Comparing events in history to
Comparing events in history toIn this century there have been many catastrophes and bad ideas happen and they all occurred because the person behind the scenes wanted to have more power. Through the use of the Salem witch trials, Miller forces readers to deal with shameful episodes in 20th century history of the United States of America like McCarthyism, the Holocaust, Sacco and Vanzetti, and the Japanese American Interment. Many of these behaviors illustrated can relate to �The Crucible,� most of these horrible things that happened occurred because people wanted to have more power in their lives. The other bad part is that most of these events occurred in the United States.
In 1950 a republican senator from Wisconsin by the name of Joseph McCarthy started a rumor that the State Department employed 205 communists. After a while the number was dropped to 57. Still this raised a hysteria in America causing many Americans that there were spies working for the country. In the end of this investigation the rumor was proven false and no spies turned up. The word �McCarthyism is the unfairly accusing other of disloyalty and subversion.� (DiBacco et all, R47) All this person did was just scare many Americans just like in the Salem Witch trials. I guess that was McCarthy�s crucible, to make Americans think that a large amount of Communists worked for the State Department. Luckily we had a good congress and they didn�t let McCarthy�s ideas spread around. This relates to �The Crucible� by how one man tried to gain power by making false accusations. This is like when Parris saw the girls dancing in the woods he assumed that they were practicing witchcraft and that each girl should be punished for there doing.
Another hysteria that was big and probably one of the key moments in history was the Holocaust. This showed one mans ideas to exterminate an ethnic group and the power that he gained from the people in his country. This man was Adolf Hitler the Fascist dictator of many. What he was able to do through his public speeches was remarkable. He was able to tell millions of Germans that the reason why they lost World War I was because of the Jewish people. Many of the people went with his ideas since it was also the Great Depression all around the world. All he did was form an army and over power many people and make them leave their homes for the Concentration camps. The Nazis also persecuted the Slavs, Roma, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Communists in addition to the Jews. (Hilberg, Encarta) The ideas that Hitler used were not ornate, all his idea contained was round up everyone that he didn�t like and put them in a concentration camp until they die. In the end Hitler�s power reign died out and he ended up committing suicide. I think one of the main reasons why he killed himself was because he had no integrity....
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