Names
The Haleys looking up at the comets "How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" John Proctor, the hero of "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller utters this line in Act IV of the play. He has been brought to the same court in the village of Salem where several women and girls have been successfully tried for witchcraft. It is as if this seventeenth century kangaroo court wants to push the accused man as far as it can go in order to strengthen its legitimacy. Though John Proctor has already falsely admitted to witchcraft, Judge Danforth wants him to sign a confession that will be nailed to the church door for all to see. I was thinking about that line when I read about would-be Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and her husband Michael. Nikki Haley's birth name was Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. She was born into an immigrant Sikh family. However, in 1997 she converted to Christianity and now only dresses in western ...