Thursday, February 24, 2011

What is John Proctor's attitude towards his land?

In Act I, John and Giles Corey get into an argument with Thomas Putnam about his land.  According to John and Giles, Putnam claims that he owns land that does not belong to him because Putnam’s grandfather’s will gave away land that he did not own.  As John is trying to leave Parris’ house he says that he has lumber to drag home.  Putnam is quick to tell John that this lumber does not belong to him.  Giles Corey then chimes in complaining about Putnam’s grandfather.  John Proctor knows that his land is his wealth and he, therefore, is very protective over what he owns so that he can be sure that his family will always be taken care of.  Putnam obviously feels the same way and since people in those days owned hundreds of acres of land, it was not very easy to keep tract of exactly what was or wasn’t yours.

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