In , Salem is portrayed as a small community with a high degree of
homogeneity in backgrounds and professed beliefs. This, however, has not made it at all
cohesive. In fact, alienation is one of the keynotes from the very beginning. The Reverend
Parris is alienated from his congregation, most of whom did not choose him and many of whom
regard him as an avaricious and mean-spirited man who never mentions God in his sermons. Parris
has brought Tituba and Abigail into the community. The former is alienated by race and religion,
the latter by her status as a poor relation and her traumatic childhood.
Thomas Putnam and Giles Corey are alienated from the community by their litigious
natures and suspicion of their neighbors. John Proctor is alienated from his wife by his
adultery. The first people to be accused of witchcraft, Goody Osburn and Goody Good, are
alienated as outcasts who do not conform to the moral and social norms of Salem.
In a community where so many people are...
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