IB English Language & Literature: Preparation for Year 2
- Read the short play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. When the next school year begins, we will discuss this play as the first text in our unit about social criticism and protest.
- Research McCarthyism in the 1950s so you can begin to understand how the play functions as protest literature and an allegory connecting the congressional hearings of the Second Red Scare during the Cold War to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93. Specifically, create a document thoroughly explaining the following:
- What is McCarthyism?
- Who was Joseph McCarthy?
- Who was targeted during this time and why? (Specific examples of well-known people and industries are welcome).
- How was the country affected?
- How did the hysteria end?
- How is McCarthyism similar to the Salem Witch Trials? Note specific examples from the play.
- Make sure to use at least one academically sound, credible source to help you with these questions and generate the full, correct MLA citation to put at the bottom of your document.
- Document should be in MLA format.