Mercifully the end of Act 4 of The Crucible finally came. The culmination of the work by Arthur Miller is one of the most depressing endings in which the common fairytale ending of some many works is left unachieved. The only justice which is finally served in the end is that Abigail is rumored to have become a prostitute, which seems fitting (and well deserved) for her promiscuous character. Our hero, John Proctor, is hung right along with the other well intentioned folks accused of witchcraft. The justice exacted by the so called "lawmaker" Danforth, is not carried out because of the guilt of the prisoners, but merely as a way to hoist his reputation from basement floor boards and back into the skylight.
"The Garden of Forking Paths" is a piece much more worthy of attention. Although the piece is a bit confusing I enjoyed it much more than the simplicity and thoughtlessness which was begged of my attention from The Crucible. The piece requires some semblance of coherent thought and not all of the information received is spoon-fed to our minds.
The idea of alternate realities is one of my favorite topics of philosophical discussion, which is one of the underlying notions in the story. It is a topic I have not been able to discuss in a philosophy course at the University, but one that I hope to. Many comic books use the theme of alternate realities or universes, and what I enjoy most about this is that comic books themselves could be considered alternate realities.
For instance, Batman's Gotham is considered an allegory for New York City and one can imagine, although the city of Gotham does not exist on any known map we have, it exists within the same time frame as New York. Gotham could be an alternate reality of New York, one where a masked vigilante runs around in a bat suit, putting away villains and saving lives of damsels in distress. Wouldn't that be exciting?
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