In humanities, we wrote essays about 3 different time periods in history and a theme that goes throughout them. The time periods were 1692, when the play The Crucible, takes place, the 1950s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy started making accusations about communists, and now, when President Donald Trump is in power. The theme that I chose to write about was power and how people are willing to do anything to get it. I learned a lot while writing this essay. I learned a lot about connecting time periods and how that helps me think more deeply about current events.  I also wrote a lot more analysis than I normally do. Before, I would only write about 3 or 4 sentences for analysis, but for this I wrote at least 6 sentences for analysis in each paragraph.

Based on the feedback that I got on this essay, I’m very proud of the effort I put in. Suzanne commented on how strong my analysis is, which is something I have struggled with in the past. I broke down all of the quotes and used strong evidence for each point. I think that I connected these time periods very well. The only thing that I would improve on is the writing conventions. I did well on it, but there were a few words that I misspelled. When I work on this in the future, I’m going to read my essay over a few more times when I’m done, just to check over again. Also, my writing partner, Eli, helped me edit this really well. Overall, I’m very proud of this essay!

This is my essay:

Power Through The Ages

We live in a world where people are willing to do almost anything to gain power. They are willing to make false accusations against innocent people who can then be put in jail and in some situations, even killed. When you have power, people respect you. They do what they can to stay out of your way when you’re angry. This came up with the girls in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, who started accusing people of being witches. It came up in 1950, when Senator Joseph McCarthy accused many people of being communist. It’s also coming up now when President Donald Trump isn’t allowing people from seven different countries into America to show these countries that he has power. Power and control have been important themes throughout history. When you have power and control people respect you, and many are willing to do whatever it takes to gain that respect, including making false accusations against innocent people. These people often think that they can get away with anything. The girls in The Crucible are an example of this, and so is Joseph McCarthy, as is Donald Trump today.

In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Mary Warren, a servant of the Proctors, came into more power in her society as she started accusing people of witchcraft. She was someone who didn’t have much power or say in her society. When she started accusing people of witchcraft, the town started noticing her because no one wanted to be accused. Mary Warren gained power by ruining other people’s lives. When she accuses people of witchcraft, she gains power and influence in her town. “ELIZABETH: It is a mouse no more. I forbid her go, and she raises up her chin like the daughter of a prince and says to me, ‘I must go to Salem, Goody Proctor; I am an official of the court!’ ” (Miller, 1953). This quote shows that Mary Warren, who, in normal circumstances would have little to no power in Salem, now has influence because she has started accusing people. Once the people in Salem realized that she could ruin their lives, people started respecting her. When Elizabeth says “It is a mouse no more. I forbid her go, and she raises up her chin like the daughter of a prince,” she is saying that Mary rose above her station as a servant and acted like she was more important than everyone else, which is something no one would have done then. When she says “It is a mouse no more,” she is saying that Mary is no longer shy and mouselike. When Mary Warren was just a servant, she could have gone to jail or been whipped for anything, even something small, let alone something this important. Now that she has power, she could have gotten away with more than she usually could. Abigail Williams, the girl who was leading the accusations, makes her feel like she is powerful in the society and that makes Mary want more power and respect than anyone else. Mary Warren came into power and she didn’t want to let it go, exactly like Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Joseph McCarthy, the senator from Wisconsin, started accusing people of communism so he gain more power. When Joseph McCarthy became a senator, no one really noticed him. After he started making accusations, people started listening to him and respecting him. Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy made his first speech about communism in February, 1950. This was the first speech in a series of speeches that made this senator well known. “The 41-year-old McCarthy had done little to make himself known since he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1946.” (The Red Scare, Fitzgerald, 2007). Joseph McCarthy was a little known senator in 1950. He hadn’t tried to make himself known to the public until 1950, when he made his speech that put him on the map. His speech was about communism, but he didn’t reveal any names until a while later. This could have been on purpose. He might have been withholding the information on purpose, so he could stay in the spotlight longer. McCarthy was a senator who didn’t have much influence to begin with. Much more than some people at the time, but in the senate, he wasn’t in that much control. When he came into the spotlight, he started to think about power and how important it was to him. That’s why he didn’t reveal the names of the people on his list, because he wasn’t ready to let go of his influence. Besides staying in power, there’s no good or real reason for McCarthy to withhold this information. The only reason could have been for his own personal gain. Just like in The Crucible, people started respecting McCarthy because they didn’t want to be accused. This is much like our current president, who will do almost anything to stay in power and gain as much as he can.

Donald Trump thinks that he can do anything he wants and because he has so much control, get away with it. He has lots of power over many people and he thinks that because of this, he can do whatever he wants. Donald Trump said this quote at one of his campaign rallies. “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” (Donald Trump, January 23, 2016, CNN.com). Trump is a person who thinks that he has so much influence that he can get away with anything he wants. When he said this, he was probably thinking that he could do whatever he wants because he’s rich and has influence. So many people support him and agree with what he is saying that he thinks no matter what he does, people will still vote for him and he will still win. He said this during the election, and he started being so cocky that he thought he could shoot someone, and no one would care. This shows that because he is in so much power, he believed that he could get away with anything he wants. In an article about Trump’s immigration policies, this was stated. “Under the new directives, the agency would no longer provide privacy protections to people who are not American citizens or green card holders,” (New York Times, February 22). This is talking about how Trump’s administration has stopped giving immigrants privacy protection. This shows that he thinks he can do anything he wants. This policy was established at the end of the Bush administration, and now Trump is trying to undo that. Another thing that he has done to show his control over people, was to fire his attorney general, Sally Yates, for not defending him. She said something that he didn’t like, so he fired her. He was trying to keep his power because if people started listening to her, then he might lose his power. This all shows that Donald Trump thinks that he can do whatever he wants, just because he’s in power.

All throughout history, many people have done whatever they can to gain power. They are willing to do almost anything for the respect and control. Unfortunately, this means that some people are affected by those trying to gain power. Many people were accused during the Salem Witch Trials because of the girls trying to gain power in their patriarchal society. Others were accused in 1950, when an unknown senator from Wisconsin made a desperate grab for power by accusing people of being communist. Many immigrants from different countries are being affected by President Trump’s immigration ban now. Power is something that is desireable to many. When you have power, people respect you. When people who are trying to gain power realize that by doing this, they are hurting many people in this community, then people will stop being afraid of others who aren’t like them, and stop scapegoating them. When the people in power realize that hurting people in order to gain respect and control is something that shouldn’t be done, then the world will be a much better place.