Read this article: https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/01/mass-hysteria-in-upstate-new-york-why-lori-brownell-and-13-other-teenage-girls-are-showing-tourettes-like-symptoms.html
Then, answer the following questions. The letters of the correct answers will form your code. (ALL CAPS)
The writer asserts, “The phenomenon has been observed for centuries, with the blame shifting to whatever specific anxieties are culturally pervasive at the time.” Which of the following best describes the culturally pervasive anxieties Arthur Miller represents in “The Crucible?”
a. A fear of fungus on crops and the stress of church politics
b. Paranoia of witchcraft and the devil and a fear of Communism
c. Anxiety about outside attacks from Native Americans
d. Fear of one’s neighbors
Which piece of evidence from the article would best support Miller’s belief that the Salem Witch trials were a result of repression?
a. "The phenomenon has been observed for centuries, with the blame shifting to whatever specific anxieties are culturally pervasive at the time.”
b. “Some scholars have also argued that hysterical episodes allow women to take a break from daily drudgeries, or to rage against patriarchal cultures within the safe bounds of demon possession or poisoning.”
c. “Victims of mass hysteria are so often female that gender imbalance is one clue doctors use to differentiate hysteria from poisoning.”
d. “Sociologist Robert Bartholomew noted in a 2001 book on mass hysteria that girls are trained to turn their anxieties inward, while anxious boys are likelier to act out.”
The writer explains, “If girls can find no outlet for reckless abandon, in other words, they’ll create one,” and then quotes Barbara Ehrenreich, Elizabeth Hess, and Gloria Jacobs: “To abandon control—to scream, faint, dash about in mobs—was, in form if not in conscious intent, to protest the sexual repressiveness, the rigid double standard of female teen culture.” These quotes best explain which of the following events in “The Crucible?”
a. Abigail’s threats toward the other girls
b. Abigail stabbing herself and using the poppet to frame Goody Proctor
c. The girls dancing and making charms in the woods
d. Ruth Putnam accusing George Jacobs of witchcraft
The last paragraph describes a case from 1789 New England. In what way is this case similar to the events of “The Crucible?”
a. Similar to the women in the factory, the girls in “The Crucible” have no outlet for leisure or self-expression, and therefore act out due to the stress of repression.
b. The Puritan girls in “The Crucible” are overworked in the fields and simply want a break from their labor, similar to the women in the factory.
c. Abby and the girls return to normal after being offered a chance to express their emotions, similar to how the women in the factory were fine after letting loose a little.
d. Similar to Mrs. Putnam’s anxiety over her dead babies, these women acted out due to stress over their children and other issues.
Which quote from “The Crucible” best exemplifies mass hysteria, as defined in this article?
a. HALE: "No man may longer doubt the powers of the dark are gathered in monstrous attack up on this village. There is too much evidence now to deny it”
b. PROCTOR: Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God’s fingers? I’ll tell you what’s walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem.
c. DANFORTH: In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it?
d. MARY WARREN: I--I cannot tell you how [I saw spirits], but I did. I--I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them, and I--It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I--I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not.”
