By Siena Oliver, ’27

News Editor

The Crucible 

This year in English class I read The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller that details the events of the Salem Witch trials. The play is set in a fictionalized version of Salem, and tells the story of several main characters, including the Proctors, the Danforths, a group of girls lead by Abigail Williams, and Reverends Parris and Hale. The story begins with two little girls who have mysteriously fallen ill after being seen dancing in the woods. Within hours, rumors of witchcraft have run rampant throughout the heavily religious town. These religious-based fears lead to many unfounded accusations, and courtroom persecutions, of different townspeople who are believed to be witches.

The Crucible explores themes of guilt, justice, and loyalty, and warns about the dangers of mass hysteria and corruption in the courts. The play is an allegory for the period of McCarthyism in the 1950’s, which the author, Miller, was directly involved in. During this time, the fear of Communism in the United States led to rampant accusations and Congressional hearings. One especially interesting choice Miller made was to include small bits of extra information relating to, but not in, the play,  during the overture and in between acts. 

Personally, as is the case with many books assigned in school, it was not my favorite. That’s not to say it was bad, but I don’t love reading plays in general. Overall, I thought the story was interesting and it was a great book to have discussions on in class, but the fact that it was a play made it harder for me to enjoy. 

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah is actually another book I read for my English summer reading this year, but I had read it on my own beforehand and already loved it. The book is a memoir about Noah’s experience living in South Africa as a child of mixed-race during Apartheid. This era in history, from 1948 to the early 1990s, was tumultuous because of the country’s legalized discrimination against Blacks. The book is made up of stories from different times in his childhood, and is told in a comedic tone. Themes include family, religion, and race, and Noah does a great job of balancing serious topics with humor. 

In my opinion, this book is amazing, especially in audiobook form. I have both read the book and listened to it, and, while both versions are great, the audiobook, narrated by Trevor Noah himself, is hilarious. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Even if you dont think it’s your type of book, if you try it out I’m sure you’ll end up loving it.