Reputation

When reading The Crucible through out the past couple of weeks I notice that the reputation within Salem's theocratic society is an important and reoccurring theme. For example, the protagonist of the story, John Proctor, sacrifices his existence to ultimately permit his reputation to exist. In Salem the concept of privacy and publicity remain as one. Due to this, the fear of accusation due to association begins to run wild within the town. Focused on maintaining a clean status, the citizens do just about anything to assure safety. This aspect has a good relation to the status of race during early America up until the mid to late 20th century. Many white people did not want to be associated with African Americans due to the very negative perspective people held against them. African Americans were seen as lesser human beings, and many believed that they would gain similar reputations due to association. That is one reason to why integration was so difficult to achieve. From this example you see a direct correlation with Abigail and Mary Warren. Mary Warren falls back under the influence of Abigail due to fear of association with a man who is breaking the social normality. She fears her fate with an accusation and could not stand breaking a clean reputation. On the other hand, John Proctor takes a different approach concerning his social status. By refusing to relinquish his name, John manages to die with integrity.