Like the ocean smooths the rocks by the sea; wearing them down to soft sand, the trials people overcome smooth down rough edges of an individual. Facing a challenge exercises your brain with how to deal with it. This, however, is not true in some cases depending on the person, conflict, and other variables. It is difficult to connect this topic to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. From the troubles the characters of this story encounter, they are shaped by their situation and environment.
Challenges change people, and people grow to overcome life’s struggles, but in different ways. In some situations I’ve seen people gain wisdom, or trauma, or both. Then again, there is a difference between challenging situations and traumatic ones, and dissimilar persons can handle the same position would . An example of two characters who face the same problem but handle it differently are …show more content…
There is always a point to where it becomes unhealthy. In The Crucible, an example of a character not finding anything positive after facing a challenging experience is John Proctor. Going through the problems of seeing his wife accused of witchcraft, he goes through the dilemma of confessing his sins of adultery to Judge Danforth. He confesses, even though it is testing he gains nothing but more remorse and guilt. He plans to falsely confess to witchcraft only to later take it back, because he realizes that signing the confession will ruin his good name. He later is executed with that pride on an indictment of witchcraft. An example from my life of someone who gained nothing but negative things from going through a rough time was my Aunt Kathleen. Going through the loss of her daughter has only given her sadness in life. She did not grow from that experience nor did anyone who has suffered going through the challenges of losing someone they love. Receiving strength through struggle is a fickle