The Crucible Reflection

No one ever saw his list, and he never named any of the supposed offenders, but he nevertheless gained national headlines and further stoked the Red Scare flames (Fitzgerald 12-13). With the Federal-Loyalty Security Program in place, government workers already worried they would come under scrutiny, but the situation only worsened when McCarthy arrived on the scene. Aided by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and other “Red-Hunters”, he cracked down on the State Department and its Foreign Service operations so frequently and relentlessly that the agency had trouble just finding people who wanted to work there. Most preferred to take a job outside of government rather than have their entire personal life investigated by the FBI (Hillstrom 64-65). McCarthy and the Red Scare’s influence reached beyond the government, even finding its way to books.

The year 1950 was a time of civil unrest amongst the people of America. The Red Scare swept through the nation, and the worry of a communist or a fascist living just down the street became a very real and very common fear of many Americans. This angst then grew due to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s claims in his “Wheeling Speech”, given on February 9th 1950, in which he proclaimed that he was in possession of a list of 205 communists working for the Senate Department. This alone sent a frenzy throughout America; the thought of the corruption communists could cause within the government terrified the American citizens. In this time of uneasiness, a brave Republican Senator, Margaret Chase Smith, takes the house floor and gives a remarkable speech that addresses her concerns about the government and the country.

McCarthyism is a political attitude as The Salem witch trials were just a hunt for witches. Both McCarthyism and and The Salem witch trials were big mass hysterias Mccarthy had accused three hundred and twenty people of being communists versus the two hundred that were accused of being witches during The Salem witch trials. They both had to deal with attitude in a way mostly, because everyone was terrified they were all trying to find someone guilty as the fear consumed them, they wanted to feel safe in their community safe from the Soviet union or safe from the devil, and they were not going to feel safe until all the ¨communists¨ or ¨witches¨ that are guilty were found. But in all reality these were innocent people in the McCarthyism era and during The Salem witch trials, the innocent didn't deserve to die during The Salem witch trials nineteen innocent people were hanged during The Salem witch trials simply because of other people's fear and falsely accusing them, because they didn't like the person or that other people longed for what they had. The Salem witch trials were quite the tragedy and many suffered from this

The speech made McCarthy famous and led Congress to begin investigating supposed communists in the government. McCarthy later gave Congress the names of State Department employees he claimed were traitors. Those individuals lost their jobs, even though McCarthy never supplied evidence to prove their guilt” (Joseph McCarthy). McCarthy used a list he made up to gain notoriety with

In The Crucible, Aurthur Miller illustrates, and suggests how fear of losing someone leads to atrocious and vicious acts. It all starts when Abigail gets caught for performing witchcraft. In this time Salem was Puritan, they were full of fear in the devil, and would kill anyone who was apart of it. Abigail's behavior in the woods lead her to be scared of the other girls she was with to betray her and her name being blackened.

The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in 1953. The play, The Crucible, is surrounded around a group of girls in Salem, Massachusetts, who claimed to be possessed by the devil. They also accused many other innocent people of being witches and hurting people through their souls. As a result, many people were hanged or pressed. The girls falsely accused others of being witches much like the communists of the 1950’s who were falsely accused.

Sparked by an increase in communist sympathies during the Great Depression due to upset over the failure of the democratic system to assist its people in difficult times, American fear of communism reached its high point during the 1940s and 1950s. Fear of communist subversion, often called the Red Scare, reached all areas of society and resulted in paranoia throughout the United States, exemplified through both actions and events. The McCarthy hearings, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, capitalized on the overwhelming hysteria encapsulating the United States when McCarthy claimed he had the names of communists in the government. Built on a series of lies and exaggerations, McCarthy proceeded to interrogate innocent government officials and

Without the vengeful seventeen year old girl, Abigail Williams, the chaos that occurs in the small town of Salem would dissipate. While living in a Puritan society and having to move in with her uncle having fun was definitely not a top priority, but in Abigail's mind it was. In 1692, a small Puritan town known as Salem, Massachusetts youngs girls are about to face the death trial for dabbling in witchcraft. Abigail Williams, along with five other girls and her family’s slave Tituba, were caught dancing in the woods by her “perfect” uncle Reverend Parris. The next day Parris’s daughter who was also in the woods the night before will not wake up.

Zi Liu Ms. Elder College English 11 The Crucible Break Assignment ACT ONE 1. Why did the Salem settlement need a theocracy? Why had the settlers begun to turn toward individualism?

With all of the accusations going around, people were forgetting that everyone can have their own opinion. Edward R Murrow, a television host of See It Now bashed McCarthy by saying “’We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty’” (Roberts, 2). Murrow was saying that just because a person disagrees with what the president or a government official says, does not mean they are a communist. The United States has freedom of speech, and citizens can say whatever they want about the government.

According to Arthur M. Schlesinger, “Another objective [of the American Communists] is what communists call “mass organizations”- that is groups of liberal organized for some benevolent purpose, and because of innocence, laziness, and stupidity of most membership.” Schlesinger had feared that people were being influenced by communists and because they weren’t fighting it, it was easier to recruit members. Due to their laziness, innocence, and stupidity, the people were giving the communists a chance to become even more subversive and take over. In addition, Joseph McCarthy, a senator from Wisconsin, assured the people in his speech at Wheeling, West Virginia that,“Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.” His use of the word “battle” sends a wave of fear and seriousness.

McCarthy manipulated the media, told outrageous stories about the communist conspiracy in the United States, and used his power and America’s fear to besmirch any opponents as “communist sympathizers” to make sure he remained at the top. Actually, most conservative members of Congress supported McCarthy because it helped them gain votes during elections. The majority of McCarthy 's movement attacked liberals and members of the Democratic Party and this aided anyone who was not part of those topics and organizations. Then McCarthy began to target the Army because they wouldn’t favor David Schine, one of his former investigators, who had been drafted in. “Senator Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charged with being ‘soft’ on communism.

This kind of hysteria caused the Red Scare, which was a period that Americans thought communists were working to destroy America. This mass fear of communism ruined people’s lives and made them turn against their own family and friends. Joseph McCarthy played an

During this time in the world people were scared of the red scarce. People would say that Joseph Mccarthy was the modern

Emmanuel Yepiz Lisa William English 1 B 7 November 2014 The Crucible Compare and Contrast Essay In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Judge Danforth and Reverend Hale play leading characters of power in Salem. The Crucible possesses many examples of interesting character development, especially Reverend Hale and Judge Danforth. During the time of trails in 1692, Danforth and Hale on occasions came head to head on matter of witchcraft.