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How Does Arthur Miller Present Mccarthyism In The Crucible

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McCarthyism and The Crucible Comparison (Act III and IV) After finishing The Crucible, it is certain to believe why Arthur Miller, who was one of the people blacklisted, wrote this novel in response to the McCarthyism. In the Act III of the Crucible, Miller subliminally incorporate events during the times of McCarthyism into his book. One notable example is when he writes how John Proctor is trying to overthrow the court in Salem in response to witchcraft. Procor provides new evidence such as a testament that state that Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey are good wholesome people based on ninety one people’s signatures. This scene is an allegory to the Alien Registration Acts against the American Communist Party as it made it illegal for people to overthrow the government, similarly to what Proctor is trying to do for the innocence of the convicted. …show more content…

One example, is when Mary Warren is well into her testimony, and Abigail including the other girls say that Mary Warren bewitched them and soon Marry follows suit and pleads with them. This represents how McCarthy and his committee claimed that 205 people were communists as they labeled them being fascists, alcoholics, and sexual deviants. Abigail and McCarthy both the rightful head leaders of their group, have found ways to manipulate, persuade, and deceive the general public into believing that anyone could be affiliated with either communism or witchcraft. All the claims they made have no evidence at all which allowed them to accuse anyone due to their

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In the late 1940’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy began a tyrannical attack against the people of America. McCarthy went through the nation and accused powerful people of being a part of the communist party. McCarthy had no grounds for his accusations; he would just keep accusing people until they broke down and just said they were a communist to end his attacks. His form of “trial” worked until he tried to accuse Arthur Miller, a brilliant play write, of being a communist. Arthur Miller was livid and fought against Senator McCarthy and his House Committee on Un-American Activities the only way he knew.

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In The Crucible, the fear of witchcraft precedes the Salem witch trials; however, the accusers capitalize on this fear by alleging that neighbors committed acts of witchcraft in order to obtain their own wishes. An example of their manipulation of the public fears stems from Abigail's intentions behind accusing Elizabeth Proctor. In an attempt to remove Elizabeth from the scenario so she could live with John, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft with tampered evidence, demonstrating her misuse of the court system and the public’s fear. Thus, Murrow’s description of McCarthy’s actions relate to that of Miller’s The Crucible on a fundamental

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McCarthy created the uproar of having a ‘witch hunt’ on communists in America. His influence on the people gave him credibility when he accused those innocent people. “He cited 81 cases that day. He skipped several numbers, and for some cases repeated the same flimsy information. He proved nothing, but the Senate called for a full investigation.”(ushistory.org).

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Proctor said “I will have my life”(page 127). During the Red Scare, if you confessed, whether you were innocent or not, you would be spared, but if you did not, you would be jailed or executed.

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McCarthyism period took place over the years The Crucible has been written and significantly impacted Arthur Miller’s thoughts while writing the book. The Crucible was seen as a modern-day witch hunt story in the McCarthy period. McCarthyism means the practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversions without any evidence. Joseph R McCarthy made false accusations while being senator and charged people for being communism. Both McCarthyism and The Crucible by Arthur Miller are connected because paranoia is evident and innocent people are accused.

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Communists have political views and witches have spells but, they are both similar in eccentric ways. In The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams sends the whole town on a witch hunt so she can get what she wants. Abigail never got what she intended to and got several people arrested and even killed. In the movie Good Night and Good Luck Senator Joseph McCarthy did something similar. He sent people on a “witch hunt” for communists and had numerous people arrested because they were thought to be communist but actually were not.

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In the play, The Crucible, Salem, Massachusetts, along with the United States during McCarthyism, is engulfed with paranoia. Although both situations include different causes, their effects are strikingly similar. For instance, throughout The Crucible, Abigail Williams is being shown repeatedly accusing innocent people of witchcraft. Her actions begin sending the small town into a panic as they throw people into jail and hang them in an effort to try and cleanse the town from any aspect of evil. Similarly, throughout 1950-1954, Joseph McCarthy falsely accused people within the United States Government of being a member of the Communist party.

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However, during the time of McCarthyism, people suddenly believed if a person went against the government thoughts, they were a communist. Similarly, this is like a time in The Crucible when a mass amount of women were arrested for witchcraft. After Mary Warren comes home from watching the witchcraft trials, John Proctors asks if it is true if only fourteen women arrested. Instead Mary Warren replies, “No, sir. There be thirty-nine now” (Miller, Act II).

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She’s a witch! He’s a Communist! Two very famous accusations that pivoted the lives of many Americans throughout history. The Crucible by Arthur Miller paints a picture of the 1690’s Puritan settlement in Salem, Massachusetts who conducted witch trials to rid the town of people who had been taken over by the Devil and accused anyone who had ever wronged them, and without any evidence they were hanged for equating with the Devil. Arthur Miller, who was a famous author living during the 1950’s, wrote this play to allegorize the Communist Red Scare when the government and paranoid citizens hunted for Communists in America and without much evidence thousands of Americans were deported.

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The speaker of “The Crucible” is Arthur Miller because he wrote it, the subject is the play, “The Crucible”, and the audience is the many people who read this play or saw it performed. Joseph McCarthy was a Senator that accused many authors and artists of communism. McCarthy would make an accusation, and go to trial against the particular author. Because there was no actual way to prove they had the views of a communist or not, many of their careers were ruined. Some of McCarthy’s victims lost their ability to travel and others even got arrested.

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Joseph McCarthy insisted communist spies were holding governmental positions when he discerned he could control the public with fear (Association, The Independence Hall). Reverend Parris, along with other members of the church holding high positions, insisted witchcraft was to blame for the young girls’ actions (Miller, Arthur). Both of these examples involved a situation where a member of the community that people trust used the power of their position to persuade and command the people. The weight of their opinion was abused to keep their high

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“An era of chemical McCarthyism is at hand, and ‘guilty until proven innocent’ is the new slogan.” During the 1950s, a time period of mass hysteria came about in the United States whether someone was considered to be part of the Communist Party. The truth was nowhere to be found as people were condemned to being a communist and were sent to jail or their career was ruined with no evidence to prove they were guilty. Arthur Miller experienced this time period and wrote The Crucible as an allegory. In the play Abigail Williams and a group of girls were discovered dancing in the woods by Reverend Parris.

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Arthur Miller constructs his play upon the famous Salem witch trails. Miller's Crucible was written in the early 1950s. Miller wrote his drama during the brief reign of the American senator Joseph McCarthy whose bitter criticized anti- communism sparkled the need for the United States to be a dramatic anti- communist society during the early tense years of the cold war. By orders from McCarthy himself, committees of the Congress commenced highly controversial investigations against communists in the U.S similar to the alleged Salem witches situation. Convict communists were ordered to confess their crime and name others to avoid the retribution.

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) by Sherman Alexie is a fictionalised journal written by an Indian boy named Junior. The story is told from his first person point of view as the novel is written in the form of a personal diary. It explores how Junior struggles with assimilating into a ‘white’ American culture after fleeing an Indian reservation to reach his full potential to improve his life. This story has been made for dual readers which include both Indigenous and European cultures as it is written in casual English language for both implied readers to understand clearly. The passage (Alexie 2007, pp.

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Period4 The Crucible Essay Communism and Witchcraft have the same effect on humans, that effect is fear, when you hear fear you think of your worst nightmare or someone hiding in your closet, during the McCarthyism era and the salem witchcraft people had fear about whether their life is on the line or not. It all depended on one person in their community whether or not they choose to save their life. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy era because the girls feared Abigail just like everyone feared J.McCarthy, Elizabeth being accused is similar to McCarthy accusing the US Army, they are innocent just like Elizabeth.

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