Being different is hard for some people to accept. It provokes fear in that people seem not to want to acknowledge or be interested in the differences of other people. They are comfortable with the "normal" flow of their everyday lives. They hide from differences and refuse to open up to people who are different. The play by Arthur Miller called The Crucible revolves around witchcraft in the late 1600's. The story takes place in the town of Salem, MA, where witchcraft was forbidden and whoever had anything to do with it was punished with death. Another novel called In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason was a brilliant story about the Vietnam war set in postwar l984. It deals with thousands of American soldiers who survived the war against the Viet Cong (North Vietnam) who returned to an angry country who didn't want the war to happen. Soldiers that survived were faced with discrimination and the great depression that remained with them after the war. Both books show how people discriminate against others because they are different.

The stories are similar in the way people fear others. In The Crucible, people accused of witchcraft were sentenced to death. To avoid hanging, they put the blame on other people in town, accusing them of being a witch. "I saw Sarah Good with the Devil?! I saw Bridget with the Devil!" These quotes indicate that Abigail Williams was putting the blame for witchcraft on others so that she wouldn't take the blame herself. In In Country, vets who returned from the war were looked down upon. People in the small town of Hopewell, KY didn't understand what the vets had been through. The people didn't respect or honor these vets. "Earl said to Jin, 'On TV they make us all seem to be psychos and killers.'" This quote shows that the townspeople didn't show concern for the vets. In both books people were judging others from the outside and didn't take a chance of knowing what they had been through.

The difference in the two books is in the consequences people had to face. Either they were accused of witchcraft of they were judged badly because they fought in the Vietnam War. In The Crucible, people accused of witchcraft in Salem were sentenced to death. "This woman must be charged. She must be taken and hanged!" In In Country, vets felt no respect or honor upon their return from war from the townspeople. When a veterans' dance took place in town, not many people other than the vets and their families and friends showed up for it. Townspeople who weren't in the war didn't understand what it was like; they didn't understand what the vets had gone through, so they stayed away from the dance, not wanting to socialize.

The world today still faces many problems involving discrimination, prejudice, racism and stereotyping. People seem to be easily scared. They refuse to open up and learn about differences. If everyone would look at each other more tolerantly, then the world wouldn't be dealing with violence and death. People judge too much on outside appearance. These people are narrow minded, like the Puritans of l692.

• Ms. Voss Am. Lit. Home
• In Country
• Student Work