The Crucible Essays (845 words) - Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible

The Crucible The deterioration of Salem's social structure precipitated the murders of many innocent people. Arthur Miller's depiction of the Salem witch trials, The Crucible, deals with a community that starts out looking like it is tightly knit and church loving. It turns out that once Tituba 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 then everyone must protect themselves from the people that they thought were their friends. The church, legal system and the togetherness of the community died so that children could protect their families' social status. Being isolated from any other group of people with different beliefs created a church led Puritan society that was not able to accept a lot of change. The church was against the devil, at the same time it was against such things as dancing and other premature acts. The reputation of the family was very important to the member s of the community. When the girls were caught dancing in the woods, they lied to protect not just themselves but the reputation of their families. 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. A community living in a puritan society like Salem could easily go into a chaotic state and have a difficult time dealing with what they consider to be the largest form of evil. Salem's hysteria made the community lose faith in the spiritual beliefs that they were trying to strictly enforce. The church lost many of its parishioners because the interest of the town was now on Abigail because people wanted to know who was going to be named next. When the church was trying to excommunicate John Proctor, there were not enough people at church to do it. The people were getting misled so far as to leave a dagger stuck in the door of their minister's house: ?Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house--a dagger clattered to the ground...There is danger for me.?(128) were Parris' exact words. With the conveyer of God fearing for his life there was no longer anyone but Abigail to lead the community. The justice system is designed to protect the people that it serves but during the trials the accused witch had two choices, death or imprisonment. The punishment of death was given to all people that pleaded not guilty; the other punishment was to plead guilty and go to jail. John Proctor gave his view of the justice system when he said ?I like not the smell of this ?authority' ?(29). ?And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature(85) said Danforth, describing the number of people that were in jail on charges of witchcraft. There were so many people executed that Hale commented ?there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere...?(1 30) Salem was turning into a ghost town. With Abigail controlling the community, the church no longer getting the whole town to prayer, and an unjust legal system, it is natural that the people were in a state of total chaos. The unexplained was caused by the devil, so some members of Salem used the unexplained to their advantage. Mrs. Putnam told the truth when she said, ?There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!?(26) Mrs. Putnam did her share of spreading rumors after she heard that the girls were flying, so she asked Parris ?How high did she (Abigail) fly, how high(11). These rumors happened because people did not want any blame put on to themselves. This ?passing the buck' made people start fighting with one another such as Corey charging Putnam of having his daughter accuse a resident of witchcraft in order to get Corey's land. Abigail used her power of getting people to listen to her to her advantage when she charged Proctor's spouse with being a witch so Abigail could live with John. This again proves that Abigail

Coruption of Antigua essays

Coruption of Antigua essays Jamaica Kincaid writes very well in expressing her feelings and letting the reader know how she feels on certain topics. She is very convincing on how beautiful Antigua is but also how corrupt it is at the same time. Kincaid writes with aggression and rage towards her Antiguan government, the tourism in Antigua, and the history of Antigua with the European influence. The government in Antigua is run by corrupt people who really only care about money. The government is for sale; anybody from anywhere can come to Antigua and for a sum of money get what he wants. (47) The only people in Antigua that live a life of island paradise are the ones with a lot of money. The bad thing in Antigua is the way the government is set up; there is no way to make an honest living, to make a lot of money in this place. The people that have lots of money in Antigua get it from corrupt things, like drugs, the rich people are mostly criminals. This is very sad, and feeling this way about your government is very depressing. Jamaica also is very disappointed in her government because they dont fund anything for the people that live in Antigua. The library in Antigua was damaged in 1974, and the repairs on it are still pending. Jamaica as a writer would have liked to frequent the library, but it has been damaged for over a decade when this essay was written. This is just an example of the government of Antigua not caring about its citizens. The government would rather spend money on roads just for when the Queen visits. They care more about making sure the Queen has a pleasurable experience then other things that should be more important like the welfare of the natives in the country. It is also depressing that in a poor country like this most of the money that the government gets is from tourism which is another reason for anger. Antigua is a small country which thrives of the money it makes in ...