Lottsfeldt 1
Nick
Lottsfeldt
Mr.
Casteel
English
CP 3
Period
0
3
December 2013
Article 1:McCarthy the Witch
Throughout this suspenseful and
nerve wracking Cold War, some of Americas most disgraceful and ignorant times
are occurring. Just as in Arthur
Miller’s “The Crucible” people are being accused of crimes and practices
without the proper evidence and sense of justice. Between 1950 and until now (1956), a mid-20th
century political attitude characterized chiefly by opposition to elements held
to be subversive and by the use of tactics involving personal attacks on
individuals by means of widely publicized indiscriminate allegations especially
on the basis of unsubstantiated charges has risen known as McCarthyism.[i] Such confusion and suspicion has begun do to
the communist scare in America during this Cold War. Senator McCarthy claims how communists have infiltrated
the U.S just as witches supposedly infiltrated Salem in the early days of
America. After all accusations were
made, thousands of Americans are now accused of being communist infiltrators. A large portion of these people are figures
that have a persuasive role in society such as writers, actors, and politicians[ii]. The only way one could prevent from being
titled as a communist is to “reveal” other communists in America[iii]. Because talking and revealing others seem to
be the only way out, a domino affect has been set into motion and thousands of
accusations are now underway. The
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same
domino effect occurred during “The Crucible”, because the only way to save
oneself from being hanged was to reveal other people who had supposedly
committed witchcraft. The people refusing
talk are imprisoned, losing their jobs, and being labeled as a communist. Senator McCarthy was able to trigger this
crisis through Communism and the Cold War just as Abigail did so through
witchcraft.
Article 2:Society and War
There are people who wish the Cold
War would come to a halt and all conflict within the war stop as well. There is
a new generation of children who are different from previous generation because
of the new freedom and privileges they are born into. The children feel that this freedom allows
them to act in new ways just as the children of “The Crucible” do to new
technology such as televisions, reveal the realities of life to children and
give them a different mindset than past generations. A film
like “Red Dawn” which is about a group of High School kids are able to fight
off the Soviet invasion of the U.S provides children with a different and more
aggressive outlook on life[iv]. Such technologies are brainwashing children
to not necessarily support war, but dislike communists and Russians to be
exact. This is the exact same affect
Abigail Williams has on the children of Salem, because she delivers an
overpowering amount of fear to the point where the children follower her every
command. The fear Abigail brings is
similar to the thrill children find through television because both fear and
thrill drive them to be different then the previous generation[v]. However, many adults oppose the Cold War just
as the ninety people in Salem who signed a doctrine conveying they believe that
no witchcraft is actually taking place.
A nuclear protest is equivalent to this document in
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“The
Crucible” because is displays opposition towards the government/court[vi].
Basically, oppositions are being made
towards the government just as oppositions were made towards the court in
Salem.
[i] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mccarthyism
[ii] http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/mccarthyism/484/
[iii] http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coldwar.htm
[iv] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087985/
[v] http://www.paleycenter.org/education-class-red-scare-cold-war-television/
[vi] http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/32707/anti-nuclear-protest
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