Theme Of Ignorance In The Crucible

James Peterson was just like any other teenager living in LA, a free spirited young man as many called him. Growing up with 2 siblings and a single mother was hard but they managed, and after becoming the first in his family to graduate college, he became the owner of a small repair shop in downtown Compton. All went well until he became involved in gang activity. Just 5 months after graduating and becoming the hero in his family, he was killed in a drive by shooting. “He’s not a bad kid, He was just being ignorant,” James’ mother Chantal said. Ignorance is what clouds our minds and conquers our rational decision making. It can be allegorized as the ultimate evil which sways people from their conscious selves and makes them blinded by a lack

In the Crucible, the towns folks’ superstition of witches was driven by fear of the unknown and led them into doing things they knew was against their morals as puritans. Puritan people believed that only a select few of people would end up in heaven and it was in everyone’s interest to be a model citizen, not holding others accountable for crimes they did not commit. When the main character, John Proctor, is questioning the methods of Deputy Governor Danforth, he says, “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud—God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together,” (Miller 596-601) Proctor is explaining to danforth how ignorant he has been, telling him that accusing people of witchcraft without any evidence is ridiculous. Him saying that he sees the face of lucifer in both himself and in Danforth means that he is seeing the world the way it is and is acting according to his morals. Had Danforth followed his morals and looked past his biased views on the court, he may have been able to stop the witch trials long before hundreds of women were