Cartoon Commentary?
Please Read The Linked Political Cartoons And Blog About How They Connect With Arthur Miller's Intent For Writing The Crucible http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/fire.html This blog response should be completed by 2:30p.m. on Friday, October 30th, 2009.
posted by Greg T at Wednesday, October 28, 2009
26 Comments:
There are a lot of connections between these McCarthyist cartoons and The Crucible, but the most obvious has to be the witch hunt mentality. The witch hunt idea, to me, means that everyone gangs up on a few people in order to save themselves from being accused. A good cartoon to represent this is the one entitled "You mean I'm supposed to stand on that?" in which the elephant, who represents the GOP senators and congressmen, is about to climb on a McCarthyism tower that looks very wobbly and unstable. An example of this in the play would be when all the townspeople are happy to join in and help the proceedings because they believe it is ‘doing the right thing.’
These cartoons relate to the crucible because they are all about propaganda. By making these cartoons, they were getting people to think about what was going on it the world at the time. In the crucible, everyone is getting caught up with what the girls are saying and are not really listening to anyone else. That was their form of propaganda, making everyone believe their stories and not telling the truth. The cartoons might have been telling the truth but they were doing it in a way that appealed to the people, making them think that the Americans are better than everyone. The girls were doing the same thing by saying that the devil had taken over them and they couldn't help dancing in the forest and everything they were doing and "seeing". The judge was believing this because there was nothing else to blame it on and that is what the cartoons were doing for people in the time they were made.
All these cartoons can relate to The Crucible in different ways, but the one "fire" that we looked at in class still stands out the most to me. I feel this cartoon can show how hard things can get. To me i see this guy climbing a ladder, who knows how tall the ladder is; he is holding a bucket of water that has been spilling the whole way up. I feel that he is now having to put out a fire he has made because it is causing danger. But by the time he gets to the top the bucket of water probably wont be enough to get the flames out because of how much water he lost on the way. This relates because its like the rumor of witchcraft has spread fast in the town of Salem, starting a fire within the society. SO many lies have been told that the fire has only gotten bigger, and to the society hanging those who may have been involved in "witchcraft" will help get rid of it. When in reality if that was the case they will end up killing there whole society. Now the lies stack up more, trying to get that huge fire out; but that's not happening. So now they have to find another way to put the fire out. That's how i see the cartoon "fire" relating to The Crucible.
I believe there are many conections within The Crucible and The Politcal Cartoons, but "Say, what ever happened to 'freedom-from-fear'" stuck out to me the most. In the cartoon the president is talking about how the "scaremongers and hatemongers" are just trying to put fear into people by the use of slander and lies. This seems the same to me about The Crucible and how the girls were saying that the devil had gotten into them and that the reason they danced. There are many lies throught the play as we find out with Proctor, his wife, and Abigail. It is like its just a big lie to try and take the pressure off themselves but then it really comes back to bite them, just like how these "scaremongers and hatemongers" are trying to put everyone into fear at the time.
Jordan Lawler
These cartoons about mcarthyism and the Crucible have many connections. The first and most obvious connection is the idea that evidence is a secondary concern next to bringing down these so called "communists" or "witches". This concept can be seen in the comics "We know have new and important evedince", and "I have here in my hand...". Another relating theme is that of conviction by fear, or in other words no one was willing to stand up to the court for fear of beiing a communist themselves. This can be seen in "Say what ever happened to freedom?", "Its okay were hunting for communists" and "Have a care sir". This can be seen in the Crucible when Giles will not tell the court the mans name in fear he will be thrown in jail.
These cartoons,without a doubt, connect with The Crucible. Similar, to Herb Block, it was Arthur Miller's way of releasing his feelings and thoughts of how obscure America was, if not becoming, at this time, but without being too blunt. Every character and scene has a specific purpose in the play, as a portrayal of actual events taken place during these crazy accusations.
Such as innocent people, like teachers and girls scouts, are plotted against, just as in the play. He represents Senater McCarthy as Abigail, and gives a rather obvious depiction, due to the fact that they both make a scene in the courts and provide false evidence. So many people were afraid to go against the hysteria, that they blamed neighbors. However, it all caught up to McCarthy eventually, as it will for Abigail, in The Crucible. Both Miller and Block demonstrate the anxiety and harshness for all at this time, although in different forms, both expertly exagerate these real events.
There are alot of connections between the McCarthyist cartoons and the crucible. one big one is that they both offer a witch hunting in there cartoons. in one of the cartoons they show soldiers hunting kids that they believe to be witches. this is also shown in the crucible because of all the people that they bring into the court. they show them doing the same thing over and over because when they hunt witches in the crucible they are doing the same thing in the cartoons.
Some connections I noticed while reading and observing some of these cartoons were that they related to the Crucible in the way that people will eventually be sucked into the flow of things whether they like it or not. An example would be the cartoon "Fire!". This cartoon shows how everyone is falling under communist rule which shows a connection between everyone in Salem and how they all fall under the beliefs of Abigail and the young girls. A lot of these cartoons show communism as their points. Communism can be related to The Crucible because it is like Abigail is the communist and she is controlling people to do what she wants because the crowd believes her. Overall, there is a pretty distinct relation between these cartoons and The Crucible.
I would have to say that there are a lot of connections between The Crucible and the political cartoons. A common theme to some of the cartoons is communist hunting. Government agents used outlandish claims toward normal people and got them fired from their jobs as seen in the "You Read Books, eh?" cartoon. also in the "Its okay -We're hunting communists" cartoon the HUAC members are running people over and trying to show that its okay to do theese things because they are looking for communists. Theese two cartoons relate to the crucible in that during a witch hunt and the following trial the higher "government" agents of the village use rediculous claims to try to persuade people into admitting that they are a whitch. People in the crucible such as Danforth try to convince people to confess becasue he believes that that is the only way that God will forgive you and in their society God plays a very important role
The political cartoons featured in the link can relate to the story "The Crucible" because in most cases the cartoons reflect how the government or someone in office could or has abused their rights to try and control a situation. The cartoon "Fire” reveals the tension in 1949 against communism by showing how the government is ironically taking away civilians rights by implementing anti-communist laws. In "The Crucible" Danforth is also using his power to make the court swing in the direction he wishes it to go. For instance he says, "You can be with or against the court, no middle ground." In other words, only his opinion on witchcraft can be perceived as just as the US government in 1949 might have thought of communism.
These cartoons relate to The Crucible because they are showing how outrageous and empty minded our world can be. In the cartoon "We now have new and important evidence," this relates to the Crucible a lot because it is saying the court got "evidence" so that must mean they are right in their assumptions. In the Crucible, when one thing coincidentally happened, they immediately called it to be evidence. Also in the cartoon "Say, what ever happened to 'freedom-from-fear'?", it relates to the Crucible because I think what the court, judges, etc were trying to do, was threaten the people of the town by saying they will be hanged or lose their reputation if they commit witchery. They want their town to be great and not have anything go wrong, so they try and scare them into it.
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These political cartoons and the crucible have more in common then you think. One of the obvious conections is that both of them are showing the people what they wanted to see. In the cricible Abigail and the girls new that the court wanted to get this figured out so they made up stories to get people in trouble so they would not get in trouble. In the cartoons the Americans made sure to make the a look much worse then them. In both situations the girls and the United States wanted to make sure that whatever they were doing wrong was not reconized by making the other people look worse
In the beginning of the crucible, we see a chaotic seen with rev. parris' daughter and we dont know what to make of the situation but as the act progresses we find out the real cause, "witchcraft." This play relates to the politicacliming the later with water going to put out the tortch and he is labeled hysteria, which symbolizes that when a situation gets out of hand it seems easier to end everything rather than fix it, and that, i feel, is what abigail did she saw the powerfull postion to take charge and have say in who is tried and not and she took it.
I believe that the cartoon relates to The Crucible because on the cartoon there is a fire that may have stated by that guy that is trying to put it out. In The Crucible Abigail started the whole thing and is blaming every one to hide what she has done. Just like the cartoon the guy is trying to put out the fire that he started so no one knows that he did it.
There are several connections between these McCarthyist and The Crucible. The most obvious is that they are both promoting some sort of propaganda. Both of them show that they are hunting towards a particular group of people. The McCarthyist cartoons show the hatred towards Communists and in The Crucible it shows the hatred towards witchcraft. They also show the fear towards the groups. The cartoons were written in fear of the Communists."It's okay – We're hunting Communists" is the line of the first cartoon. It shows that the Americans hunted down people who were suspected Communists. This is like the people in The Crucible. They accused people of witchcraft in order to protect themselves. They were scared of getting accused so they accused people before others could get to them.
These cartoons have a lot in common with the crucibles thematic ideas. The cartoon that stuck with me was “you read books, eh?” because the teachers is trying to blame each other for their own safety, just like the towns people in the crucible. People are being accused of supposedly concealing information so must be the cause of what’s going on? That is the mentality that is spreading through peoples minds. If you know some thing then you know some one who is involved then those people are interrogated then those people give a few names then the process continues. Just like Herb Block said "If you can't crush the commies, you can nail a neighbor."
There are many connections between The McCarthyism cartoon and the Crucible. However I believe that "fire" stands out to me the most. "Fire" appeals to me the most because in the Crucible there is one big problem which is witchcraft in Salem and in the photo the big problem is the Statue of Liberty on fire. A man is running up to the statue of Liberty with a bucket of water to put the fire out, just as in the Crucible Reverend Paris is the man running up the ladder trying to put the fire out and the fire is witchcraft and that why I believe "fire" is the cartoon that most relates to the Crucible.
There are many connections between The Crucible and all of the cartoons. But the one that sticks out is, "It's okay – We're hunting Communists" this relates to The Crucible in the fact that in the cartoon, a group of authorized officials, run around running over innocent people. Just like The Crucible with the court and how they are accusing innocent people of witch craft, with no evidence but the words of children.
I think the main connection between these cartoons and the Crucible is the cartoon about the un-american activities commitee. Both the Crucible and this cartoon point out the lack of knowledge and reason for doing what they do. The cartoon shows the government ironically running over its citizens while looking for communists. The Crucible has townspeople headhunting each other and blaming each other of witchcraft for no reason or proof.
All these McCarthyist cartoons all have there own way in connecting to The Crucible. The ones that stood out to me the most was the one we look at in class. The cartoon seemed to be saying not everything is as they seem to appear at first glance. You cant just look at the bold things and think what came from that. In The Crucible it seems like everyone was just thinking of witchcraft and not thinking of all the possible ideas.
These cartoons all relate because they produce a mentality that selecting the weak from the throng is ok. Using any means possible too. Because in one of the jokes a man is holding a "doctored photo" and a "faked letter" which is much like Abigail. She pretends to be possessed and constantly fighting off evil spirits, but she is just pulling a hoax similar to what the American government did in the 50s. We persecuted people believed to be in connection with commies even though they weren't. Everything in history can connect to something else.
There are a lot of connections between the cartoons and the crucible in the ways that in the cartoon some of the people are afraid of freedom of speech so they are just one of hundreds that want to express what they know, and what is right. Same thing happen on the Crucible but in this time they don't want to express what they know because they know that there are going to get punish by the law, in the cartoon they are afraid but the fact that they don't listen to what they have to say and is right.
The connections between the cartoons and The Crucible, are that they don't want to give names for anything that could have happened. They don't want to play the blame game because they could end up getting blamed. When you just throw names out there then it's not very accurate for those who need to find out what happened. When you do the right thing, bad things won't come back and 'bite you'.
The McCarthy political cartoons have much relavence to The Crucible. In "Fire!" the message of a man trying to douse the Statue of Liberty's flame can be interpretted with the supposed witchcraft running rampant in Salem. The witches, through the devils will, seek out to destroy the well-being of the Christian based society of America at the time. American society demonstrates that of good and just while the man trying to put out the flame of America can be seen as bad and immoral. Just as in The Crucible, the witches try to denounce the religious nature and background of those who live in Salem.
These cartoons deal with the Crucible's main plot, witch hunting. So many innocent people die in this story, but these cartoons attack a different side of it. They represent our liberties being taken away. The most relevant cartoon is "Fire," where a man is climbing up to put out the fire of liberty. To Americans the statue of liberty represents are freedoms. In The Crucible their freedoms are taken away. They can't higher a lawyer and they can't defend themselves. Whatever they say it is ignored and the only way they can not be found guilty is to admit lies. Does this sound like America?
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