Setting/societal structures
What type of society is depicted in Salem in The Crucible?
A strict Puritan theocracy.
Who holds power in Shawshank Prison?
The warden and guards.
Is the opening of Small Things Like These positive or negative?
Negative/bleak — cold, poverty, unease.
Does Red’s worldview become more hopeful or more pessimistic?
More hopeful as he believes in freedom again.
What text is the quote from?
“Hope is a good thing…”
The Shawshank Redemption
What institution holds major influence in 1980s Ireland in Small Things Like These?
The Catholic Church.
What group is socially vulnerable in Small Things Like These?
Poor families, unmarried mothers, women under Church control.
What tone does Shawshank’s narrator Red set in the opening?
A resigned, institutionalised, hopeless tone.
Does Bill Furlong see the world as fair or unjust?
Increasingly unjust — he sees societal cruelty.
Finish the quote from The Crucible:
“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have…”
“…another in my life!”
What aspect of 1940s–60s American prison culture dominates life in Shawshank Redemption?
Institutionalisation / corruption / rigid hierarchy.
How does gender influence a character’s fate in The Crucible?
Women are easily accused; social suspicion is gendered.
How does the ending of The Crucible create a sense of tragedy?
Proctor’s death and the community’s collapse.
How does the behaviour of the townspeople in Small Things Like These shape the reader’s emotional response?
Creates frustration/anger at their silence.
“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Andy Dufresne.
Compare the role of fear as a controlling force in The Crucible and Small Things Like These.
Salem uses religious fear; Ireland uses social + Church pressure.
How do the values of each society shape what is considered “acceptable” behaviour?
Students apply to Puritan morality / Irish silence / Shawshank’s corruption.
Which text ends with the most hopeful vision?
Shawshank Redemption (escape, reunion, possibility).
In The Crucible, does the audience sympathise more with Proctor or Danforth by the end?
Proctor — moral growth vs rigid authority.
“You’ll be alright now… no harm will come to you.”
Bill Furlong
Which text presents the harshest cultural context, and why?
Students choose; must justify with power structures, oppression, consequences.
Compare how two of your studied texts show the consequences of resisting powerful institutions.
In The Crucible, Proctor’s resistance leads to his execution, showing the brutal consequences of defying a theocratic court.
In Small Things Like These, Bill risks social exclusion and financial hardship when he challenges the Church’s authority.
In Shawshank, Andy risks solitary confinement and violence for defying the corrupt prison system.
How do two texts use their endings to encourage the audience to reflect on society?
Students compare redemption vs silence vs collapse.
Compare how two protagonists challenge or accept the GVV of their world.
Andy and Bill resist; Proctor resists; Red grows into hope, etc.
“We are only what we always were, but naked now.”
Reverend Hale