"Salem Possessed" Book Review by Jay Writtings LLC
"Salem Possessed"
This paper is a book review of Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum's "Salem Possessed."
# 117493
| 2,327 words
| 1 source
| MLA
| 2009
| 
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Description:
This paper discusses the events of the Salem witch trials, as described in "Salem Possessed." The paper describes the book's suggestion that the burnings and offerings during the trials were a way for the community to purge itself of social and cultural culpability. The paper also discusses the events leading up to the witch trials, which caused the mentality of the society to be jaded.
From the Paper:
"What we see here are land issues, as well as cultural identity issues that marked Salem from the beginning of the century when the township was installed. This may seem like a clear and common social issue to us in this day and age, but the result demonstrates how in that time the manifestation of certain inner turmoil elements from collective pressures within a specific community. These pressures could give rise to a specific chain of events and a mentality that would end up treating the accused women in the means that they did. The authors suggest this dynamic as the predictable way a spiritual-based community in a strange land reacted to environmental elements in a world in which the supernatural was considered, believed or accepted as a palpable entity. This fuelled bias in the beliefs of the people, because of the lack of what we consider concrete evidence, which would justify conviction and the taking of a human life as a form of justice. In effect, human laws that were being violated in executing the alleged witches were traceable to an earlier breaking of human law of witchcraft being practiced on people as a violation of their human rights."Sample of Sources Used:
- Boyer, Paul and Nissenbaum, Stephen. Salem Possessed. 1974: Harvard University Press.
Cite this Book Review:
APA Format
"Salem Possessed" (2009, December 06)
Retrieved June 07, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/book-review/salem-possessed-117493/
MLA Format
""Salem Possessed"" 06 December 2009.
Web. 07 June. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/book-review/salem-possessed-117493/>