McCarthyism Echo’s The Crucible
“For to be free is not merely to cast off ones chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” (Nelson Mandela) Freedom and liberty were things that were not honored in both The Crucible and McCarthyism. The Crucible is a 1953 play by Arthur Miller. It is a fictionalized story of the Salem Witch Trials. It took place in the Massachusetts Bay colony during the year of 1692, which was about a group of young girls in the Salem village who claimed to have seen others with the devil, and accused several innocent women of witchcraft. Both The Crucible and McCarthyism have many similarities that relate them in many ways. They parallel in creating Hysteria, false claims and accusations, as well as crimes that were impossible to be proven. In both the Salem Witch Trials and The McCarthyism Era, people were accusing innocent people for serious crimes. “I did wrong to withhold these names.” (Document A) “Gives us all their names.” (Document B). Both documents show relationship between the two events that happened because in McCarthyism and in Salem the situation of accusing others caused people to turn against each other. As said in both documents, McCarthy and the
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In document D “An invisible crime” evidence is stated “But witch craft is ipso facto, an invisible crime who may possibly be witness to it?” “None other.” Both documents parallel because in both cases those accused were automatically assumed guilty, put on trial, and expected to confess leading to serious deaths in Salem and being blacklisted in the 1950’s in America. Due to accusations people would be taken to trial and would give out names of innocent people who had nothing to do with the situation. When that happened, people would automatically be known as guilty because there name was giving even if there was no evidence provided due to the crimes being