"The Crucible" And Cartoon Commentary?
Please Read The Linked Political Cartoons And Blog About How They Specifically Connect With Arthur Miller's Intent For Writing The Crucible and The Political Cartoons.
Please Quote Which Cartoon You Are Referencing When You Respond. This
blog response should be completed by 2:30p.m. on Friday, December 8th, 2017.
posted by Greg T at Tuesday, November 28, 2017
7 Comments:
These cartoons certainly have a connection to both the communist “witch hunts” and the real Salem witch trials. Specifically, “It’s Okay - We’re Hunting Communists” illustrates the disregard for the amount of innocent people that the “witch hunters” have to accuse of witchery or communist thought as long as someone get’s convicted in the end. “Fire!” also reminds us of how trying to help in both time periods lead to greater accusation and consequence.
All of these political cartoons point out how this process can be bad with some degree of irony. They highlight something atrocious and compare it to a slogan or common mantra of the times. Some of them point out the dangers of McCarthyism which is a very good allegory for the Salem Witch trials and vice versa.
These cartoons definitely relate to how people are basically being hunted if they are believed to be involved in witchcraft. The "Its Okay- We're hunting Communists" relates to that idea a lot. People don't turn their heads when someone is arrested because in the book it has become kind of normal for someone to be taken in. The rumors of witchcraft being the cause of the sickness has lead to the blame of innocent people who are believed to be bad. No one believes they are innocent which I think is a similar idea to this cartoon.
I think that these cartoons very much so connect to The Crucible. The cartoon, "Freedom-from-fear" relates a lot, because it talks about creating fear and suspicion. The book The Crucible begins with the townspeople constantly creating useless drama, fear, and reporting suspicious behavior. The cartoon, "Have a Care, sir" demonstrates how people need to be informed with the current issues. In the Crucible, it is imperative for the people to be aware of the turmoil.
I think the cartoons have a similar relation to “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. The one I think that most resembles is “You mean I’m supposed to stand on that?” I like this one in the fact that because they people are examples of big important things that America needs. And with that they are trying to force the elephant onto the “McCarthyism.” I think it’s neat how they make it look so innocent, but a hidden message behind it. The witches is an important part of the story, and many people are claimed of doing it. The elephant could be in representation of it too, because they are making it do something it doesn’t want to.
After reading the political cartoons, one cartoon that really stood out to me was "Say, whatever happened to 'freedom-from-fear'?".This cartoon shows the historical event when president Harry Truman spoke out against people who created unnecessary fear in others. This also happened in the Crucible when people started blaming others for witchcraft that was made up and unreal. By blaming others and telling lies fear was provoked in the community. Neither in the political cartoon or The Crucible is anyone ‘freed from fear’.
While reading and studying the details in each political cartoon, multiple things stood out to me that connected with "The Crucible". For example "Its okay...We're hunting communists." This quote eerily resembles the fear surrounded to the witch hunting. Americans were so afraid of communists that they created propaganda videos stating how you could tell a communist from a normal person in a crowd. Many people feared that family members could be soviet spies, and lived in constant fear. Just like the communist hunting, the people wanted to find ways to discover who the witches were in the town, often making them participate in inhumane acts, like drowning themselves, in order to prove their innocence. In conclusion, the very fear of having a suspicion that something or someone is among you without your knowledge is what this play and cartoon have in common.
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