Crusible by Jonas Cantu

Puritanism

99054314 — 2023-11-16 17:55:16 UTC

Puritans follow an extremely strict variation of Christianity. They came to America in hopes of making a perfect civilization or "city on a hill". They left England to escape the unpure English church. Puritans also believe in total depravity, which means they think that everyone is a sinner and not deserving of God's grace. Most importantly for the story, they believe in witches sent by the Devil to do his work.

Witches

99054314 — 2023-11-16 17:58:27 UTC

During this time period, almost everyone believed in witches. Especially the Puritans, which believed they were sent by the Devil. Puritans were constantly scared of witches and their spells. People banned burning witches at the stake in the 1500s. However, witches were still hung for the next couple hundreds of years.

Witch trials

99054314 — 2023-11-16 18:02:24 UTC

Witch trials were very flawed at this time. Just a conviction of being a witch would mean prison. Once in prison, the choice was yours, admit to being a witch and live a life in isolation, or plead innocent and die. The method of getting an admission were often torture. If you didn't admit to being a witch, they believed you were lying and very rarely would they believe you.

What made Salem different?

99054314 — 2023-11-16 18:04:42 UTC

Salem was unique from other witch hunts. The most notable difference was the people being accused. During the Salem witch trials, many of the accused were upper class citizens and men. Before, witches were always thought to be low level women in society. This led to a shift in power where teen girls could get high level men in jail or even killed.

Why? Was it real?

99054314 — 2023-11-16 18:08:22 UTC

It is unknown what caused the Salem Witch trials to go so crazy. Most people believe it was fear that caused so many people to act with such panic. Some believe there really were witches in Salem, while others believe it was a publicity stunt by the girls for attention. The truth is we may never know what really happened in Salem, 1692. We do know that many lives were affected and lost during the time.