Examples Of Manipulation In The Crucible

Manipulation is something that has embedded itself into society. Much of our lives are and can be manipulated whether we know it or not. In most examples the people who are being manipulated are being manipulated by the ones that they trust the most. Many times use of fear to cause mass hysteria is often invoked. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible characters take advantage of fear in order to manipulate fellow townspeople and gain an advantage in their community. The characters in The Crucible take advantage of their situation and manipulate it in ways that push their own personal gain. This is similarly seen in America during the McMartin case of 1984; wherein children were being questioned and manipulated into believing memories that may not

This case turned out to be one of the longest and most expensive cases in U.S. history. Not only was this case expensive but it led to a massive spike in pack mentality which caused many problems around the country; similarly this was seen during the McCarthy era and the Salem Witch Trials. According to The New York Times, “A pack mentality set in after a local television journalist first reported the allegations. Across California and beyond, normal standards of fairness and reasoned skepticism were routinely thrown to the wind, with news gatherers scrambling to outdo one another in finding purported examples of monstrous behavior” (Haberman 7). With this pack mentality taking effect after the McMartin case it led to mass hysteria taking set in the minds of Americans. This is much like what was seen during the Salem Witch Trials simply because how easily this pack mentality took effect on people’s minds. Parents feared for their children even when they were not involved in the case simply because the parent's who were involved were fearful. This led to a mass child care scare which in the end led to many child care workers losing their customers and even their jobs. With many child care workers losing their jobs, workers who did their job properly had to fear for themselves. The New York Times stated, “Teachers across America grew afraid to hug or touch their students, out of fear of being misunderstood and possibly being brought up on charges” (Haberman 8). This quote shows that nobody was safe from this mass hysteria not even the students teachers. The fear arose in all teachers across America that it was not safe to even have a friendship with their students. Similarly this was seen during the Salem Witch Trials where anyone could be condemned as a witch for any reason. If you were not looking out for yourself anything could happen. This goes to show that the McMartin trial and the Salem Witch Trials are very