Conformity In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Salem Witch Trials

Her parents taught her everything she needed to know about life, virtues and rules laced through each word they spoke. She worshipped not only every Sunday in mass, but the ground her parents and other adults walked on, conforming to their expectations. She lived and breathed their advice, and soon she acted like “the perfect daughter”, her parent’s prized child. Earning both good grades and a good reputation, she established herself as someone “who always did everything right”. To her, perfectionism became not only a state of mind and the way she carried herself, but a way of life. However, the girl went through actions with a blank stare, her existence like a camera with a constant blurry lense. Confused by what criteria deemed some decisions …show more content…
A prime example involves the religious dissenters who fled to America during the early years of colonization, those who had hoped to start a new, free, life and escape their ties with the Church of England. Despite their anticipation, the exact opposite ensued; the Puritans established a fresh authority in the New World, and they shamed and persecuted those with any opposing beliefs. In fact, Puritans upheld their orders for dissenters to conform so strongly, that they would execute anyone who refused. This action eventually evolved into the infamous Salem Witch Trials, those in which anyone who spoke out against the interpretations of the bible gained the title of witch or satanic worshipper. Trials consisted of drowning the possessed suspect: those who survived tested positive for the demonic disease of not conforming to standards; consequently speaking in terms of personal beliefs cost many people their lives, similar to today where conflicting views could kill one’s …show more content…
By way of illustration, the western coast supports liberal perspectives which highly contrasts with the southern “bible belt”. People residing in these areas have some level of pressure to conform to these ideals; thus expressing opinions not in line with the implied rules of conformity means staring straight into the eyes of ostracization. For example, if one living in the “deep south”, the region flooded with conservative ideals, expresses their agnostic point of view, their ethos washes mostly, if not completely, away. Once people, even friends and family, know something unfavorable and nonconforming they immediately feel disinterested in the person and hypothetically kill their reputation and status. Not only do adults feel constant pressure to conform and possibly hide their true self for the sake of keeping respect from others, but they teach and force children to do the