Rhetorical Analysis Of Are You Now Or Were You Ever

The central argument in Miller’s article, titled “Are You Now Or Were You Ever”, asserts that the McCarthy era (along with the plot of The Crucible) was started by paranoia and unjust convictions of rather innocent people and was aided by the tension between the communist east and democratic west. He develops this argument through an appeal to logos. Miller identifies the arguments used by the accusing group and logically discredits their statements by deconstructing their details and adding factual evidence to help the audience understand the irrationalities of their allegations. One argument in particular was on how the defendants were promoted to reveal their political beliefs but were left to remain mute, further displaying the injustice

One example in particular was when Miller compared the McCarthy era to being trapped in an Escher construct. He states that living in that time period felt like being in a perverse work of art, a juxtaposition between an Escher construct and that particular time. To continue, Miller uses references/allusions to The Crucible to compare the two eras. He helps the audience understand his reasons for writing The Crucible through his deeper connections between the conflicts that occurred in both eras. He allows them to see the somewhat fictitious cause and effect in his play in comparison to the real life events of the McCarthy era and jointly points out the injustices that occurred in both time periods. This viewpoint displays the silly, yet serious, message that was produced by The Crucible. To support his argument, Miller uses evidence such as historical facts and convincing stories of injustice. Throughout his article, Miller states his opinion on a certain matter and backs it up with at fact or story that will help the reader understand the abnormalities contained in the opposing

McCarthy promotes that communism will only grow and destroy the democratic world if America does not stop them. For example, he writes, “Unless we face this fact [that a war is happening], we shall pay the price that must be paid by those who wait too long,” (McCarthy). He further explains how this conflict between the western Christian world and the atheistic communist world is mainly moral. McCarthy mentions that the moral consequence if the communists win is that “this religion of immoralism will more deeply wound and damage mankind than any conceivable economic or political system.” He also goes on to demonstrate how the supporters of communism has grown over the years (from about 180,000,000 people to 800,000,000 people). Clearly, McCarthy makes an intellectually valid assertion that Americans must be careful due to the obvious growth and war with the