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Relationship Between The Crucible And Mccarthyism

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Throughout history, many “witch hunts” have occured. Two of the most famous were the Salem trials and the McCarthy communist hunt. While McCarthy is a figurative take on a witch hunt, Salem is a real witch hunt. Arthur Miller discusses both of these trials his book, The Crucible. During the time of the communist hunt, Arthur Miller wrote his book about the Salem witch trials. The trials were a culmination of nineteen people killed after being accused of witchcraft. McCarthy’s communist hunt was a group of people who were accused of being communist and tried by McCarthy. As Miller wrote about the Salem witch trials, there was an evident direct coincide between McCarthyism and the Salem witch trials. During the Salem and McCarthy’s time, there is a connection between a leader and their followers. In The Crucible, this is present in the character Abigail. She is the leader of the accusers by fear and respect. This is visible in the quote, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring you a pointy reckoning that will shudder you,” (Miller 19). She exhibits control over the group and is also the main reason for most of the accusations. During the the communist hunt, the leader was Joseph McCarthy. He was a respected senator and was the leader of many accusations of communism. Although he accused many innocent people, no one spoke out against him for fear that the

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