Summation

I never knew that learning about the Salem Witch Trials would help me understand everyday life better. In the beginning, I just wanted to learn something cool, something fun and “witchy”. Then, I wanted to learn about humanity. I wanted to understand how people could accuse someone of not being human, torture that someone, kill that someone and still call //themselves// human. What I learned is that sometimes paranoia can set in, and when it does, no one really acts human. As you know, the Salem Witch Trials all started out as a prank. This “theory” is debatable, but because historians have an account of a “cursed” girl, Ann Putnam, apologizing for her role in the trials, we believe it really was just a trick played by a group of bored girls. No one knew this trick would cause tragedy to befall the village. Mere days after the first girl, Betty Parris, accused her slave of witchcraft, did the whole town erupt in paranoia. Everyone became wary and distraught, not trusting their good friends and neighbors. At that point, anyone could be a magic-wielding witch. Knowing this, I thought a lot about how it must’ve been like to live as the Salem villagers did in 1692. To never trust another human being, to even be scared of yourself because you didn’t know if maybe you would be cursed too. Especially after Goodwife Martha Corey’s trial, even people who were steady church-goers and strong believers in God were accused of following the Devil’s orders. Even years after the witch scare, people were guarded and scarred for life. I know now that even though people who claimed to be humans themselves performed inhuman things, they only did it because of paranoia. People became scared and confused, and not knowing what to do, they found someone to blame, and they got rid of them. Of course, this is not right, but even today this is the natural human instinct. No one wishes to be blamed for something, so when we get scared, we pull the attention away from us, and find someone else to reprimand. I learned a lot about humanity in the year 1692, and now I would like to explore humanity today. I want to find out what would happen if something like the Salem Witch Trials happened today, what would our initial responses be? Would we run off scared? Find someone to be blame and get rid of them? I want to study the human mind and the psychological complexities of it. I believe this will further enhance my knowledge of humanity, and the actions of people in Salem 1692, and even of people now.
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