Blog Number 1

     Living in a Puritan culture is clearly a struggle for everyone, especially females.  As a way of breaking away and actually having fun, many of the young women become "Witches" and illegally dance and spiritually connect with Satan.  In the beginning of the book, Parris, a local Reverend examines his daughter who is in a comatose state after 'dancing' in the woods with a group of other girls.  The townspeople of Salem crowd the house that they are in, interested in whether or not Betty is possessed by the devil.  In this time period, people who are accused of witchery are very at risk of the death penalty, so this is a big deal.  Even Parris, who has no affiliation to witches is worried because if people in his family are witches, he would lose his job and be exiled from Salem.  "I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character." (Miller 9).  This judgmental attitude of the time is what causes all the problems to begin with.  Townsfolk are expected to be 100 percent on the straight and narrow, not straying from the beaten path at all.  Abigail is accused of witch worshipping by Parris, but claims instead that she was merely dancing in the forest.  For me, this seems like a reasonable thing to do, running around in the woods, but it is not in Salem.  Abigail admits to dancing and follows her admission by saying she is willing to get "whipped" if she must.  Though not illegal to dance, getting whipped for dancing seems a bit extreme, but then again, the Puritan system is clearly a bit extreme.  The culture is founded on conformism, and does not seem to allow its people to do what they want.  This way of ruling causes many problems when people realize they are being treated unfairly. We can look at today.  Many high-schoolers will drink or smoke to be rebellious, and to break a law which they don't believe in.  Just as we do today, teenagers and young adults in Salem were rebellious against the set system by allegedly choosing to be witches and breaking the law. The only difference is now, the punishment is fines and community service, whereas punishment in the Puritan town of Salem, was death.