PREMIÈRE · UPPER SECONDARY · B1+ towards B2

Session 5: Salem and McCarthyism

Part 5. Why did Arthur Miller use 1692 to speak about the America of the 1950s?

Objectives

Warm-up

Students see the word blacklist. What could it mean? What would happen to you if your name were on it?

Documents

Document 5: the Red Scare.
"“The Crucible” was an act of desperation."
Arthur Miller, “Why I Wrote ‘The Crucible’”, The New Yorker, October 1996
"Fear doesn't travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory's truth."
Arthur Miller, “Why I Wrote ‘The Crucible’”, The New Yorker, October 1996
Easy to find: "What is McCarthyism? And how did it happen?", Ellen Schrecker, TED-Ed; the film Good Night, and Good Luck (2005).

Activities

  1. Compare in a table: Salem 1692 / America 1950s. The accusers, the accused, the "proof", the punishment, the way to escape.
  2. Read Miller's two sentences. Why "desperation"? What does "fear doesn't travel well" mean?
  3. Vocabulary: Red Scare, blacklist, informer, to name names, allegiance, contempt, witch hunt.
  4. Watch the trailer of Good Night, and Good Luck: how does a journalist stand up to fear?

More activities

Web enquiry: McCarthyism

In pairs, use reliable sites (encyclopaedias, museums, newspapers) to answer. Note the source of each answer.

  1. Where did Senator Joseph McCarthy give his famous speech in February 1950, and what did he claim?
  2. What does HUAC stand for?
  3. Who were the Hollywood Ten?
  4. What did Joseph Welch ask McCarthy during the Army McCarthy hearings in June 1954?
  5. When was McCarthy censured by the Senate?
  6. Which famous director, a friend of Miller, named names in 1952?
Answer key
  1. In Wheeling, West Virginia; he claimed to have a list of communists in the State Department.
  2. House Un-American Activities Committee.
  3. Ten Hollywood screenwriters and directors who refused to answer HUAC in 1947 and were jailed and blacklisted.
  4. "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" (9 June 1954).
  5. On 2 December 1954.
  6. Elia Kazan.

Sentence starters

Role play

Pairs: a HUAC member and a playwright in 1956. The committee member asks for the names of people seen at a meeting; the playwright talks about himself but refuses to name others.

Gap-fill worksheet

QR code to this worksheet
Word bank: Red Scare, blacklist, name names, censured, communist, contempt, allegory, informer
  1. The fear of communism was called the ______.
  2. Writers were asked to ______.
  3. Those who refused could be put on a ______.
  4. Miller was convicted of ______ of Congress.
  5. The Senate ______ McCarthy in 1954.
  6. McCarthy hunted every suspected ______.
  7. Someone who gives names is an ______.
  8. The Crucible is an ______: Salem stands for the 1950s.
Answer key
  1. Red Scare
  2. name names
  3. blacklist
  4. contempt
  5. censured
  6. communist
  7. informer
  8. allegory

Homework

Write a paragraph (150 words): "Salem and McCarthyism: same fear, same mechanism?"

Watch the film at home

The Crucible (1996), directed by Nicholas Hytner. In France, the film is called La Chasse aux sorcières.

  1. Where to watch: see the list of streaming and rental options on JustWatch France.
  2. DVD: ask at your local library or médiathèque.
  3. Official trailer: on the Apple TV page of the film.
  4. Scenes to watch: Act I: the girls dance in the forest at night (the opening of the film). Act II: the officers arrest Elizabeth at home. Act III: in court, the girls turn against Mary Warren. Act IV: Proctor tears his confession and walks to the gallows.

Watch with English subtitles if you can.

Assessment grid

CriteriaLevel 1Level 2Level 3Level 4
ComparisonNoneOne pointThree pointsThree points, precise and dated
Use of sourcesNoneCopiedExplainedExplained and linked
ConnectorsFewSomeVariedVaried and accurate
LanguageMany errorsSome errorsFew errorsAccurate and varied

Links reminder