The 1950s was the time of the century. The kids and even the adults were always having fun. Laughs were heard for ages, across the city. Meetups in casual ‘50s attire, drove up in All-American “autos”. The ‘50s was raging in culture with slang, music, cars, houses, and the Red Scare. It’s because of the Red Scare that many of the popular novels written in the time were generalized by their respective authors. One of these plays, of course, The Crucible, by the author Arthur Miller, greatly capitulates to the fear of communism in specific. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692-1693, was an act of McCarthyism in similar to the Red Scare of the 1950s, which would make the event an excellent candidate for Miller’s play, representing the ‘Name Blame Game’ …show more content…
Television was growing in popularity, everyone had the same car, same style house, same style clothes, all with only minute differences. There was a general curve or a norm in this era that everyone followed. Well, almost everyone. Some authors and musicians and artists did rebel away from the social norm and adapted to their own style. A famous text of this time in which supports the “Beat Movement” is the poem, Howl by Allen Ginsberg. In it, is expressed how rebellion came to be. Ginsberg smartly added this initial verse, “I saw the best mind of my generation destroyed by madness,” (Ginsberg Line 1), which explains his mental institute past indirectly, and also describes the corruption of the ‘50s. This may be as a result of the decade prior. The second World War had just ended and people feared for the uprising of communism. The United States is set on the idea of democracy which allows full ability to decide what you want for yourself, as Communism forbids the common …show more content…
The Red Scare confronts the idea that anyone that is picked out of a large crowd can be a communist, which is a very highly discouraged practice. Communism went against the democratic views and standpoints, as stated, “Communism was, in theory, an expansionist ideology, spread through revolution. It suggested that the working class would overthrow the middle and upper classes” (OHC 1). Being that the democracy of the USA had worked diligently to restore the middle and upper classes, communism would ruin centuries of progress. The fear of communism here is the same as the fear of witchery in the colonial times. People thought Witches would ruin their efforts, therefore they were on high alert. Miller takes grasp of the similarities of these events tightly. In the play, many characters were being blamed spontaneously, and wrongly, as were they in the Red Scare of the 1950s. “I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she’s fraud, and the town gone so silly. She told it to me in a room alone—I have no proof for it” (Miller II 65) says John Proctor, the main which is known for adultery in the town. What Miller has given the reader here is that people resorted to being sly and treasonous so that they cannot be detected as one