Bowling For Columbine Comparative Analysis

With anti-communism being the dominant political issue during the Cold War, hysteria and paranoia spread throughout the minds of Americans. The “Enemies From Within Speech” delivered at Wheeling, West Virginia in 1950 by Senator Joseph McCarthy focused on worsening that national fear. Senator McCarthy used ethos, metaphor, and hyperbole to create the notion of disloyalty within the federal government.

In Arthur Miller’s dramatic play The Crucible, John Proctor, the protagonist, symbolized truth and justice by displaying honor and pride in his name. The change in balance between those two attributes acted as a catalyst in defining moments of the play. In the beginning, Proctor equally reflected both pride and honor in separate events. However, when forced to make a decision, he chose honor over pride. Ultimately, both his honor and pride pushed him to commit the ultimate sacrifice.

Sam Roberts in the article A Decade of Fear argues that McCarthyism turned Americans against each other. Roberts supports his claim by illustrating fear, describing betrayal, and comparing it to other United States internal conflicts. The author’s purpose is to point out a vulnerable period of American history in order to demonstrate that Americans felt prey to McCarthy’s negative propaganda. The author writes in a cynical tone for an educated audience. I strongly agree with Robert’s claim. McCarthyism caused Americans to turn on each other due to fear, unawareness, and propaganda.

Almost every kid in school has read a passage or a story, and never really understood the purpose of learning the topic in school. The teachers expect us to do the work, and hopefully understand it, but we never truly understand why we learned such a topic or event. The Crucible is a prime example on what students read in school, or why we’re obligated to read the book. The crucible and McCarthyism have many similarities that many people over look, and don’t realize, and connects more than we perceive.

In the USA, there is an overwhelming number of children are dying every day, influencing a great deal of money that is spent, while the topic of gun control is discussed as a solution for these events. There is a big talk about deciding if creating more gun control laws is the right decision to prevent more events of gun violence. Everyone knows that gun control laws are not a realistic solution because guns don't kill people. Gun control is not the answer to our nation's number of violent shootings; because most of these shootings happen as a result of mental health struggles and also because there is an overwhelming lack of early crisis intervention screening programs as well as a need for better education for caregivers

Fear very often leads to unexpected and unwanted results. Decisions made in fear are often more dangerous than the thing being feared. In the United States during the Cold War fear had been running rampant. McCarthy, leader of the CIA at the time had used fear to arrest and punish innocent people. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as way to use a past story to warn the United States about the future. Fear is universal throughout human conflict and it’s seen in history.

In the documentary “Bowling for Columbine”, which is directed by Michael Moore, there is an abundance of fallacious arguments. From the most obvious Post Hoc fallacies demonstrated to strengthen the director’s argument, to the numerous fallacies committed by Moore himself, there is no shortage from which to choose. The fallacies that I have chosen to focus on are the Post Hoc used by Moore’s “opponents” and his own hasty generalizations and composition fallacies.

    In today 's day and age we have more technological, medicinal, societal, and worldly advancements than we did in either 1692 or 1947, but we are still just as easily corrupted by jealousy, power, and paranoia. The years 1692 and 1947 are perfect examples of prospering societies that became undermined through very similar processes. In 1629 the Salem Witch Trials and in 1947 the McCarthy Communist Trials- were both held unjustly, involving condemnation based on unfair trial practices. People desperately admitted to being a witch (1692) or to being a communist (1947) only because they didn’t want to die. Even if you were found innocent your life was virtually over because your career and livelihood had been destroyed

Representations of people, events and personalities in both Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible 1953 and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s sonnet Ozymandias, reveal the composers personal agenda and effectively demonstrate this in relation to people and politics. Millers The Crucible is a classic parable of mass hysteria drawing a chilling parallel between the Salem witch trials of 1692 and the Congressional hearings of the McCarthy era which griped America in the 1950’s. Shelley’s masterful sonnet is a first person persona describing a meeting with someone who has travelled to a place where ancient civilizations once existed. Both composers even though they have varying contextual eras, both display similar ideals including those with power are deluded

Miller’s purpose of The Crucible was to represent and mirror the social injustice under McCarthyism as people falsely accused each other because their fear, jealousy and solely hatred of one another. Although, around 1950-1954 the “innocent until proven guilty” clause existed, most trials and accusations were led by “guilty until proven innocent.” Despite Miller’s efforts to criticise people’s actions as

In order to achieve their own personal and communal ambitions, figures in society manipulate and persuade people through events and situations to conform to their own political agenda. In the 1955 prescribed text, “The Crucible,” playwright Arthur Miller establishes the exploitative behaviour of characters through dramatised staging features. Similarly in the 1964 related text, “The Times They are A-Changin’,” Bob Dylan insights individual ambitions through musical and poetic devices. The shared ideas of the modernist era such as the significance of religion and political hegemony are investigated by both composers in their perspective texts. Due to the elegant composition of these texts, the responder

Social bond theory was described in the textbook as,”Hirschi argued that through successful socialization a bond forms between individuals and the social group. When that bond is weakened or broken, deviance and crime may result” (127). In the film Bowling for Columbine it described Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as socially outcasts from the school. Connecting back to social bond theory Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold did not have bonds within the school as they were not in social norms and acted against it. In the textbook it further states, “We not only assume the deviant has believed the rules, we assume he believes the rules even as he violates them” (127). Social bond theory is not creating an excuse for bad behavior but an explanation.

In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller is showing how history may repeat itself through his article on McCarthyism, “Are You Now Or Were You Ever”. The Crucible proves a fitting allegory for the Red Scare by highlighting societal actions characteristic to both events: the snowball effect, blind obedience to authority, and damaged reputations.

How society views others becomes a developing theme throughout the two pieces of literature, the play “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller and Sam Roberts article, “Father Was a Spy”. The town of Salem in “The Crucible” undergoes a major quarrell throwing accusations at almost anyone, without proper information. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are thrown in jail and charged for conspiracy, however they claim no unlawful actions are taking place on behalf of them. In both situations reputations are destroyed resulting in a multitude of negative factors. Trust is lost, friends are afraid of each other, jobs are lost, and very commonly, death occurs. Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” obtains a theme that is an ongoing battle of reputations that similarly relates to “Father Was a Spy” by Sam Roberts’s theme. When hardships took a role in the characters lives, multiple people will fight for a lie to protect themselves while throwing new accusations to the next person.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller makes one of his particular beliefs vehemently clear: the preservation of one’s reputation is more important than the preservation of one’s life. This notion is most distinctly presented through the setting he chooses, the culture he depicts, and the characters he develops. Using such elements, a tug of war between wanting to survive and wanting to protect their “good names” is created within each character. When the war is fought inside a protagonist, protecting one’s image takes precedence almost every time.