Mentality In The Crucible

The Modern Day Witch Hunt of American Muslims

"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States . . .” (CNN). Sadly, acts and statements like the one made by Republican Candidate Donald Trump are not uncommon in the United States. Especially after 9/11, attacks and harassment of Muslims are becoming a frequent occurrence. People are under the impression that all who practice the Muslim religion are in support of terrorism or are terrorists themselves. Unfortunately, this is not the first time in history that a group of people are hurt by the ignorance and over generalizations of others. The anti-Muslim mentality in the world today resembles the Salem Witch Trials in the 1600’s because of

The belief that there were witches living in Salem, Massachusetts allowed some of the characters to enact revenge against people who they thought to have wronged them. For example, Abigail Williams used the hysteria of the trials to her advantage and accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft. Abigail, who is jealous of Elizabeth because she is John Proctor’s wife, plants a needle into a poppet given to her so others would think she was a witch and put her in jail. Abigail hopes to take Elizabeth’s place as John’s wife. However, Abigail is not the only one’s to seek revenge in The Crucible. Another example of vengeance is through the Putnams, who accused Rebecca Nurse “for the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies,” (Miller 67). Similar to how the Putnams put the blame of their miscarriages on Rebecca Nurse, much of society put the blame of 9/11 and what happened in Paris, November 13th, on all Muslims. Terrorists only account for a very small percent of Muslims, and even then, they take their religion to the

Many endeavors have been taken by people of power to protect America from future terrorism even though America is already relatively safe. The chance of being killed by a terrorist is 1 in 20 million and a person is more likely to be killed in a car accident or building fire. Alas, innocent Muslims are still indirectly punished for the actions of a few. Kalia Abiade, advocacy director at the Center for New Community, said it best herself, “Only three days have passed since the tragic attacks in Paris, and already our elected officials are looking to reintroduce some of the most repressive policies and practices in the United States that unfairly target and demonize Muslims,” (Iyer). These policies send the message that one’s American Muslim neighbor is a threat and only fuels the fire of anti-Muslim bigotry and hate crimes. The paranoia that is exhibited in America for Muslims is eerily similar to the paranoia in The Crucible. In the play, it is shown how easily and how quickly paranoia disperses within their society, and what lengths people will go to to protect the things they deem most important. For instance,