Examples Of Fear Of Reality In The Crucible

The Fear of Reality Fear dominates various aspects of life. It can elicit physiological and emotional responses that greatly influence an individual’s reaction. For example, fear can cause an individual to experience an adrenaline rush that gives someone an extra burst of energy to lift a car or quickly flee from a situation. Fear can also cripple an individual by producing intense feelings of anxiety and nervousness. A common phobia, arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, can lead to symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and breathlessness (Cherry). Clearly, fear has a large impact on an individual. However, fear can influence an entire community as well. In The Crucible and Guilty by Suspicion, fear motivates members of a community to target

Abagail to Tituba, accusing her of witchcraft "Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep" (Miller 44).It is already easy to understand, early in the story, that fear has already set in and anyone will throw another person under the bus for their own safety. Abagail, who is already cruel, takes the attention off herself while she was being convicted of witchcraft, and puts it on another, Tituba, who is the most vulnerable because she is a black slave. Tituba to Paris, falsely stating she was tempted by the devil and saw another with the devil "And then he come one stormy night to me, and he say, "Look! I have white people belong to me." And I look and there was Goody Good" (47). This process just becomes a cycle where people accuse others constantly and there is no end to it. After Tituba is accused, she immediately diverts the attention away from her and puts it on Sarah Good so she is not hanged. To conclude, this false sense of fear that everyone has for something that does not even exist, can only harm others, as it already has by labeling others and taking them out as

David Merrill says, "If he wants to call you a commie, he doesn't have to back it up" (Winkler). At this point, the fear was so high that many people were accepting the reality of what was happening. Even though it is not true that some people are communists, and even if they were, it's not illegal to be one, people's lives have been ruined by this occurrence. "You end up guilty by suspicion" (Winkler). Even though people are not guilty whatsoever, they are still convicted and lives are ruined. The cycle is unending because there's always going to be someone who accuses some more people and elongates the process. To conclude, this unending cycle will not be stopped by the people because they are the ones that fuel this