Victoria Majerczyk

Period 8
1/8/18
Thought Piece: The Witches of the American 50s

● How is Arthur Miller reacting to social conditions in the play The Crucible?
Arthur Miller, In his play The Crucible is critical of current social conditions present in the
United States. More specifically, he is critical of the period of McCarthyism - which occurred
during the Cold War. McCarthyism refers to the widespread panic and fear of treason after
Wisconsin’s Senator McCarthy claimed to have a list of communist sympathizers and Soviet
spies that were present in the U.S State Department. This claim was well accepted by the
American public, as tensions with the Soviet Union were high and the country was in the midst
of the cold war. Miller, therefore, is critical of how easy it was and arguably is to manipulate the
American public. Miller is also critical as to how quick the American government is to use fear
as a form of manipulation. The idea of using mass hysteria as a form of manipulation has been
present throughout history many times. For example, the Salem Witch Trials were rooted much
deeper in control and purposeful spread of panic as opposed to witchcraft. Most of the victims of
the Salem Witch Trials were women, and by killing many innocent women by expressing
accusations without factual evidence, it was easy to manipulate and control women to not speak
out due to fears of being burned or hung. Unfortunately, in examples of mass hysteria, the
pattern of false accusations is also present. For example, the mass hysteria that was the result of
McCarthy’s speech led to false accusations against government workers without any evidence.
For example, Alger Hiss was a government worker who was accused of being a Soviet spy
without any sturdy or genuine evidence. In fact, despite the lack of evidence, Hiss was convicted
of perjury in connection with the charge in 1950. So, even though it may be easy to disregard
false claims as false or delusional, if false claims spread panic or hysteria amongst a public, there
will be consequences. It is also important to keep in mind that the American 50s were in a state
of chaos and fear - often perpetrated for the purpose of control. The same chaos and fear led a
majority of the stereotypically white and middle-class American public to conform and pursue
conformity. For example, many Americans during this time moved to the suburbs, where houses
were nearly identical and everyone had a neat green lawn with a white picket fence. The 50s
thrived with propaganda that pushed for this conformity of what the new TV showed to be
‘perfect’ or ‘normal’. For example, homosexuality was not something many people of the 50s
American society were open about. Sexual repression played a big role in conformity in the 50s.
Homosexuality was regarded as something unnatural and threatening. In fact, there was a PSA
played in Television Screens teaching people how to distinguish ‘signs’ of a homosexual. Why
was conformity so easy for American society in the 50s though? Because it was a desire. Nuclear
threat and the cold war were both relatively new ideas to the American public. Ideas that were
not necessarily ‘normal’ and therefore stressed the American public. So, it became easy to fear
the unknown- and even easier - for the greater power (the government) to manipulate those who
feared the unknown. Even though it would be nice to believe that manipulation does not occur
nowadays, and people are more ‘woke’ because of the greater presence of media in an
individual’s life, I still believe the government or people in power present some form of
manipulation. Similarly, I also believe that mass hysteria and panic has an even greater
possibility of being spread in current times due to the varied and common presence of media
Victoria Majerczyk
Period 8
1/8/18
Thought Piece: The Witches of the American 50s

through social media apps. For example, the idea of a nuclear war is a fairly common topic on
Twitter, where memes, even though funny, spread the idea that the possibility is high. In fact,
there have not been any direct statements or claims stating there will be a nuclear war.