The Crucible: How has the concept of Belonging been portrayed throughout the text?
The concept of belonging has been successfully intertwined and emphasised throughout Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, displaying the importance of belonging, whilst using features such as acceptance, identity, understanding and relationships. These four distinct topics enable the responder to adequately comprehend the concept of belonging. Belonging has also been sufficiently displayed in two related texts, ‘Party in the USA’ by Miley Cyrus, and the film, ‘The Combination’.
The Crucible emphasises the universal need to belong, with the people of Salem striving to belong within the town and its people. This statement leads us to the feature of identity, which plays a large role within The Crucible, and ultimately serves as the underlying foundation for the text. Identity was cherished within the Salem society; with ones reputation so powerful it could put one to death, due to others views and perspectives of the person in question. Identity can be seen within the text with examples such as Abigail Williams and John Proctor.
Identity plays a large role in John Proctors life, as he is a man of righteousness and possesses the overwhelming need to be looked at in good light, and to not be viewed in a negative way. After confessing to being a warlock to save his life, he is told that he must sign a statement of his confession, providing the town with knowledge of what he confessed to being.