For my English Advanced assessment task 1, we have to "reveal a deep understanding of human experiences through comparison of TWO texts (The Crucible & a related text) in response to the following statement: Collective human experiences can unite and, at the same time, isolate us."
I am having trouble understanding what the statement means by experiences uniting and isolating at the same time. Any ideas?
Hey, Joelle F-J!
A warm welcome to the forums
The question you have been given is looking at the paradoxical nature of human motivations and behaviours from a collective point of view. This links to the rubric statement "anomalies, paradoxes and inconsistencies" since the question contains a paradox (something being able to both unite and also isolate at the same time). You'll need to suggest what the audience gains from viewing this paradox; with
The Crucible, you could consider how audiences are educated on the detrimental impacts of collective misguidance as the effect of the text.
How I would recommend approaching this question is finding examples of where instances of collective movement/thought/action has resulted in others being isolated or marginalised. An example from
The Crucible could be when the women in Salem who are usually powerless all unite and pretend to know who the witches are or not in court, eventually accusing people like Elizabeth who is inherently righteous. This is a great scenario where collective experiences can benefit certain individuals and groups in society but cause others to be left alone. Hope that helps and let me know if you have any further questions!
Angelina