《激情年代》The Crucible

Rachel H. The quintessential example of a majority opinion being a poor guide is Arthur Millers The Crucible. In the book, there was no character that was able to stand up against the majority opinion, in an attempt to infuse another perspective on the situation, The Salem society was so absorbed with one idea of the truth, that no one was able to break free. In the small Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts a witch trial is born on the foundation of a young girls lie. The township spirals out of control with persecutions and dooms innocent men and women. The town is so consumed by the majority opinion that they are unable to see truths until it is too late. Small communities like in The Crucibal often act like cults against a common enemy. Once one person jumped to accusations, the rest of the majority ends up being a poor path to follow, and sets off a chain reaction of persecutions across New England.

點評：用漂亮的用詞（quintessential example）開頭，加上亮眼的短語，比如“spirals out of control”，以及對戲劇所反射出來的社會現象的精彩分析，比如“Small communities like in The Crucibal often act like cults against a common enemy”，使得該段非常精彩。