For several years before the play opened in 1953, public investigations had been examining and interrogating radicals, former radicals, and possible former radicals, requiring witnesses to tell about others and not only about themselves. His is the quiet voice heard beneath the chatter of the enthusiasts, and the one which may sound the particular note required to give its distinctive quality to the culture of his time.Īrthur Miller's 'The Crucible' HENRY POPKIN The Crucible is set in seventeenth-century America, Arthur Miller intended it as a comment on American life of his own time. It grows from his peculiar questioning of contemporary affairs, the play of his skeptical, speculative mind on events and attitudes around him. Hawthorne's greatest contribution to the study of American culture is distinctive to him, and it is a major one. Hawthorne's works have something to offer American Studies at the literal level, for he mentioned on his pages most of the topics which interested his contemporaries, but for such factual information other sources would be more rewarding than Hawthorne's books. Social sciences can provide, nor is the full contribution of literature realized if it is assessed merely as a social document. The full possibilities of American Studies are not realized from a simple gathering of factual records which the

The danger of confusing elements of the present culture with elements of an earlier culture is a hazard never absent from American Studies. Such an interpretation misrepresents them and their author, and it illustrates an error often made in our attempts to enlist earlier authors to bolster our own views about affairs in our time.

On the authority of these stories and others like them, Hawthorne has been made to oppose science and industrial development. Thing and if he were, the story could still not be read as an attack on science, for the author's concern is with a man who misunderstands the possibilities of human perfection and errs in his noble but misguided striving. This content downloaded from 208.67.142.225 on Wed, 15:00:58 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions National Council of Teachers of English is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to College English. For more information about JSTOR, please contact We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive.

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Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible' Author(s): Henry Popkin Source: College English, Vol.

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