Did Abigail Williams Use Mass Hysteria In The Crucible

Mass hysteria is when everyone is afraid or feels unsafe about something in a certain community drawn from fear and rumors. Japanese Internment began during World War II because the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Franklin D. Roosevelt passed Executive Order 9066 and sent Japanese- Americans to ten internment camps on the west coast. The Crucible happened during the 1600’s in Salem because Reverend Parris found girls dancing in the woods and said it was witchcraft. Then the constant allegations of the girls, led by Abigail Williams, set off a mass hysteria in Salem. When one points out that both those accused of witchcraft and those accused of being spy could not prove their innocence, one person called all of the shots, and there were light

protest in both communities, it is clear that the events of Japanese Internment during WW2 is similar to those of the Crucible.
Those being accused of witchcraft and the ones accused of being a spy had no way of proving their innocence. Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, a Japanese- American prisoner, emphasizes that, "It was a prison indeed… There was barbed wire along the top [of the fence] and because the soldiers in the guard towers had machine guns, one would be foolish to try to escape.” This is important because it shows how she felt they were imprisoned even though she was innocent. During World War II, the Japanese- Americans were placed in camps because they could not prove if they were loyal to America or Japan. Proctor implies that how do people know if the accusers, Abigail or Reverend Parris are not guilty. He states in Act II, “ Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers?” What Proctor is trying to say is that, Abigail is accusing everyone of witchcraft but what if the one who wants to seem good is really the criminal. This is important because it “opens the eyes” of some of the characters.