Oh, Pohn Jroctor, My Candian Lover!

The Crucible takes us back to the time when heresy and burning witches at the stake were common things of the law. Arthur Miller's biting play personalizes the story of the Salem Witch trials, which centers on the accusations of a few power-seeking women such as Abigail and the effects on the lives of Salem that include John Proctor.

Now, I would like to liken the accusations and horribleness of The Crucible's story to the instance of a fart in the household. Ew, I know, a gross comparison, but it must be made.

Let's say that you have detected a mysterious odor, to say that least, and you know that everyone else can smell it. You feel infuriated at having your olfactory senses attacked so you decide to voice your concerns. Now, let's say that you've had an affair with a man named, oh, say, Pohn Jroctor (he's Canadian), but now he's abandoned you for his real wife, Belizaeth. Because you still hold resentment over your rejection, you decide to take out your frustrations by blaming her! Now everyone is inching away from her while Belizaeth is shaking her head no confusedly.

Drunk with your newfound power, you blame everyone who ever bothered you. Kyles Gorey for being ugly, Betty for looking at you funny one day in second grade, Martha Stewart for--well, I don't know, why not, and all the people who have the first name Goody, because that's just a weird name.

Admit it, we've all blamed a random person for a fart before, and we all know how easy it is, and how the accused will try to play it back on you, but it doesn't work as well, because the damage has been done, and we all point and laugh.

Why is it that when one is blamed for a fart, there is almost nothing that the accused can do to defend himself or refute the charge except to blame another? This is why the fart scenario is just perfect as a comparison for The Crucible, because the blame game is just so easily manipulable and because it is just so easy to point the finger (or fan the air and scrunch your face up while holding your nose in the most immature manner). Such was the nature of the Salem Witch Trials. When something like the existence of a higher power, which is so held in high seriousness and yet so unprovable or unjustifiable, is put into the hands of a few frustrated and repressed people, bad things happen.