er, and for a moment everything is calm.But the Putnams are not convinced by Rebecca's soothing explanations. They don't believe it's God's will that all Rebecca's children should survive, while all of their own wither on the night of their birth. John Proctor sides with Rebecca, and wants to know why Parris sent for Reverend Hale before calling a town meeting. At this point, a full-blown squabble breaks out, and we get to see at first hand the "contention" in the town that Reverend Parris complained about in the first scene. Proctor won't come to church because Parris hardly mentions God anymore. Parris wants the congregation to give him money for firewood, as well as a deed to his house. And everybody argues over who owns what land.NOTE: As we saw in The Author and His Times section of this guide, land was already a sore point with the Puritans of Salem. Arthur Miller brings it up here because it will play such a horrible part in the nightmare to come. We will find out that Thomas Putnam in particular stands to gain quite a bit by having his neighbors cried out as witches. And we will also see Giles Corey, who seems like such a comical character now, go to incredible lengths to keep his land from being taken from him. The question of witchcraft will be inseparable from the question of land ownership from beginning to end.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: ACT I, SCENE 6Into this melee comes Reverend John Hale, "loaded down with half a dozen heavy books."NOTE: The books may seem to be just a device, a nice touch to round out Reverend Hale's character, like a pair of glasses, or ink on his hands. But in a way the books are more important than the man who carries them. Reverend Hale is an expert on witchcraft, but his expertise comes from the books. They are heavy, "weighted with authority." Without them, Reverend Hale would be no better than the others, a man with an opinion. If the others look to him for answers, he looks to the books. It is on t...
