The Connection Between the Puritan’s Fear of The Devil and t
Arthur Miller's The Crucible takes a hard look at some of the ugliest moments in American history. He uses the actual historical event of the Salem witch trials to serve as a metaphorical representation of the pressure to conform to societal norms.The theocratic government of Salem, Massachusetts serves as an apt symbol of the pressure to conform. Religion provides an interpretation of reality for its worshippers, who live their lives according to its ideology. Those who have the ability to define reality--and make others live by that definition--become extremely powerful individuals. Exploiting religion to reinforce the primacy of one's definition of reality is an old strategy in the struggle for power. The Salem witch trials were well over two hundred years in the past when Miller wrote The Crucible, but the self-righteous spirit of persecution that drove them was alive and well. The McCarthyites were out in full force, rooting out culprits in the Red scare. The House Un- American Activities Committee took it upon themselves to define the essence of the "American." The good American citizen was fiercely loyal to everything "American"--which, of course, was defined by the very same committee. To this committee, "anti-American"
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 829
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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