Balance of Freedom and Order

In the Crucible, Arthur Miller is correct in suggesting that our society has failed to achieve a balance between order and freedom. The Crucible takes place in a puritan society where order was everything. If a person in the community did not follow the strict puritanical rules of behavior, they were suspected of working for the devil. This extreme use of order forced people into an insane blame game to deflect blame from themselves. Order without any freedom seems like a recipe for disaster, but freedom without order can also be very dangerous. In the early 1800’s, many Southerners were allowed to own slaves. This lack of order allowed whites to use African Americans in inhumane ways. Southern slave owners argued that the government would be encroaching on their freedom and use of their property. Another more modern example of too much freedom is the gun laws in the United States. People have the freedom to own guns if that is what they want, which has led to mass shootings at schools, gang violence and accidental deaths from people playing with guns when they don’t properly know how to use them. Arthur Miller’s argument is spot on when he claims that we have not found the balance between order and freedom. This issue arises continually in Supreme Court cases and everyday life. The dispute between the balance of order and freedom will always be unresolved because everyone has different ideas of when freedom or order is necessary.