Human Behavior & Rhetoric

Throughout all of history, writers have used persuasive rhetoric to illustrate that humans fear change and when exposed to unfamiliar circumstances can become hostile and irrational towards others. Writers target the general public to educate and inform them on the effects of hysteria and scare tactics on human behavior.

When it comes to illustrating human behavior, The Crucible by Arthur Miller might be one of the best examples. Arthur Miller’s purpose while writing The Crucible is to illustrate how humans react when their traditions or religion is challenged by unfamiliar beliefs and cultures. When Tituba expresses her culture by singing, dancing, and spell-casting in the woods it is seen as acts of witchery and evil, because the Puritans do not understand her heritage they react with fear and prejudice, accusing her of practicing black-magic and contacting the devil. When Tituba is sent to prison she tells her jailer: “Devil, him be pleasure-man in Barbados, him be singin’ and dancing […] It's you folks—you riles him up 'round here […] He freeze his soul in Massachusetts, but in Barbados he just as sweet." Tituba explains that by being unable to accept and understand other beliefs the Puritans create their own hysteria surrounding witches and the Devil in Salem. Similarly, in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson one person is selected to be stoned to death as a ritual to ensure a good corn harvest. Although it is completely irrational and unnecessary the townsfolk continue to partake in the lottery because it’s been a part of their culture for so long, they are afraid of change, they don’t bother to question their morals and rethink what they’re doing because it’s what they’ve always done. When Mrs. Adams mentions other towns have already quit doing lotteries she is met with hostility from Old Man Warner and the rest of the town. Both of these sources accurately depict how humans can be blinded by their own beliefs. When encountering unfamiliarities irrational fear, hysteria, and hostility are not scarce.

In The Crucible, the people of Salem feared the unknown, and this sparked the mass hysteria and the witch-hunts. People in positions of power and influence could accuse others in order to save their own skin, Abigail Williams did just that, telling the other girls: “Let either of you breathe a word… and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you…” A more recent example can be found in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. In The Hunger Games an annual reaping selects two tributes from each district to fight to the death in a televised arena, the reaping was an attempt to control the population and punish them after a rebellion. When Katniss and Peeta refuse to kill each other and win the 74th Hunger Games together they defy the Capitol and spark fear in the Game’s supporters and hope in those who oppose it.
These events could all have been avoided if people weren’t so quick to judge and made decisions based on facts, not rumors. People who fear change and live in the shadow of the past spread hysteria and chaos through otherwise reasonable people, leading to situations such as in The Crucible, or The Lottery.