The book Witch Hunt by Marc Aronson is about the Salem witch trials and what may have caused the entire thing to happen. This book suggests that some members of the community accused witches and threw fits for attention or power.
In Witch Hunt the girl Ann Putnam Jr. is discussed. Ann was one of the main accusers of witchcraft in Salem. She was involved in many of the witchcraft trials. She first accused people who would stereotypically be thought of as witches at the time. These women were usually poor, old, or bitter. The court believed her easily. Then she moved on to women in good standing. These were churchgoing women and upstanding citizens, but Ann among others wove stories that the jury did not challenge. It is clear that Ann was aiming to eventually accuse the people who had received the land that her family should have had. She had a lot of power and wanted to use it to her advantage.
When people have power, things can get out of hand fast. Like the case of Ann Putnam Jr, people can misuse the power they have. Ann used her power to bring down others, and you can see the same thing in older/more popular people bringing down others, or rulers using their powers for their own personal agendas. I think that Ann is like the latter, using he power to testify against pretty much anyone she wanted to slowly work her way up to accusing the one person she wanted to accuse.
In conclusion, the book Witch Hunt shows the affects of power on people in power. In shows in Ann Putnam Jr., and people get "drunk with power" in real life too.
Actually I read another book that included Ann Putnam Jr. in it and I actually got somewhat annoyed and angered by her especially since I knew it wasn't fiction but actual history. I agree that power affects people greatly and it can sometimes be horrendous what the outcomes are like in the case of Ann Putnam Jr. She is definitely more evil than anyone she could have acccused and I'm sure none of them were even evil.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bridget. It is infuriating when people take advantage of their power and use it solely for self-gain. What is even wore about this particular person, is that instead of maybe putting down others to further her ends, she literally killed multiple innocent women just to acquire some land. it is horrible when people make the lives of others miserable, in order to get what they want.
ReplyDelete