y blame put on to themselves. This 'passing the buck' made people start fighting with one another. Abigail used her power of getting people to listen, to her advantage. This again proves that Abigail had control of the town and the unexplained turned neighbor against neighbor. The social breakdown in Salem was the major factor in the tragedy that took the lives of innocent people. There was more than one tragedy in The Crucible. The first was the murdering of innocent people, and the second was that a community that was once very close had been broken apart. It appeared that the people of Salem were like a family but isolation actually made them unable to adapt to a troublesome situation. If the community could have looked passed their fear of witchcraft, then the social structure would have been able to adapt. Take for example the most recent scandal in America surrounding the President. After studying "The Crucible" my outlook on the "scandal" somewhat changed. Who was the actual "bad guy" in the on-going investigation? It could have been Kenneth Starr, a Republican who wanted Bill Clinton, a Democrat, out of office, and would take any necessary step to achieve that plan, very similar to Abigail. It really didn't matter what Clinton did or was doing, Starr seemed to be trying to sabotage him anyway. The whole idea that one person could make a statement and accuse another of an unbelievable action without any background check on the integrity of the person who said it, is inconceivable. How much power does the average person have? As for analogies, Abigail is to the media as the one's who were accused to be witches are to the people who the media hate. So even today, "witch hunts" are still happening. ...
