Making Connections
The Red Scare, a modern example of "The Crucible"
During my Practicum hours today at Leavenworth High, I walked by an English class who were discussing a chapter of "The Crucible" (if you never read this book in high school, here's a quick plot overview)." Walking away, I started thinking about how the Red Scare related to not only the plot, but also how the characters intertwined together.
To begin the discussion, the plot of the book is the best way to introduce this. (Luckily, a classmate has created some great questions in his blog post that can help make ties to the Red Scare and this novel. This is Tim Mitchell's blog post. His post will be used for comparing characters) "The Crucible's" main protagonist is John Proctor but the Salem witch trials were started by Abigail Parris. Parris and Proctor have an affair in the novel (she is 13 I believe during this time). Parris wants Proctor to himself and when he refuses to have anymore adultery affairs with her, she accuses him of being a witch. Abigail up until this point had a reputation of accusing people of witches. She sold out their house servant, and various members in the village. The whole plot is closely tied with the Red Scare. Once hysteria and knowledge of selling out your neighbors was a viable option, people started growing wise of how to severely damage the reputation of their neighbors, mess up their life by having the FBI watching over them, or have them removed from the neighborhood by arrest if the FBI had evidence. Some people used this tactic while others truly believed witches were walking in their town. For these people, they started putting everyone under a microscope. The same can go for the Red Scare. People were viewing every behavior to see if you were "American." Various celebrities and average citizens were accused of being a communist just because of certain actions. Val Lorwin, a state department worker, was accused of being a communist because he had "strange-looking people" at his house (Cite). "The Crucible" and the Red Scare follow the same event lines.
Now looking at the characters; the first character to examine is Abigail Parris. In Tim's blog post, he begged the question, "was it [her actions] an act to gain power?" Her accusing people of being witches sounds very similar to McCarthy. McCarthy was seemingly an unknown politician up until the point he started making claims that there were communists in the United States. Abigail would be an unknown in history without the help of this conspiracy. Both Abigail and McCarthy had all the power to gain and essentially nothing to lose. The Puritans were scared helplessly of the devil and 1950's American's were scared of communism. Because of this fear, no one would think twice about calling them out on lying to gain power (until your name was the one being accused).
John Proctor stands as the American who was accused of being a Communist (who wasn't a communist). He never really fought against the trials but rather, he stuck to himself and his own problems. He just had an affair with a 13 year old girl. The guilt mounted on top of him while having to farm to keep himself and his family sustained. Once he was in the clamp of the accusation, his reputation, and ultimately his life, was taken from him. He never stood a chance once the accusation came through.
Judge Hawthorne and the trials resemble HUAC. HUAC was in charge of saving people from Communism or sending them away. The accusations these people had were usually testimonies. With the exception of a few who they may had hard evidence on, McCarthy or the prosecutor could make a detailed question from something that happened a long time ago, that you can't answer for or don't want people knowing the true story (similar to Proctor. If he admitted the affair, he lost reputation.) and use that to convict you. The courts never seemed to be fair and were tilted to get a conviction rather than giving people the right of Due Process.
Do you think "The Crucible" and the Red Scare are connected? Comment below.
Matt Waeckerle
During my Practicum hours today at Leavenworth High, I walked by an English class who were discussing a chapter of "The Crucible" (if you never read this book in high school, here's a quick plot overview)." Walking away, I started thinking about how the Red Scare related to not only the plot, but also how the characters intertwined together.
To begin the discussion, the plot of the book is the best way to introduce this. (Luckily, a classmate has created some great questions in his blog post that can help make ties to the Red Scare and this novel. This is Tim Mitchell's blog post. His post will be used for comparing characters) "The Crucible's" main protagonist is John Proctor but the Salem witch trials were started by Abigail Parris. Parris and Proctor have an affair in the novel (she is 13 I believe during this time). Parris wants Proctor to himself and when he refuses to have anymore adultery affairs with her, she accuses him of being a witch. Abigail up until this point had a reputation of accusing people of witches. She sold out their house servant, and various members in the village. The whole plot is closely tied with the Red Scare. Once hysteria and knowledge of selling out your neighbors was a viable option, people started growing wise of how to severely damage the reputation of their neighbors, mess up their life by having the FBI watching over them, or have them removed from the neighborhood by arrest if the FBI had evidence. Some people used this tactic while others truly believed witches were walking in their town. For these people, they started putting everyone under a microscope. The same can go for the Red Scare. People were viewing every behavior to see if you were "American." Various celebrities and average citizens were accused of being a communist just because of certain actions. Val Lorwin, a state department worker, was accused of being a communist because he had "strange-looking people" at his house (Cite). "The Crucible" and the Red Scare follow the same event lines.
Now looking at the characters; the first character to examine is Abigail Parris. In Tim's blog post, he begged the question, "was it [her actions] an act to gain power?" Her accusing people of being witches sounds very similar to McCarthy. McCarthy was seemingly an unknown politician up until the point he started making claims that there were communists in the United States. Abigail would be an unknown in history without the help of this conspiracy. Both Abigail and McCarthy had all the power to gain and essentially nothing to lose. The Puritans were scared helplessly of the devil and 1950's American's were scared of communism. Because of this fear, no one would think twice about calling them out on lying to gain power (until your name was the one being accused).
John Proctor stands as the American who was accused of being a Communist (who wasn't a communist). He never really fought against the trials but rather, he stuck to himself and his own problems. He just had an affair with a 13 year old girl. The guilt mounted on top of him while having to farm to keep himself and his family sustained. Once he was in the clamp of the accusation, his reputation, and ultimately his life, was taken from him. He never stood a chance once the accusation came through.
Judge Hawthorne and the trials resemble HUAC. HUAC was in charge of saving people from Communism or sending them away. The accusations these people had were usually testimonies. With the exception of a few who they may had hard evidence on, McCarthy or the prosecutor could make a detailed question from something that happened a long time ago, that you can't answer for or don't want people knowing the true story (similar to Proctor. If he admitted the affair, he lost reputation.) and use that to convict you. The courts never seemed to be fair and were tilted to get a conviction rather than giving people the right of Due Process.
Do you think "The Crucible" and the Red Scare are connected? Comment below.
Matt Waeckerle
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