WRITTEN TASK 2 OUTLINE

(FORMAL response to a Part I-IV text, based on 6 prescribed questions)

HL ONLY

WT2_
Name:
Number:
Which question are you doing from the prescribed list?
How and why is a particular group represented in a particular way?
Which text and from which part of the course?
Part I ( )

Part II ( )

Part III ( )

Part IV ( )

Title: The Crucible

Author: Arthur Miller
Please provide 3 or 4 key points about the form and intention of the task.

An analysis of how Arthur Millers approach to portray the conservative

society in Salem, Massachusetts where the law was held by Priest, and
prejudice justice.

Thesis simply maintains that Arthur Miller wanted to show the sounds of the
oppressed as it has always been unheard by the men behind the table of
justice. In this case, The Crucible is symbolizing prejudice calls of the
practicing of witchcraft having innocent people of Salem becoming falsely
accused of the practice.

The author did this to suggest that voice of the oppressed are timeless and
generally relevant to any human society, as the story symbolizes allegorical
aspect of the Anti-Communism Act by politician John McCarthy in the 1950s.
A phenomenon that struck Arthur Miller, where he was inspired to write a
story about the situation.

How many words in total in your response? (Limit 800-1,000)

976

English Language & Literature Written Task 2

Prescribed Question: How valid is the assertion that literature is a voice for the
oppressed?
Title: The Crucible, Arthur Miller (1953)
Part of IB Course to which the task refers: Part 3: Literature Texts and Contexts
My critical response will:
- Illustrate the allegorical aspect of The Crucible depicting the situation of witchcraft in
Salem Village 1692 to the HUAC in the hunt of communist activities in the 1950s.
- Indicate how the convicts of witchcraft in the Salem Village shared the similar
oppression to the convicts of communists by the HUAC in the 1950s.
- Show how Arthur Miller addressed the voice for the oppressed through literature.
Before even getting into the introduction of the essay, the guiding question itself has
narrowed down the general idea of what Arthur Millers The Crucible is all about. The story
sets in the midst of Salem Village in the year 1692 where the population was still under the
strong conviction that the mythical stories of witchcraft had really existed. The story
throughout the entire book basically recounts the story of how the mini-civilization of Salem
Village in Massachusetts ruined and shattered itself apart by falsely pointing fingers at
innocent inhabitants of the same village of practicing witchcraft. Comprehensively the story
consisted of various allegorical aspect that may well be adopted and interpreted in a similar
situation in the United States circa 1950s where the general society in almost every part of
the country were on its sturdiest feet cautiously protecting themselves and family from the
infamous hunt versus communism.

In the period of the 1950s, the infamous phenomenon in the United States of the
communist witch hunt initiated Arthur C. Miller to compose The Crucible, picturing a similar
situation of that happened in the 1692 hunt for witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts.
At the peak of false accusations that happened in the 1950s, charges pressed against
convicts could only be a matter of the slightest link or connection to communism, almost as
easy as pointing black ink on a white piece of paper. Individuals who have happened to read
a communist newspaper, encountered oneself with a communist meeting and/or
movement, or even mentioning communism in a discussion could put themselves in the
danger of becoming convicted. Unfortunately even in some situations, an accusation is
legitimate enough to bring one as a convict and to be put behind bars. A symbolic character
in the 1950s communist witch hunt that can also be found in the 1962 Salem witch hunt
are Hollywood correspondent Billy Wilkerson and Abigail Williams. In both cases, the act of
false and blunt accusations were as challenging as for one to challenge that the sky is not
blue in other words alleging innocent and non-affiliated individuals into a disgraceful
practice that is known sacred and harmful for the society. As lengthy of a gap between the
two manifestations, the consequences to the ones that were pointed fingers at were quite
severe, when the convicts of Salem Village would be hanged to death if one simply would
not tarnish their name by way of doing something that they actually did not. There are
many examples that can be adopted from the story and play, one of them was the last
death and scene of the play where John Proctor had already sacrificed his name and
reputation to the public, yet nobody had seemed to understand that it was all just a game
of revenge played by the mastermind, Abigail Williams while John Proctor still sought to
propel a message to his society even though his sufferings paid too much to what he was
fighting for.
Similarly to the situation of the 1950s communist witch hunt, the booming convicts
that had the media attention, scandals and not to mention controversies was the act of
blacklisting talented and even well-renowned screenwriters and movie directors of
Hollywood at that time. Some would recall the union of The Hollywood Ten, both the movie
and the pact. The group consisted of ten screenwriters, playwrights, and movie directors
heavily involved in Hollywood movie industry at that time that were firstly questioned by
House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Some say that they were involved,
others say that they felt dishonored being in questioned in such manners as the question
until now remains unanswered. An example of the reason why they were questioned was a
movie created in 1944 entitled the Song Of Russia, where workers shouted tovarich!,
translated as comrade, being one of the more common phrases used by the communists as
one of its symbols are the comradely solidarity. The self-titled movie of the pact had the
aims of denouncing McCarthyism and his theories of fighting communism also a solid
weapon of the arts to become the voice for the oppressed, similar if not the same intentions
and objectives as Arthur Miller writing his piece The Crucible.

In the norms of today, accusations and pointing fingers hardly had the same level of
trustworthy in comparison to the accusations done in both Salem witch-hunt or communist
witch hunt, where the only legitimate source of evidence can only be told by one voice and
its followers. The analogous scenario that is in the story of The Crucible was when Abigail
Williams started to convince the judge in court that the devils soul of Mary Warren had
unstably sparked a peculiar yet deathful reaction towards Abigail and convinced her fellow
village girls to follow her lead. This had grabbed the attention of the judges largely that
essentially completed the journey of John Proctors voice, where now all his stories are
going to be twisted from another trusted source of the judge and his voice will no longer
have the power to make any difference to his unfortunate fate.
So to evaluate, Arthur Millers The Crucible was considered as a deadly weapon for
the HUAC considering its priceless value of being precisely being a voice for the oppressed
moreover to compare the situation at the time of Joe McCarthys excessive and cruel
accusations to share parallel attributes to the Salem witch hunt in 1692. His intention was
to create the form of expression for the people who were unjustly done one-on-one in front
of a fixed court situation that carried no value towards a law that carries honest justice.
Correspondingly in the book John Proctor was a voice of the accused, may as well say as
much as they can to live the moment for a hope of justice and to free the oppressed.
Word Count: 976
Bibliography:
1. Georgakas, Dan. ""The Hollywood Blacklist"--by Dan Georgakas." "The Hollywood

Blacklist"--by Dan Georgakas. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2013.

2. "The Crucible." By Arthur Miller. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2013.