The Cold War was an era clouded by persistent
paranoia, not only between the United States and the Soviet Union. When it came
to its own citizens, the U.S. government was, in some cases, just as fearful as
it was about foreign threats—especially when it came to the Hollywood crowd.
Indeed, in October 1947, members of a congressional committee, the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), began investigating members of the
movie industry who they suspected were communist sympathizers. They banned the
work of 325 screenwriters, actors, and directors*. Among those blacklisted were
composer Aaron Copland, writers Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, and Dorothy
Parker, playwright Arthur Miller, and actor and filmmaker Orson Welles.
The Creative
Environment During the Cold War
The term McCarthyism
came out of this period and is now used more broadly to describe unfounded
accusations of one group or political party against its opponent, particularly
in discussions of patriotism and integrity.
In the 1950s, anyone suspected of communist
sympathies was thoroughly investigated with no mind paid for the personal
damage such an investigation may have caused. During this time, there were few
in the press willing to stand up against Senator Joseph McCarthy and the
anti-Communist hunt he led.
In 1950, ten individuals, known as the
Hollywood Ten, defied HUAC and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
They cited the actions of the committee as a violation of their civil
liberties, as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution afforded them the
right to belong to any political organization. The men were sentenced to a year
in jail, although one of the Hollywood Ten, Edward Dmytryk, decided to
cooperate with the government and provided the names of more than 20 in
Hollywood he alleged were communists**.
Arthur Miller's
Response
In response to this period of intimidation,
playwright Arthur Miller penned some of his most notable works, including The
Crucible (1953), an interpretation of the events that occurred in 17th
century Salem, Massachusetts, where twenty innocent people were executed for
witchcraft.
The way in which Miller paralleled the witch trials with the era of McCarthyism earned
him a seat in front of HUAC. He was convicted of contempt of Congress for
failing to name names of communist sympathizers; however, his conviction was
later overturned. Nevertheless, the experience continued to impact the
playwright and his later works.
In The Creation of the World and Other
Business (1972), Miller is inspired by the Book of Genesis and its
themes of good versus evil; however, he gives a comedic rendition in The
Creation wherein God is powerful but lacks intelligence.
In the Incident at
Vichy (1964), Miller explores human nature, guilt, and fear while
depicting how the Nazis orchestrated the Holocaust without much resistance.
To better understand Miller and his thought
process, it is helpful to look to The Theater Essays. In the work, Miller discusses the roots of modern drama and
the state of contemporary theater with reference to other notable writers such
as Ibsen, Chekhov, and O'Neill. He also compares attitudes toward theater in
Russia, China, and the United States.
In short, Arthur Miller is one of the most
important playwrights of the 20th century whose work
often reflected the oppressive nature of the contemporary state, especially
during McCarthyism. In an era of fear and intimidation, Arthur Miller stands
out as someone who wasn't afraid to write his conscience.
Your comment must be at least 380
words. Due by Tuesday 4/17 at 11:59pm. Your reply to a classmate is due
Thursday 4/19 at 11:59pm.
-How was Arthur Miller using the events around
him to shape his writing?
-What influence did the Red Scare have on his
writing of The Crucible?
-What parallels can be found between the Red
Scare and the Salem Witch Trials?
Arthur Miller was using the events around him to shape up the story. Some ways he did was using real life events in the story. He made sure that the story seen realistic to the reader. The Red Scare had the most influence in Arthur Miller to write the book. He was accused of being a communist even though there was no evidence that he was a communist. This is what influenced Miller to write the book. Some parallels that can be found in the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials. For example, people where accused for something without any evidence of that being true. People where pointing fingers at anyone due to revenge or just to get out of being accused themself.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Arthur Miller was heavily influenced by the Red Scare to write his book, The Crucible. He wanted to warn people of their actions and show them a similar situation that had happened in the past. His book, The Crucible, and how it relates to the Red Scare, is proof of history repeating itself.
Deletei think that living and being accused during the red scare did influence his writing. your points are spot on and i agree that, that is why he wrote it.
Delete
ReplyDeleteWhile writing The Crucible, Arthur Miller used events that were happening around him to shape what he was writing about and the way he was writing. He used events that were happening around him, such as McCarthyism, to shape his writing. He used it as his main reason to show people how similar that McCarthyism was to The Salem Witch Trials. While he doesn’t actually compare the two ideas in the book, rather just talking the Trials and going into detail about what happened, hoping it would alert people to how corrupt McCarthyism was and how the idea of calling out people for being ‘communists’. It relates a lot to how people called out people for being witches during the Salem Witch Trials. It didn’t matter if the people claimed to be witches or not. Once you were called out for being one, your life was basically over. As in you were either hung, drowned, or placed in jail for the rest of your days. This relates to McCarthyism seeing how people would claim that another person with a communist without having actual proof of it.
The Red Scare was the main influence for him writing The Crucible. The Crucible goes into details about what happened during The Salem Witch Trials. He talks about how people called out other people for being witches. Most of the reasonings behind the accusations were not something that would hold up in a court of law today. For example, people would say ‘I saw you in a dream with the Devil at your heels, so you must be a witch’. Shockingly, it worked. Men and women were hung, drowned, and sent to prison for the rest of their lives all because someone else in Salem would claim that they were witches. In reality, these accusations were false. It was much like what happened with McCarthyism. People threw around accusations, saying other people were communists. This would ruin careers, lives. People would ruin their jobs and lose everything they invested in just because someone else had said that they were acting strangely, so they must be a communist. Of course, almost one hundred percent of the time the person was not a communist at all. Not to mention, you couldn’t really prove that you weren’t a communist, much like people getting accused of being a witch and unable to prove their innocence. Thus, people were hanged and wrongly accused, much like people were accused of being communist and wrongly imprisoned.
I think that the red scare was the influence like you said. Also the events from the salem witch trial and the red scare were what i found as well.
DeleteArthur Miller was born in the middle of the red scare, so he knew what was going on. He just wrote about his life style and connected the points to what was actually going on. No one realized what was going on, until they read about it. Arthur just wrote about the lifestyle they live and realized wow, like innocent people are dying and we don’t know why. People were just continously accusing people.
ReplyDeleteThe Crucible is basically about the Red Scare and people being accused as communists/witches, and getting penalyzed. It was an interpretation of the events that occurred in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, where twenty innocent people were executed for witchcraft. Innocent people were hung for allegedly being a ‘witch’ almost everyday. You rarely could defend yourself because they took the most stupid reasons on why youre a witch, like ‘i had a dream’ ‘i just know’ ‘i know their family.’ but in all reality, they probably hated you or wanted the cops/gov. off their tails.
The Red Scare and The Salem Witch Trials had A LOT in common. For example, during the 1630’s and the 1950’s people were being accused for being a witch or being a communist. The Salem Witch Trials, if you were in anyway suspected of being a witch or practicing witchcraft you’d be hung and or sent to jail. There was really no way out of it. If you pleaded innocent, you were hung, if you pleaded guilty you went to jail. It was never a win win situation. During the Red Scare, people were being accused of being communists. If you were accused of being a communist you’d go to jail, you wouldn’t be hung tho because it’s now the 1950’s. A lot of people were accused of being commies, even famous people, there was mercy on no one. No one was safe.
LOOK AT YOU GO YOU BEAUTIFUL PERSON YOU UGHHH YESSS SLAY QUEEN. YOUR WORDS OF WISDOM MADE ME RETHINK MY LIFE>>>>>3 NO BETTER WAY TO PUT THIS. SLAY QUEEN SLAY. HATERS BACK OFF.
DeleteArthur Miller was the one to write the play “ The Crucible” his inspirations were based on the events he been through also the most familiar to his. The Red Scare was a time period were people were being accused of being communism even the most innocent people ruining their lives in the future. Miller was one of the false accusations making him well know about the whole thing that had occur . He did his research into the Salem Witch Trials because he found that both of the events had many thing in common wanted people to realize what was happening around them. The both events were related to each other but he didn’t want to put out there something that was occuring in that time period so he used the one that happen a long time ago. When people would read it, realize that it was happening now with the whole accusing innocent people and making no sense of the reason why people were there. It is something that infected a lot of people because many people wouldn’t believe you making it harder for them to look forward into their lives. It was a storm basically because many people were dying and being sent to prison. These events were helpful to Miller to help bring the real world to the people actually make them see around them. It is also an important event in our history now both events and it interesting that both had the same connections with one another. It is something that shouldn’t had happen because it does not make sense at all. Both events are now things that we can look back and know not do it again.
ReplyDeleteArthur Miller was using the events around him to shape the writing, by describing the personal situation going on in his surrounding but not necessarily using the names and the step by step situations that go on. He did not want to risk his life or anyone’s life arround him. He knows by people reading his novelistic society he would get people to realize they were the only ones to suffer and get introduced to new and unrealistic consequences they didn’t even know should be deserved to them. The influence that the Red Scare had on his writing from The Crucible, was that he knew what was wrong from right, he knew that people were being punished for reasons that were unimaginable. Although people were too afraid to stand up against society and knew that this was a person vs. society matter. Understading the dangerous circumstances he knew that his writing must be written in invisible ink, for only a few to know what the book is really based on.
ReplyDeleteThis is what influenced Miller to write the book. Some parallels that can be found in the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials. For example, people where accused for something without any evidence of that being true. People where pointing fingers at anyone due to revenge or just to get out of being accused themself.This would ruin careers, lives. People would ruin their jobs and lose everything they invested in just because someone else had said that they were acting strangely, so they must be a communist. Of course, almost one hundred percent of the time the person was not a communist at all. Not to mention, you couldn’t really prove that you weren’t a communist, much like people getting accused of being a witch and unable to prove their innocence. Thus, people were hanged and wrongly accused, much like people were accused of being communist and wrongly imprisoned. It didn’t matter if the people claimed to be witches or not. Once you were called out for being one, your life was basically over. As in you were either hung, drowned, or placed in jail for the rest of your days. This relates to McCarthyism seeing how people would claim that another person with a communist without having actual proof of it.
Dennis DePiano
ReplyDeleteBack when Arthur Miller was writing his book it was during the time of the red scare when communism was the cause of everything bad in America. He was looking for a way to show people that things were getting out of hand so he referred back to the 1600’s when people were being accused, imprisoned, had there lives ruined as well as their family lives and killed because they thought “different” people were witches. Which is exactly what was happening during the making of this book except they weren't accused of being witches they were being accused of being communists or “reds” as they were called back then
The influence the red scare had on the writing of the crucible are if Miller said used communists instead of witches odds are he’d have been accused and his life would have been ruined just like everyone else's as well as his credibility and he'd never be able to help anyone.
The similarities between these two are as mentioned previously 1600’s - witches, accusations, imprisonment, ruined lives, no way to fight, death 1950’s - communists, accusations, imprisonment, ruined lives, government officials being fired, no way to fight, the conclusion that i am coming to is that history repeats itself there were witches and communists but this is not the only time a “witch hunt” has gone down it happened when homosexuals started coming out they were harrased and many people were accused same things happened accusations lives ruined… etc i believe if everyone realized that we are reliving every issue multiple times maybe it can end one day
-Witch hunt Some people today may consider that the government, or some of its agencies, are corrupt. Today's scenario is nothing compared to that of McCarthyism in the 1950s. During McCarthyism, the nation was being torn apart. Their mutual loyalty was crushed and common human decency went down the drain Miller, Crucible. These communist fighters were disturbingly similar to the witch hunts and the judgments of the 1600s. The Puritans have a strict religion with very strong roots. The entire community was torn apart by this witch scare from the children to the elderly and the most devoted citizens. As a result of both, lives were shattered, names of Salem Massachusetts. The army was accused of pampering the communists and selling top secret information. Up to 20 million Americans saw the combative senator intimidate his witnesses who had no chance to defend themselves. McCarthy ruined lives with the power of paranoia and blacklists. A blacklist was a list of people who were convicted of having a communist background. If one was on a blacklist, it was almost impossible to get a job because employers feared the accusation of being a Red by association. A red was a short term used for communists. A good deal of the blacklist came from the Hollywood industry as a result of the Activities Committee of the United States House 9..
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteArthur Miller used the events around him such as the Great Depression and growing up around salesman in a Jewish environment to shape his writing. The struggle of the Great Depression caused Miller to be obsessed with American history. The depression had uncovered countless social issues and as a consequence, it changed many people’s lives including Miller’s. Miller’s father was a profitable salesman; however, due to the Great Depression the company went bankrupt and Millers father was never able to bounce back emotionally and economically.
The similarities between the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials are the disregard and retribution depicted by using people as scapegoats. Innocent people were getting blamed for something they weren’t and prosecuted. In addition, people were arrested without enough evidence just for being accused witches or communists. Miller wanted to make people understand the negative effects the Witch Trials had. His main objective when he wrote The Crucible was to make individuals picture the terrifying ramifications the Witch Trials had and how the Red Scare was on its way there.
ReplyDeleteArthur Miller was using the things around him to shape his writing by writing about the past. He was using the ideas around him to help him with his writing.During the red scare people were accusing others of being communist and he used that to make a historical fiction play. Arthur Miller wrote about communist sympathies and the committee violations. The influence the Red Scare have on his writing of The Crucible is about the salem witch trial. Arthur Miller was also himself accused of being a witch which he really wasn't one.The parallels that are found between The salem witch trial and The Crucible, is that people were being accused of being a witch. They were basically judging people. People were being convicted of a crime they didn’t do and a lot of innocent people were sent to jail. And if they were a witch they would get sent to jail or get executed.
Arthur Miller some of the events that happened around him in many ways. He realized that Salem Witch trials was somewhat similar to his present event that was known as McCarthyism. He used these events during the Cold War to better shape his writing because he generalized the idea of McCarthyism with the Witch Trials so people could better understand it. He also used those events to make the story more realistic without seeing the two ideas within the story. He made the reader see the similarities between the two events and this is what really made the book great. He used an event that was happening around him and the Witch Trials to write an astounding book and showed how the two events were somewhat the same.
ReplyDeleteThe Red Scare influenced his writings because it better shaped the book he was writing. Some of his others books really focused on drama and the difference between good and evil so this event really brought out his idea of the book. The similarities you can find within the Red Scare and the Salem Witch is that everyone was suspicious in everyone eyes. What I mean by that is everyone was looked at as a communist even if they weren’t one and sometimes people were accused of it. In the witch trials, everyone was hoping that they weren’t accused because if they were, it could lead to their death. Another similarity is the justice side of things. When you were accused it was most likely that you were gonna be imprisoned during The Red Scare and during The Witch Trials. Except in the Witch Trials, you could possibly be sentenced death. In simplest terms, both of the events has it similarities but one that truly stands out is all the accusations and the trust people have.
Arthur Miller was born in the middle of the red scare, so he knew what was going on. He just wrote about his life style and connected the points to what was actually going on. No one realized what was going on, until they read about it. Arthur just wrote about the lifestyle they live and realized wow, like innocent people are dying and we don’t know why. People were just continuously accusing people.
ReplyDeleteThe Crucible is basically about the Red Scare and people being accused as communists/witches, and getting penalized. It was an interpretation of the events that occurred in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, where twenty innocent people were executed for witchcraft. Innocent people were hung for allegedly being a ‘witch’ almost everyday. You rarely could defend yourself because they took the most stupid reasons on why you're a witch, like ‘i had a dream’ i just knowi know their family.’but in all reality, they probably hated you or wanted the cops/gov. off their tails.
The Red Scare and The Salem Witch Trials had a lot in common. For example, during the 1630’s and the 1950’s people were being accused for being a witch or being a communist. The Salem Witch Trials, if you were in anyway suspected of being a witch or practicing witchcraft you’d be hung and or sent to jail. There was really no way out of it. If you pleaded innocent, you were hung, if you pleaded guilty you went to jail. It was never a win win situation. During the Red Scare, people were being accused of being communists. If you were accused of being a communist you’d go to jail, you wouldn’t be hung tho because it’s now the 1950’s. A lot of people were accused of being commies, even famous people, there was mercy on no one. No one was safe
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ReplyDeleteQ. How was Arthur Miller using the events around him to shape his writing?
ReplyDeleteArthur Miller was known to be an author who used the life events happening in his time to help people notice the situations they were living in. Arthur Miller while he was writing his book based of the events that had occurred during the 1950’s such as the Cold War, Salem Witch Trials and Mccarthyism. The Crucible which was published in 1953 was a novel based on an interpretation of the events that occurred in 17th century Salem , Massachusetts, where about twenty people who were innocent, were executed for witchcraft after being accused of being witches or servants of satan.
Q. What influence did the Red Scare have on his writing of The Crucible?
The Red Scare had a major influence on Arthur Miller’s writing of The Crucible, not only was the book based of The Red Scare but also had a lot of examples from it as well.
Q, What parallels can be found between the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials?
The Red Scare and The Salem Witch Trials, between these two events, some people believe there's parallels between then both. The way in which I see that Arthur Miller had paralleled the witch trials with the era of McCarthyism is multiple, from adding multiple examples from both of the events and eras.