Critical Lens

Jiaxing Peng 5/7
ESL6 Mr. Brumit
Critical Lens
Felix Frankfurter once said, “the most constructive way of resolving conflicts is to avoid them.” which means evading the conflicts is the best way to resolve the conflicts.In the other words, if we don’t want to face the conflicts, we should stay away from them and try to not get involved in.However, in my personal opinion, I disagree with this quote since the conflicts will still surround us even though we try to avoid them. Moreover, if the conflicts are initiated by us or just comes to us, to avoid the conflicts will not help us to resolve them.
We can see through “The Hangman” by Maurice Ogden and The Crucible

by Arthur Miller, this two texts both show us the quote is mistaken.
In “The Hangman” by Maurice Odgem, the author used characteristics of the hangman, the residents and the narrator to tell us that the quote is incorrect.In the poem, “He laid his hand on that one’s arm and we shrank back in quick alarm.We gave him way, and no one spoke, out of fear of the hangman’s cloak.” This quote depicts us the corward of the people.

When the hangman came to kill the person who said “Shame!” everybody shrank back very quick. The “shrank” means move back because of fear or disgust.In this case, the residents in the town thought he hangman just came to kill one person who opposed him, so they stayed back and try to declare they were not involved in.Therefore, their corward minds made the hangman determined that the residents would obey what he wanted to do.However, at the end of the poem, “‘You tricked me Hangman.’I shouted then...The hangman said “Not I...The scaffold was raised for none but you.’” The conversation between the narrator and the hangman shows us the narrtaor also could not evade from being hanged by the hangmang.The narrator tried to help the hangman and to satisify him, then he could save his life.But, the hangman was just waiting for a person who would help him.Even though the initiative of the narrator was to help the hangman and not be hanged, he was still be killed by the

hangman.
In The Crucible by Atthur Miller, the author used conflict to show us that the quote is incorrect. In P53, when Elizabeth tried to persuaded John Proctor to go the court and tell the truth, the reaction of John Proctor is “quietly, stuggling with his thought :Aye, they must. It is a wonder they do believe her.” This quote shows us that John Proctor was struggling to tell the truth.John Proctor was afraid of telling his affair with Abigail to the town, he thought he would not be accused by her if he did not report her.Therefore, Proctor didn’t go to the court immediately but procrastinated.However, he never realize that the accusation would come to his house.After that, he had to tell the truth to save his wife but the court trust what Abigail said more, and it made Proctor die at the end.John Proctor used to think if he did not get involved in the witchcraft case, then he or his family would never be accused.And this was exactly the cause of his downfall.Because Proctor didn’t tell the truth earlier, then people all trust Abigail more, so when he wanted to explain the truth, people thought he was lying.Therefore, Proctor thought he could stay away from the accusation but he could not since the accusation directly came to his family.
Through “The Hangman” by Maurice Odgen and The Crucible by Arthur Miller, we can see the consequences of avoiding the conflicts. To avoid the conflcits is not the way to resolve them. If we do not face to the conflicts proactively, then we could not change anything at the end.