Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to show the alarming similarity between the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600s to the witch hunts of his own time, the communist investigations of the 1950s. Arthur Miller was an American playwriter. He spoke out against the government and, once was even questioned by the United States Government about his un-American views. In the 1950s through the 1960s the United States and Russia were in the Cold War. People who said anything bad or different were called communists. Communism is when one ruler has all say. Communism lead to great fear and paranoia throughout this time. The 1600s was a time when the Puritans settled in America. The Puritans were religious and they believed in spirits.
The Puritans life in the 1600s was very different from the way life is now. They had strong beliefs about magic and religion. The Puritans were very religious and this “fed their belief in magic, as it has done in many cultures, including the Native Americans and Africans brought into slavery in their homes” (“Salem Witch Trials” 1). The Puritans thought that witches could
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Communism was known to be the most powerful physiology and came during the nineteenth century, mainly in Russia but was spreading to China and parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America. (“Communism” 127). During the McCarthyism period, “Senator McCarthy himself never actually documented the existence of a single communist in a government job, but his power to deflate his political enemies with false accusations was enormous” (“McCarthyism” 2). Arthur Miller even once complained that Americans were so concerned about being labeled communists that it caused the entire mood of Americans to be bad. Miller felt like every American was scared and acted fearful in everything they said and did.(“The Crucible”