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Logan Young
Mrs. Hunt
Contemporary American Lit.
12/12/16

Different but the Same

The year 1692 is a strange time, and by almost all definitions immensely
contrasted from the times that we live in today. However, as time pushes onward one
thing that has always stayed the same is human nature. In Arthur Millers play, The
Crucible, we see the horrors of human nature at work when the town of Salem,
Massachusetts turns on itself and begins to accuse people of witchcraft and killing those
seen as a threat. The people in this play we may now look back and see them as
savages, but they act in ways similar to how we do in our own advanced civilization.
Although a lot of time has passed since 1692, the racism, corruption, and irrational fear
that are shown in The Crucible are just as present in our modern day.
In The Crucible Tituba is treated terribly and distrusted for just the color of her skin.
The distrust that we see in The Crucible is still evident today through the acts of police in
their brutality towards African Americans. After being accused and despite Titubas
denial, Hales inherent distrust in African Americans leads him to yell, You will confess
yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!" (42) Tituba is

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threatened by people in the town and forced to do as they say due to the power that they
have over her and their distrust in even her true statements. Police today act in a
somewhat similar way with minorities by exerting their power and forcing them into
submission due to an immense residual distrust that lingers and divides our society
much like in 1692. The oppression that African Americans faced in both 1692 and today
is sickening, however not all terrible actions have to be done to only one group of
people.
In The Crucible the character Putnam gets many of the townspeople killed for his
own financial gain by buying up their land. This style of corruption destroying peoples
lives for private gain is still highly present today in events such as the Volkswagen
emissions scandal. When Giles figures out what is happening to the land that is being
lost he declares, Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his
neighbors for their land!" (89) Putnam, despite the atrocities that he has to commit in
order for this to happen, is killing people just to profit for himself which is an extreme
however his ideals are still common today. Companies today do much the same thing by
placing themselves higher than even the environment. An excellent example of this is
shown through Volkswagen's emissions scandal in only this past year. The things that
these companies and people do are sick but these harmful actions are by no means
limited to a select few many are carried out by a strong mob mentality.

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The people of Salem fear nothing more than the inevitable attack of even their
neighbor who could by any means be a witch. This irrational fear, that spread like
wildfire through Salem, is even stronger today and seen through the irrational fear of
Muslims and seeing them as terrorists. As soon as the discovery of possible witches is
made, the townspeople begin to mistrust and see their neighbors as a threat despite any
better judgment, Sarah Good? Did you ever see Sarah Good with him [Satan]? Or
Osborn?" (43) The people are quick to mistrust and see the people of Salem as a threat
despite the fact that they pose no such threat and the evidence shows almost universal
innocence. Americans today contain the same fear, our fear of Muslims is just as
unjustified and irrational centering around a group of people who truly did nothing wrong
but are seen as a threat to everyones safety.
In both the modern day and in 1692 the racism, corruption, and irrational fear that
consumed society were extremely present and controlling of the people. We may think
of the people in this play as savages or heavens but they contain many, if not all the
deep and sedentary fears and goals that we still hold so highly today. If our modern
society ever wants to progress then we need to learn the way that humans acted so long
ago and notice the flaws that are clearly present in our own so-called advanced
culture. We are able to change these emotions, however in order to do so we as a

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culture need to acknowledge that these all pose a threat and collectively we can change
the world.