During the Scare, thousands of innocent citizens were accused of holding Communist sympathies, accusations which had little or no evidence to support them. Arthur Miller, appalled by the wide approval with which McCarthy’s actions were received, set about trying to convince the public of the spuriousness of the charges and attempted to reveal the greed and fear which motivated them. Realizing that any overt criticism would be rationalized by the public, he sought to describe another more removed event that would serve as a parallel to the Red Scare. Due to the striking similarities between the two events, Miller chose the Salem witch trials to represent the Red Scare in his play The Crucible. The impetus behind both the Red Scare and the Salem trials came from the innate
168) Patients who spoke their mind and asserted their rights were declared as insane and silenced; this is exemplified by McMurphy’s lobotomy. From the readers point of view Nurse Ratched is seen to be more insane than many of the acute patients, sick with her power and her authority. The character of Ratched is a metaphor for society in general as she persecutes those who are simply different. This prompts the reader to question as to whether the patients are insane, or is society. The theme of power in the novel can also be related to society.
9-11 Racial Profiling The Salem Witch trials are a well known case of persecuting the innocent. With little facts and lots of fear, the town of Salem executed 20 citizens for practicing witchcraft. And this entire story started with a few young girls, whose antics led to the jailing of three innocent women. It is a case of mass hysteria in many cases, but it also compares to current issues such as racial profiling. The initial case sparked many others, and witchcraft was seen everywhere, just as after 9-11, terrorists are seen everywhere.
To be blacklisted means to be put on a list of people or products viewed with suspicion or disapproval (Free Dictionary), which means nobody would hire you for work. Blacklisting was kind of like what was going on in The Crucible because if you were accused of doing witchcraft, your reputation in the town of Salem was ruined. Arthur Miller’s development of fear in the Crucible is the same as the fear during the Red Scare. Abigail accused Tituba doing witchcraft and just because she was afraid of being hanged, she pled guilty. Being accused of being a witch in Salem, Massachusetts was alarming because even if one was innocent, they are still held guilty.
It was feared that communism would grow so large and overpowering that if anyone were to challenge the system, they would be punished, which is displayed in “One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” by McMurphy’s demise. Kesey and Chief’s view of the Combine are very similar as Kesey was rebellious towards the at time President Eisenhower’s 1950’s conforming and corporate system, this being an proficient, organised and compliant society, which is very similar to the Big Nurse’s ward. Nurse Ratched’s matriarchal ran system has the power to emasculate the patients, by figuratively castrating them and stealing their power. Chief experiences his own downfall of his and other patient’s dignity, until McMurphy arrives and distorts and
It makes perfect sense as to why Miller wrote The Crucible allegorically to these events, 1953 was a time in which American fear and madness concerning communism was frankly getting out of control, just as the experiences in Salem were in the 1690s. The Crucible is a historically fictitious adaption of the Salem Witch Trials which as previously stated, was an episode of unjust accusations of witchcraft/devil worship carried out by a group of female teens. In the play, the group of accusing teens is led by girl named Abigail Williams. In order to refocus the “heat” on another source in order to save herself from trouble, her and her peers wrongfully stage a phenomenon of witchcraft in Salem, producing mass panic in the community for months on end. It got so bad in fact, that at one point Abigail implied that even the official court judges could be guilty of wicked doings; “Let you beware, Mr. Danforth.
Censorship and Independent Thought in Society Censorship and independent thought are major themes throughout Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 and are also important concepts in our society. These two ideals are constantly at odds against each other. The balance of these two concepts often determines the success or failure of a society. Uncontrolled censorship in society never works to the advantage of society. In Fahrenheit 451, the government used extreme censorship to keep the citizens blissfully happy.
The people of the town were pressured, accused, and tested simple tests but the girls would scream with such pain whenever the accused spoke. The victims, the girls, and the judges all were consumed in the anarchy and lost all sanity. Were people convicted of not only being witches in Salem but across the country suspicion arose and people convicted women of being witches for the simplest causes. Two girls took a joke way too far and caused disorder across the country. Not all "witches" were from Salem, MA.
Hysteria in Salem In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, the superstition of witches existed in a society of strong Christian beliefs. Anybody who acted out of the ordinary was accused of being a witch and the accused would actually be forgiven if they blamed their accusations on another individual. In this play, a group of young girls is accused of being witches. These girls then blame other people in order to get out of trouble and even pretend to be "bewitched" in front of the court during a trial. This leads into the deaths of the innocent people who are accused and automatically found guilty.
The Communist Hunt and the Salem Witch Trials are alike in that they were both started out of fear and prejudice. Our own societies could even be related to this play. Many have said we could connect these issues with today's fear of terrorism, where many people are blamed of something because of their racial heritage. All things considered, dystopian and utopian concepts are relative to your particular views. In my mind, accusing people of witchcraft because you don't like them would cause the community to become very unfavourable and I'd possibly even go as far as to consider it a dystopian