Belief, Power And Fear Essay, Research Paper

Belief, Fear and Power

Here in the age of Post-Modernism, our society prides itself on it & # 8217 ; s individuality and it & # 8217 ; s ( supposed ) free-thinking. Yet there is still a strain that refuses to allow travel & # 8230 ; the clasp of faith and scientific discipline that those who live in the United States have been under since before the USA & # 8217 ; s official beginning. Merely about every bit & # 8220 ; American as Apple Pie & # 8221 ; ( nevertheless & # 8220 ; American & # 8221 ; that is ) is the paradigm that there is something larger out at that place that guides us worlds through our mundane life. We have seen the dangers that this sort of thought can bring forth & # 8230 ; our civilization has seen its portion of spiritual cults. But the line between where a faith stops being religious and starts going brainwashing is obscure. Similarly, scientific discipline is merely a sophisticated name for another higher power to believe in.

My concern, above all of this, is what the effects are when a group of people choose to believe in something & # 8211 ; anything. What are the elements that allow a individual to acquire caught up in something that s/he may or may non truly genuinely believe in?

Arthur Miller & # 8217 ; s The Crucible trades with these exact issues. Hysteria, fright and power are brought to the surface in visible radiation of one miss & # 8217 ; s desperate efforts to salvage herself and her manque grownup lover. These three elements are what I believe to be the cardinal dangers of faith ( chiefly ) and scientific discipline ( secondarily ) .

The early American Puritans, as depicted in The Crucible, are a society based on about strictly spiritual ideals. That the first colonists came to this land to get away spiritual persecution is no enigma to anyone who has spent any sum of clip in simple school. So from the really beginning, a criterion was in topographic point & # 8230 ; .one would hold the freedom of faith. This was doubtless an ideal and really populating it out was rather another narrative, so.

As towns were established, a cardinal meeting topographic point was by and large the church near the geographical centre. This instantly sets up the impression that if occupants want the benefits of the townsfolk & # 8217 ; s support, they must subscribe to the chosen faith ( some signifier of Christianity, severally ) .

Belief in the faith & # 8217 ; s rules would, I imagine, become about inevitable, since stating one believed reaped legion benefits, and non believing earned one disaffection from the community-at-large at best, or worse, a one-way ticket to noose ( as exemplified in The Crucible ) . Given the & # 8220 ; picks & # 8221 ; ( to believe or non

believe – because I am non positive that we freely “choose” our faiths ) , it would be much easier to populate a life mildly inauspicious to the town’s school of idea than it would be to openly differ.

So now we have a town full of people whom, whether or non they all truly experience the same, they say they do. Everyone is likely pretty aware of the effects for incredulity and in an effort to cover up their ain incredulity for fright of persecution, will vehemently oppress anyone who deviates from the norms. This is what grows into craze. This is where the & # 8220 ; mob outlook & # 8221 ; comes in.

To me, the dangers of crazes are reeling. Nothing is more awful to me than a big group of people seeking to cover up that they don & # 8217 ; t truly subscribe to a set of criterions. Because the prevarication has already begun, traveling back would certainly merely motivate harsher punishments. The farther one moves off from true beliefs, the more hard it is to travel back ( as in the instance of Abigail in The Crucible, every bit good as most everyone except for John Proctor ) .

Now that the unsighted belief is in topographic point and there is a despairing demand to cover one & # 8217 ; s ain back, the model is at that place to come in power into the equation. Ah, yes & # 8230 ; .power. Now that & # 8217 ; s what I call & # 8220 ; American as Apple Pie. & # 8221 ; It truly merely takes one individual to acknowledge this mentality of the people and to make up one’s mind that there is a vulnerable topographic point. In the instance of The Crucible, it was the clergy ( surprise, surprise ) who saw this failing. Power could easy come to those who would put to death the inevitable persecution for divergence.

The Crucible illustrated the effects of craze, fright and power attractively. It was rather easy to see that these elements go manus in manus. But how does this tantrum into modern society? Take, for case, the illustration hatred offenses against people of minority races, civilizations and sexual orientations. These offenses are committed because the culprit has a belief that s/he is a certain manner. The belief is frequently times merely a camouflage for that individual & # 8217 ; s ain frights about the effects for being & # 8220 ; other. & # 8221 ;

The eventual deceases of the supposed & # 8220 ; deviators & # 8221 ; in The Crucible was possibly a spot of an utmost penalty in the context of modern times. But it is non a complete impossibleness. Hysteria, fright and power are a portion of & # 8220 ; American & # 8221 ; model and each individual should be challenged mundane to cognize their ain truth in order to avoid such flagitious results

Bibliography

Arthur Miller & # 8217 ; s The Crucible

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