Similarities and Differences of The Crucible and McCarthyism
...rthyism, and it was just to find out more about communism, which they knew nothing about. Those who refused to tell who they knew had gone we’re put into prison. Both these times ruined and destroyed people’s lives. The characters from the two times also bring some similarities with them. McCarthy himself represents the judges of the Salem time. The way they phrased their questions toward people wasn’t like asking them what they had done, but more like how long they had done it. John Proctor symbolized Arthur Miller himself in the way that they both we’re heroes somewhat. John Proctor refused to tell who he saw with the devil. Arthur Miller refused to tell whom he knew, and wouldn’t give out any names. Another resemblance of the two eras was that anyone could be accused. In the Crucible they accuse respected people such as John Proctor or Rebecca Nurse and even go as far to accuse dogs. During McCarthyism they went as far to accuse The President and people in the army. They even questioned ten-year-old actress, Shirley Temple. The whole thing is just absurd. After accusing these people of higher status, this hysteria ended as people saw how meaningless it really was. During the Crucible, people’s minds changed about the whole “witch” thing when John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse we hanged. In McCarthyism, the accusation of people like President Eisenhower, made people realize that how ridiculous the whole thing was, and that McCarthy had no proof for any of what he said. Since the two times parallel one another there aren’t many differences but there are some. The main one is that McCarthyism took...