The Crucible for a 7th grader?

[Mommy22alyns]

Yay or nay?  We're doing early American History.  She's read The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  We will be reading a section on the Salem Witchcraft Trials later this week.

 

She has a high reading level, but can be very slow.

[regentrude]

We watched a performance of the play when DD was in 7th grade. It brings up interesting issues for discussion.

 

I prefer play to be watched and not read; they are meant to be performed, not studied on paper.

[Lori D.]

Well, JMO, but I think it is a psychological and complex play. And adult.

 

The Crucible is less about the actual Salem witch trial events, and more with the McCarthy Communist trials (called "communist witch hunts") of the 1950s. Also about the sexual / psychological tensions between husband and wife due to husband's affair with a young woman. The setting and historical events are there as a general backdrop to the highlighted themes of exposing the human heart.

 

If you decide to go with The Crucible, I think you may have more connection by watching it rather than reading it. And you would definitely want some familiarity with the 1950s McCarthy communist trials to be able to discuss. Here's a wikipedia article summarizing the plot and the background to The Crucible. 

 

If your DD is just interested in reading more colonial historical fiction, or learning more about the events of the Salem witch trial, I'd skip The Crucible and get a non-fiction book from the children's or teen's section of the library about the events. Or more historical fiction books set in those times -- here's an Amazon booklist of Witch Trial Fiction for Young Readers (no personal experience with any of the titles to know whether they are any good or not).

 

Really, I think it all comes down to what your goals would be for using The Crucible (DD is fascinated with the subject? you want additional exposure to the subject/times? first exposure to plays and analysis? or…?), and whether or not The Crucible would best help you meet those goals and be of interest to YOUR tween. BEST of luck, finding what fits for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

[Tsuga]

I read it in high school, in 10th grade, maybe 11th? with what was supposedly a graduate-level reading level, and I hated it. Didn't get it. As a PP mentions, it's extremely subtle. By the end of it I just wanted to hunt down Arthur Miller and toilet-paper his house. I got the political aspect, but I didn't get much of the social aspect and there are pages and pages of turgid psychological detail if I recall correctly.

 

That said, I wasn't the most socially advanced 7th grader, so I wouldn't rule it out for everyone. But unlike Jane Eyre, which some people loved but others didn't, there were no fans of The Crucible.

 

Our project was to make a play out of it, which we did, by combining it with some Star-Wars Empire themed mythology.

 

I do not feel I learned anything from that experience except to avoid early colonial literature like the plague. It's a big reason I didn't read Moby Dick until later.

[Mommy22alyns]

Is there a particular version you all would recommend for viewing?

[Farrar]

Seconding what Sadie said. Good play but the lack of subtly in the metaphor and message may actually make it better for middle schoolers in some ways than adults, IMHO. I remember finding it groan-worthy in high school. I think I would have found it more enlightening in middle school.