Friday, May 29, 2015
The Crucible : Connections to the McCarthy Era
In English class, we have been reading the play "The Crucible" written by Arthur Miller. It was written in the 50's and 60's, around the time of McCarthyism. The play itself is about the Salem Witch Trials, where hundreds were hung for being accused as witches. This really reminded me of how McCarthy accused other politicians and officials for being "soft on communism". This connection between the 17th century and the 1950's was really cool for me to see. For those of you who have read the Crucible, what are some of the similarities between McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials?
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I thought it was interesting to see how in both the book and the McCarthy era people needed to find someone to blame. They couldn't accept the fact that there were no witches or communists weren't actually that bad. They had to find someone to blame, even if it meant killing and lying.
ReplyDeleteI think The Crucible is a parallel to McCarthyism. In the book, people fear the spread of witches and they accused others to make themselves seem innocent. It is just like McCarthyism when everyone feared the spread of communism and the US had to contain communism. People are afraid of being accused to be communist so they had to look for scapegoats to blame at to make others believe that they are anti-communist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Serena. The way to save yourself in both the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy era was to find another person to blame, even if they are innocent.
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