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Conformity In The Crucible And The Lottery

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Have you ever changed something about yourself to fit in with a certain group of people, or maybe even if you did something that you did not want to do, only to fit in? Conformity is the process in which one adjusts one's behavior and beliefs to be accepted by other people. Some stories that effectively portray the dangers of conformity are, “The Crucible”, by Arthur Miller, the novel “Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, and, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, these three stories show three different kinds of conformity, and what it can do a person or society. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is based on the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts in 1692, it tells a fictional story about a town in Salem involved in witch hunts. The people in Salem are in a constant state of fear about whether they will become bewitched or be accused of …show more content…

All families of the town gather to draw a slip from a black box, and the Hutchinson family pulls out the “lucky” slip. Tessie Hutchinson argues that it is not fair, the lottery continues anyways. Tessie ends up pulling out a slip with a black dot on it, meaning she won. She was then stoned to death by the rest of the town's citizens. The town believes that the lottery will bring well-growing crops for that year. “.... Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery," (Jackson 4). Children and adults participate in the lottery, no one stands up and talks about how terrible it is. It is normal for them. These people of this small town blindly abide by this tradition, just because it has been going on for a long period of time. "Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery," Old Man Warner said as he went through the crowd. "Seventy-seventh time." (Jackson

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