ehead was publicly showing the community that this person was a deviant and of the lower social class. Also, by expelling the person from the community it would become part of the legal records, but at the same time the person would have another chance at a fresh start in a new community. In a way, executions served the same purpose (Erikson, 1966).As previously mentioned, once a person was categorized as a deviant they were classified as part of this lower class permanently. Part of the reason for this continuous status was because it was hard to convince others you had changed if branded on the forehead. Erickson (1966) states, to characterize a person as deviant was to describe his spiritual condition, his calling, his vocation, his state of grace" (Erikson, 1966, p. 198).In 1689, the people of Salem Village won the right to establish their own church and chose Reverend Samuel Parris as their minister. His stern ways was one source of conflict within the community, along with his demands for monetary or material compensation. Many of the people in the community vowed they would drive Parris out of the community and church. It all started one day, late in February 1692 when Parris’ nine-year-old daughter, Betty, and her cousin, Abigail Williams, were bored and sought entertainment through the tales told by Tituba, a slave of Parris’ from Barbados. Soon, Betty and Abigail invited several of their friends to have their future told by Tituba. A common question the girls wanted to know was what was the man like that they were to marry. This seemed an innocent enough question for the young girls. It wasn’t long before Betty became ill and started acting strangely. What really urged the witchcraft label were the convulsive fits Betty started having. Regardless of what the cause was, Reverend Parris felt the illness was a judgment placed on him and the village (Hoffer, 1996). Soon the other girls were displaying similar ...
