Witch Hunts Comparison
Humans always pretend that people that are different from them are inferior. This is true in almost all historical events, as well as in everyday life. In the witch hunts of the 1640s and the
Communist hunts of the 1950s, there were three main similarities: fear, blame, and power.
Whether these differences be of race, religion, ethnicity, political view, or any other personal difference, we all notice each other's differences, consciously or subconsciously, and think and act on that as if it matters. There are reasons to have biases, and we all have these reasons.
Most living things, be it a human or an animal, are afraid of what they do not know. In
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, the inhabitants of Weathersfield are …show more content…
afraid of Hannah Tupper, but only because she a Quaker, not a Puritan like they are. Rachel,
Kit’s aunt, tells Kit never to go see Hannah. She says, “I can’t tell you exactly [why being a
Quaker is awful]. The Quakers are queer stubborn people. They don’t believe in the sacraments” (Speare 98).
They think she is a witch because of her differences, and of this the are afraid.
People also often blame the outcast. Nobody wants to take the blame for anything, especially if they are aware that they should. Take the Holocaust, for example. Millions of innocent people were scapegoated, just for being who they were. Nazis caused the war, but they spoke of jews as being the cause. In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, almost all the children in the village fall seriously ill, and three die. The adults want someone to blame, so they blame
Hannah, the outcast. When they arrive at the house where Kit is staying, they say to her uncle
“‘[s]he’s been a curse on this town for years with her witchcraft!’ The voices sounded hysterical”
(Speare 182). They do not know this, but they can not think of any other reason for this illness.
The last reason is power. Someone who has power most likely wants to uphold it, and they don’t want to give in to change. During the Cold war, people feared communism partly because the government did not want another system to kick them out and take away their power. As another example, Hannah’s house was burned down by the townspeople because they feared she had a power they could not stop or control. “‘There’s illness everywhere.
We
need your help to put a stop to it.’ ‘What do you want?’ ‘We want you to come along with us.
We’re going for the witch’” (Speare 182). That is what they said when they confronted Matthew,
Kit’s uncle. They were afraid because they were not open, not knowledgeable.
To conclude, biases are everywhere. We all take sides, even if only sometimes, and our reason for doing so you have just read. Historic battles, wars, and movements were all based on a fear, self-shame, or strive to uphold power (or to seize it), this is not always a bad thing.
Things have always needed to change, imagine still being a colony of England! Although times have much changed since then, they need to change more. Be more open to new people and ideas, that will bring us closer to a time where nothing needs to change.
Communist hunts of the 1950s, there were three main similarities: fear, blame, and power.
Whether these differences be of race, religion, ethnicity, political view, or any other personal difference, we all notice each other's differences, consciously or subconsciously, and think and act on that as if it matters. There are reasons to have biases, and we all have these reasons.
Most living things, be it a human or an animal, are afraid of what they do not know. In
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, the inhabitants of Weathersfield are …show more content…
afraid of Hannah Tupper, but only because she a Quaker, not a Puritan like they are. Rachel,
Kit’s aunt, tells Kit never to go see Hannah. She says, “I can’t tell you exactly [why being a
Quaker is awful]. The Quakers are queer stubborn people. They don’t believe in the sacraments” (Speare 98).
They think she is a witch because of her differences, and of this the are afraid.
People also often blame the outcast. Nobody wants to take the blame for anything, especially if they are aware that they should. Take the Holocaust, for example. Millions of innocent people were scapegoated, just for being who they were. Nazis caused the war, but they spoke of jews as being the cause. In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, almost all the children in the village fall seriously ill, and three die. The adults want someone to blame, so they blame
Hannah, the outcast. When they arrive at the house where Kit is staying, they say to her uncle
“‘[s]he’s been a curse on this town for years with her witchcraft!’ The voices sounded hysterical”
(Speare 182). They do not know this, but they can not think of any other reason for this illness.
The last reason is power. Someone who has power most likely wants to uphold it, and they don’t want to give in to change. During the Cold war, people feared communism partly because the government did not want another system to kick them out and take away their power. As another example, Hannah’s house was burned down by the townspeople because they feared she had a power they could not stop or control. “‘There’s illness everywhere.
We
need your help to put a stop to it.’ ‘What do you want?’ ‘We want you to come along with us.
We’re going for the witch’” (Speare 182). That is what they said when they confronted Matthew,
Kit’s uncle. They were afraid because they were not open, not knowledgeable.
To conclude, biases are everywhere. We all take sides, even if only sometimes, and our reason for doing so you have just read. Historic battles, wars, and movements were all based on a fear, self-shame, or strive to uphold power (or to seize it), this is not always a bad thing.
Things have always needed to change, imagine still being a colony of England! Although times have much changed since then, they need to change more. Be more open to new people and ideas, that will bring us closer to a time where nothing needs to change.