Arthur Miller's depiction of the Salem witch trials in The Crucible, which was inspired by his personal experience and observations during McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. The drama deals with a community that starts out looking like it is tightly knit and church loving. However it turns out that once the antagonist Abigail starts pointing her finger at the "witches", the community starts pointing their fingers at each other. Hysteria and hidden agendas break down the social structure and everyone must protect themselves from the people that they thought were their friends. This is parallel to the actions of the anti-Communist McCarthy and his committee who wanted to get rid of communists in America, and the laws of ethics and the constitution that were transgressed to get communism out of America. The deterioration of Salem's social structure precipitated the murders of many innocent people, correlates to the McCarthy corruption of hearings. Being isolated from any other group of people with different beliefs created a church led Puritan society that was not able to accept of change. The church was against the devil, which included such things as dancing and other childish acts. Similarly, Post War World II America isolated itself from other countries and cultures and was preoccupied with the perfection. The reputation of the family was important to the members of the community in 1690's Salem and 1950's America. When the girls were caught dancing in the woods, they lied to protect not just themselves but the reputations of their families. As Reverend Parris explains to his niece. "It must come out-my enemies will bring it out. Let me know what you have done there Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies," (Miller 10). They claimed that the devil took them over and influenced them to dance. The girls also said that they saw members of the town standing with the devil. Just as many accused comm...
