Would you give in and do what they did just because you think they will alienate you if you don't participate or would you try to put an end to the madness?
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the friends of Abigail Williams have to make this decision. Specifically when they are in the court room and Abigail begins pretending that there is a spirit overcoming her, these girls make the decision to follow along in her footsteps and do the same. Once one other girl faints and pretends to feel the spirit, they all join in quickly. They know that if they didn't go along with this absurdity, she would probably separate herself from them in the future, which leads them into doing whatever she wants so that won't happen. By associating themselves with her when she is powerful, they also feel a sense of power, hence they don't want to break off associations with her because then they would go back to being powerless young girls in the community. Particularly Mary Warren feels this sense of pressure when Proctor makes her come clean about the false witchcraft accusations in court, but then she changes her mind when she realizes how terribly it would affect her social standing with the others if she told on them.
Very True. Too often we are worried about how others view us instead of focusing on doing what is right
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. The saying "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" not only discourages people from falling to peer pressure, but it also shows the stupidity of blindly following others.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Allison! I think peer pressure is something that is very common and often time pushes people to do bad things; however, luckily sometimes it pushes them to do good things too! :) Unfortunately it's mostly bad things though, but don't worry, I have optimism!!!!!!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jake, we should just do what's right instead of caring about what people think and listening to peer pressure.
ReplyDeleteVery good post! I really liked how you connected the actions of the girls in the Crucible to peer pressure, something that all readers can relate too. I also agree with the point you made at the end. You should make your own action based off of your own decision and do not let others influence you in a negative way.
ReplyDeleteYou made a really good point that people give into peer pressure, without taking time to question it. That's very true, a lot of people think that if their friends are doing it, they can to. But that only ends up hurting them more and they may not realize that until it's to late. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree with you Allison! Great post! It just shows how our society has not changed, and that people are still faced with many similar problems to this day!
ReplyDeleteNice post Allison. Sometimes the people around you don't know what is the best for you. Only you know your self the best. Make choices by yourself, don't let people influence your decisions!
ReplyDelete