The Crucible, The Red Scare, & Other Witch Trials

1. What was Miller's point in writing The Crucible?
I found this website to be extremely helpful! The site talks about McCartheism, what was going on in politics during the time Miller wrote the Crucible, and how the book was a direct attack on McCartheism.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/context.html

This site states the Miller wrote The Crucible as a reaction to McCarthy Era and to mass hysteria. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm


2. How are McCarthyism, the Red Scare, Arthur Miller and The Crucible interrelated?
The following website does a great job at explaining how McCarthyism spread into mass hysteria just as the Salem Witch Trials did. Senator McCarthy attended a woman's Republican meeting and claimed to know 205 Department of States people that were involved with communism. McCarthy, like Abigail in The Crucible, had enough people convinced of communism that mass hysteria spread throughout the country. It was a "witch hunt" for people were were involved in communism, just as the witch hunts during the Salem Witch Trials. Then when the people of the Department of States were questioned they often ended up lying to save their own careers. This would compare to the Puritans during their dilemmas that dealt with being a witch or not.
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Mccartheism


A great website about the Red Scare.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/SaccoV/redscare.html


3. Document other times in American history when 'witch hunts' were conducted and discuss the outcomes of the Salem witch hunt and the other witch hunts you find. What do they all have in common?

Jews, gays, gypsies, and mentally handicapped during WWII
Religions fighting eachother
The Salem Witch Trials resulted in innocent people being killed due to mass hysteria. To me, the other 'witch hunts' through out our history are due to the fact of people wanting the victims to conform to what they think is acceptable. Does that make sense?

The Jews, gays, gypsies, and mentally handicapped were often killed or tortured during WWII. Hitler would send races or types of people he didn't like to concentration camps. Often times the people were overworked with pointless jobs or there were to many people confined to one area which resulted in many diseases being spread. Below is a list of other events people suffered through:
1. Gas chambers
2. Scientific experiments on twins
3. Poor diets/Starvation
4. Acid showers
5. Lice

Religions--For example the Shiites and the Sunni have been fighting wars for years over religion and the Holy Land. The website below explains the difference between the Shiites and the Sunni.
http://hnn.us/articles/934.html

AMERICAN WITCH HUNTS
Native Americans, good site about Native Americans! Both talk about the problems with reservations and the settlers.
http://www.nativeamericans.com/
http://nativeamericanrhymes.com/library/conflicts/overview.htm