Often throughout history, mistakes that had been made repeated themselves over and over. There are many different examples of this, but one example is the obvious similarities between the witch-hunts in Salem and the era of McCarthyism. If we take the time to look at both events
             simultaneously we are able to make many comparisons and enable numerous similarities. It is then obvious that in The Crucible Arthur Miller tries to create a sort of analogy linking the events to outline the stupidities of these cases and the foolishness in which simple humans participated.
             One of the many resemblance's that can be clearly seen is the way in which each of the events, McCarthyism and the Salem witch hunts, could ruin a persons life through a simple accusation. An example of this is very evident in The Crucible. The character John Proctor is accused of taking part in witchcraft. When the time to confess comes, he knows that confessing will save his physical life, but at the same time it will ruin his reputation. He said: "Why must it be written? Why must I say it?". Proctor knows that his confession will be posted publicly onto the church wall. This is why he ends up tearing the confessions. If this was seen by anyone in the community John Proctor's reputation would be altered so much that he could no longer show himself in Salem. He therefore chooses death over public humiliation. This can be seen in the era of McCarthyism. If some persons were accused by Senator Joseph McCarthy of being communists, their lives were ruined. This process became known asblacklisting? . President Truman once said: "Character assassination is their stock in trade." This shows how those accused of communism had their lives changed forever. Whether it is an accusation of witchcraft or communism, both of them led to the ruining of innocents people's lives.
             One other similarity with McCarthyism and The Crucible is the questions that were asked to tho...