“You either control your mind or it controls you” (Hill). Could our fear control us? Could we control our fears? Fear has a power that can control someone mentally and physically.
Fear can cause you to see things mentally but not physically. In The Crucible, many people feared witches and the devil, and yet no one personally witnessed either one. The fear of witches and the devil, despite seeing them, made everyone in the village paranoid. This caused the people to believe any rumors or accusations about them seeing the witch or the devil. Also, in The Crucible, Abigail and a group of girls were yelling to the judge as to whom they saw with the devil. They feared being convicted and mentally they saw people with the devil. The girls accused whoever they disliked. All just to direct the judges thoughts away from the situation being false and lies. The Crucible is an example of how fear can mess with our mind. The girls are afraid of their own consequences that they could face, therefore they accuse innocent people of crimes they never committed. Personally fear messed with me mentally, growing up I never liked being in dark areas as I feared darkness. The fear of darkness came with the fear of monsters in my room, mentally I thought I would see monsters but in reality there was nothing there to be seen (Childhood, Teenage, and Adult Fears). Fear plays with your mind to the point where you assume things and imagine things.
Fear causes a person to do things or believe in things one wouldn’t do naturally. We see this in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. People feared the consequences that would be given to them if they disobeyed their tasks given. Everyone feared God because they were mentally scared to disobey him in fear of the punishment. God tricked their minds into believing and doing things they didn’t want to, however because of their fear, they did what god wanted. Another example is the song “I am a Rock” the man isolates himself from the outside world. He feared publicity and in his mind he thought he wouldn’t fit in with the outside world. This resulted in locking himself away from interacting at public events and with people. When fear takes over we lose control and the sense of right and wrong. In 2016 people were dressing up as clowns and going out and scaring people on the streets. Fear set in causing the situation to get to the point that many were threatening to shoot the clowns and later formed mobs. The public believed the clowns were trying to harm them which led many to be afraid and out of fear threats were made. People saw the clowns as serious threats (Pumphrey). The power of fear plays with your mind causing you to believe in things that aren’t true and causing you to act differently.
Fear can change the way you act or who you are in general. In “I am a Rock ” the man wanted nothing to do with people, therefore he isolated himself from any form of interaction. The power of fear in “I am a Rock” had him so scared of the public that he distanced himself from the outside world. Fear caused the man to live in isolation and change his life completely. Just like the man, Jamal in the Finding Forrester, Jamal didn’t like people knowing how smart he was, he thought his friends wouldn’t accept him. The idea in fear of not being accepted by his friends caused him to change who he was. Jamal would purposely fail his schoolwork, yet would excel on his tests. Along with Jamal, we see another character who is affected by fear in a negative mental way. Mr. Forrester didn’t like Jamal, or anyone who would talk about the book he had written. In fact Mr. Forrester became angry at those who talked about his book. Mr. Forrester feared he would never be able to write another book as good as the first one. This fear made Forrester act in a different way about writing. Whatever was written inside his apartment was not allowed to leave or to be spoken. Fearing something like acceptance or failure to succeed or fear in general can change a person in many ways. The effects can be isolating themselves or being the average person, like Jamal did in the beginning, for acceptance. Everyone acts in their own way when they fear something in life, and it could be either good or bad.
“You are confined only by the walls you build yourself” (Murphy). If we let fear take control over us, we could be living our lives in isolation and a constant state of unknown. Meaning that the only way our fear can control us is based on how we control our fears. The more you let your fears take hold of you, the harder it is to take back control of your very own life. Fear comes in many forms, however, you have the choice as to how you will handle its power.
Work Cited
“Childhood, Teenage, and Adult Fears”. Fear Stations Activity, October 2019.
Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Prentice Hall: Timeless Voices,
Timeless Themes. New Jersey: Pearson, 2005. 108-112.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Prentice Hall: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. New Jersey:
Pearson, 2005. 1233-1334.
Pumphrey, Clint. “10 Scare-Inducing Moments in History.” HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 25 Oct. 2016, history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/10-scariest-events-in-history.htm.Shant, Gus Van, director. Finding Forrester. Columbia Pictures, 2000.
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