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Where the older wives and mother’s were once at the top, Abigail is able to temporarily disrupt the normal social balance. The trials “propel the girls from a position of powerlessness to the pinnacle of importance as "officials of the court" (Bovard OL) The young single girls were always inferior but now their word alone has the power to take a life. It is the older women who were once a step above them on the social ladder who are the majority of the condemned. .“It’s a strange work for a Christian girl to hang old women!”(Miller 58) Eliminating her competition was obviously Abigail’s intention, but this raises the question, could the same force be driving the other girls? There is no mention of young men or teenage boys in the crucible. At this point in a teenage girl’s life that would cause angst, especially considering without a man you could not rise in this society until the onset of the witch trials. It is crafted in such a way to “reinforce rather than challenge the ideological notion of witches as agents of sexual corruption.”(Marlow OL) Another group missing from the crucible is the girls’ mothers. Besides Abigail, who is made an orphan, there is no explanation as to the other mother’s whereabouts. If the case were that mothers were included, it would clash with the sophisticated catfight underlying the
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"Rediscovering the Witches in Arthur Miller's The Crucible: A Feminist Reading" The Crucible, New Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 3 May. 2012.
Abbotson, Susan C. W. "Family relationships in the works of Arthur Miller." Critical Companion to Arthur Miller: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 2 May. 2012.
Bovard, Karen. "Witch-Hunting, Thwarted Desire, and Girl Power: Arthur Miller's The Crucible." The Crucible, New Edition, Bloom's Guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 3 May. 2012.
Bigsby, Christopher. "The Theme of Betrayal in The Crucible." From Arthur Miller: 1915– 1962, 447–48, 449. Harvard University Press, 2009. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 3 May. 2012.
Mason, Jeffrey D. "The Women." From Stone Tower: The Political Theater of Arthur Miller, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. The Crucible, New Edition, Bloom's guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 3 May.
"Rediscovering the Witches in Arthur Miller's The Crucible: A Feminist Reading" The Crucible, New Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 3 May. 2012.
Abbotson, Susan C. W. "Family relationships in the works of Arthur Miller." Critical Companion to Arthur Miller: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 2 May. 2012.
Bovard, Karen. "Witch-Hunting, Thwarted Desire, and Girl Power: Arthur Miller's The Crucible." The Crucible, New Edition, Bloom's Guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 3 May. 2012.
Bigsby, Christopher. "The Theme of Betrayal in The Crucible." From Arthur Miller: 1915– 1962, 447–48, 449. Harvard University Press, 2009. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 3 May. 2012.
Mason, Jeffrey D. "The Women." From Stone Tower: The Political Theater of Arthur Miller, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. The Crucible, New Edition, Bloom's guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 3 May.