ipl-logo

Similarities Between The Crucible And The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas

1374 Words6 Pages

When it comes to traditions and customs people don’t question whether it’s morally correct or not, they just blindly follow it. Those who follow traditions survive and have comfortable lives but they lose their moral code. On the other hand, those who question it sacrifice themselves to maintain their pride and dignity. However both groups of people face positive or negative consequences. Two texts that convey this theme are The Crucible by Arthur Miller and “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin. In The Crucible, Miller shows how a person’s traditional beliefs have consequences and how they guide one’s actions. The traditional belief for the people of Salem is that Witches exist and that compacts with the devil are real. …show more content…

The tradition of the Omelas’ people is that every year a child has to sacrifice his happiness for everyone else’s. LeGuin reveals this tradition through the use of irony. The setting begins with a joyous mood and describes how much content everyone in the city has. The city is described as a utopia for everyone. But as the story goes on the readers finds out how unscrupulous and horrific the city is. LeGuin states “they did without monarchy and slavery … without the stock exchange, the advertisement, and the secret police.”(LeGuin 1). This shows that they don’t have anything type or form of corruptions in their city. One example that shows how inhumane the people of Omelas’ are is “One may come in and kick them…” (LeGuin, 3). They keep a boy locked up and away from his parents and abuse him. Everyone else has a positive consequence while he faces a negative one. Everyone around him is contented and comfortable while he on the other had is tormented and neglected fir the rest of his …show more content…

Many young children go to visit the child who is locked up and they get scared for life. LeGuin states “They feel anger, outrage, and impotence, despite all explanations. They would like to do something for the child.”(LeGuin 3). The young children still can’t grasp the fact that people can be cruel and cunning. They want to help the child but they are told that if they do it would destroy their city. The traditional believe is to sacrifice one happiness for the greater good of others. People that question the tradition are told it’s what has to be done in order to main the lifestyle they have. Another example are those who leave the city “walk ahead into the darkness, and they don’t come back.”(LeGuin 4). People who aren’t satisfied with the tradition leave because they don’t want to feel the guilt. They leave to so they don’t have to live with the guilt so that he/she may still be able to live with themselves. Those who question the tradition don’t do anything to help the kid they just help

Show More
Related
764 Words | 4 Pages

Author of The Crucible, Arthur Miller, used it to symbolize the American government's authoritarianism that made the nation fearful of the alleged "communists" infiltrating America. The novel takes place during the time of the Salem Witch trials. Salem's official court advanced false accusations of witchcraft that led to many people being wrongfully accused and executed. In the story, those who believed in witchcraft were seen as the ingroup, whereas those who did not were seen as the outgroup and were working with the "devil. "Demonstrating how Fascists force societies into going along with their beliefs.

Read More
1267 Words | 6 Pages

Arthur Miller’s work, The Crucible, was written during the “Red Scare” time period, and many themes and ideas regarding both events are presented through a drama based on the Salem witch trials. In this drama, a lack of justice is shown when some jealous, vengeful characters in Salem are willing to use manipulation and deceit, and sacrifice the reputations and integrity of all involved, in order to empower themselves.

Read More
1045 Words | 5 Pages

The Crucible is a play centered around the Salem Witch Trials, which the author uses to reflect on human nature. Rev. Hale is an expert in witchcraft from Beverly, a town near Salem, and starts off by assisting the court in judging those accused. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Rev. Hale changes from feeling confident and justified in his beliefs to feeling uncertainty and guilt about what he has done through his manner, how he is portrayed, and his views of the trials. In Act One of The Crucible, Rev. Hale’s current demeanor, portrayal, and views are revealed.

Read More
412 Words | 2 Pages

Gossip’s role The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller is set in The Salem Witch Trial. During this time in history, religion was far more important than actual law and reason. In this book’s case, legalistic Christianity decided the devil himself was roaming the streets of Salem. Anyone who seemed as though they had bumped into the devil was killed.

Read More
715 Words | 3 Pages

The Crucible Belief is a subjective attitude that a proposition is true or a state of affairs is the case. The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller is about the town of Salem, Massachusetts. A city of around 2,000 people where the witch trials started in 1692. Miller writes The Crucible and creates the argument that people's fears overrule evidence. Reverend Hale, a witch doctor called in to help from Parris because of the concern about the ongoing thought of witchcraft.

Read More
534 Words | 3 Pages

Truth and sacrifice The Crucible, by American author Arthur Miller, is a play about a parochial community stuck in a state of anarchy in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. A religious group known as Puritans lived in Salem at the time believed strongly in being subservient to the bible. A group of girls were caught dancing in the woods, and they would be posthaste to cover up themselves to make them seem immaculate, they started blaming others for their actions. The true innocents, the ones with a good name, end up hanging due to their value of truth. This play was written in 1952 during the period of the “Red Scare”.

Read More
811 Words | 4 Pages

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.

Read More
466 Words | 2 Pages

Arthur Miller, a prominent twentieth century playwright, is well-known for his play The Crucible. The play opens in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The Puritan religion is against dancing and singing because the Puritans believe these are sensuous activities. The Puritans also believe that Satan tempts human beings to carry out his work. Fear and hysteria strike Salem over the belief that the devil is in the town because Parris’s niece, Abigail Williams, was found dancing in the forest with other girls and Parris’s servant; and soon after two young girls fall sick.

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller, based on the Salem witch trials that took place in the early 1700’s. Decades later, a modernized version of the play called, Salem Falls written by Jodi Picoult. Although this film resembles The Crucible, there are many significant differences between the two. In both versions, The Crucible and Salem Falls, the audience learns that jealousy blinds decision-making and ultimately leads to discontent; however, since Picoult’s antagonist atones for her jealousy, audiences are more satisfied with the movie’s ending. Jealousy alone is one of the leading causes of irrational decision-making in our society.

Read More
828 Words | 4 Pages

I also think it is interesting that the author included a mentioning of mental illness after the chapter that discussed child imprisonment because in both situations, environmental circumstances and cognitive states drastically contributes to both groups’ decision making abilities, and

Read More
847 Words | 4 Pages

The threat of Communism and the Red Scare put fear of group mentality into many people during the late 1940-50s.   The authors of 1984 and The Crucible used their respective works to comment on the social injustice going on in their own lives, which connects to injustice the exists throughout time anywhere in the world. Miller wrote his play, set in 1692, about Puritans and the Salem witch trials because he believed that, similar to his trial for HUAC in the 1950s, the trials in Salem were caused by false accusations and mass hysteria led by powerful individuals. In 1984, Orwell creates a world in the near future that shows group mentality and its threat to conform society with the government.

Read More
960 Words | 4 Pages

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about the corruption, lying, strict actions of the Salem witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Miller was inspired to write this play to relate to the era of McCarthyism during the 1950’s that he and American citizens were experiencing. In the 1950’s Joseph McCarthy starting accusing public figures of being guilty of treason by supporting the communist party (of Russia). But McCarthy had no physical proof or evidence that suggested his wild accusations. The accusations caused havoc in America, hundreds imprisoned, and thousands to lose their job.

Read More
305 Words | 2 Pages

Religion In The Crucible In The Crucible, religion is a theme that aids in developing the story, it helps to begin the story and build the plot. Religion in the story is what, overall, pushes many people to talk about witchcraft, and blame it on others. Though religion is normally thought of as a thing of value amongst those who follow one, the people of Salem use it to their advantage, as trying to take someone 's land. “Old scores could be settled on a plane of heavenly combat between Lucifer and the Lord” shows how the people of this time period could call a person evil, or a witch, in order to take their property from them, using religion all the while (Miller 8).

Read More
481 Words | 2 Pages

The Crucible Essay The theme of hysteria is evident throughout Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in everyday life and society. Driven by self-preservation, hysteria influences many characters’ actions and leads to the devastating witch trials in Salem. For instance, many characters in The Crucible are driven to execute drastic actions to sustain their reputation and protect themselves.

Read More
1662 Words | 7 Pages

Yet no solicitude is yielded, for every man, woman, and child knows that such an act would be a terrible thing indeed. Instead they wallow in their helplessness before awesome justice by shedding bitter tears of anger at injustice. So perhaps Omelas is less fantastical than it first reveals itself to be. Moreover, Ursula Le Guin’s uses immaculate descriptions to create a unique utopia, enabled by dystopian elements in her short story, “The Ones

Read More

More about Similarities Between The Crucible And The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas

Related Topics

Open Document