other students didn’t seem to have much to add to Cara’s description of what they were going to read, wishing she had something useful to add Madison kept her glare down, and she didn’t want to attract attention to herself. It would be frustrating to watch the prof continue to call names but it was a risk she would take. This wasn’t something she could have prepared for really, as much as Madi liked to read she struggled to get any done for pleasure these days. If it wasn’t a text book or a course of fences she wasn’t typically caught dead reading it – based on time alone. This place, while a good distraction was going to be a potential place to burn out, she needed to control herself and dedicate the correct amount of time to personal well-being and health. However she already felt behind in the class and would most likely try to compensate tonight with some late night reading or research on The Crucible.

occ - outfit

[Becca Walsh]

Becca busied herself with her notes, jotting down whatever else she knew about the play. She was a bit surprised when the teacher called out three students to speak about what they knew, and she was quite glad that she wasn't one of them. As they spoke, she added what they'd said to her notes if she hadn't had it down already. When Cara was speaking, she was quite amazed by how much the girl knew and her cheeks glowed red a bit. Perhaps the girl had read the play already and that's why she knew so much. Becca had always been rather smart, and had believed that she was prepared for this class, but after hearing Cara speak, she was rather daunted.

When Sara and Belle spoke however, she felt a little bit better, even though it was because of the misfortune of others. She'd have been in a similar situation had she been chosen to speak. She hadn't known that she'd have to know things about this book before she read it, and reminded herself to be especially prepared for this class next time, and all the times after. Once she'd finished scribbling in extra notes from what Cara had said, she kept her pen in her hand, fiddling around with it a bit and staring down at her notes.