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Salem Possessed Essay. In the book Salem Possessed, the authors Paul Boyer
and Stephen Nissenbaum attempt to explain the causes and ...
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possessed by demons ... Bourgault Du Coudray writes in her essay that werewolves ...
Submitted by IWritePapers on October 6, 2007
Category: American History
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In the book Salem Possessed, the authors Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum attempt to explain the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, the authors identify many things that made this specific community unique from other Puritan societies of the era, and how those components triggered the outbreak of witchcraft accusations while similar communities did not experience anything so extreme. Supporting their arguments with statistics ranging from differences in taxes to specific family connections, they succeed in convincing the reader that these trials were a unique and unfortunate occurrence that could have only taken place under the most specific of conditions; these conditions were met in Salem.
Salem was divided into two separate regions; Salem Town, and Salem Village. As time passed and the development of this Puritan society developed, a social and economic split emerged between the two regions, demonstrated by the Putnam and Porter families, who will be discussed below. The village, for the most part, felt disconnected from the town life and desired more social independence, requesting their own meeting house so they would not have to venture long distances to reach the one located in Salem Town. Most significantly, the west side of the village felt increasingly removed from town activities, living many miles away from the town’s boundaries. The people residing on the far west side, while not being able to fully participate in town activities due to its inconvenient location, still had to participate in mandatory night watches as members of the community. Although they argued that it was unfair and troublesome to make such a long journey, they were granted little relief from this burden; social divisions between the town and village continued to grow.
The village itself, however, was split into two separate sides; the aforementioned split in society applied much more to the west side than to the east side....
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