Feelings of Security and Insecurity - Belonging

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“Feelings of security or insecurity are closely linked to an individual’s sense of belonging.”

Security within oneself stems from an individual’s ability and desire to belong to place, people, time, community or family. Equally, an individual imposed on by authority will experience a sense of not-belonging and thus, to a wider extent, insecurity within themselves and the community holistically. Security is defined as the freedom from risk or danger, mentally and physically. Insecurity is a feeling of general unease or nervousness that may be triggered by the perception of oneself to be vulnerable in some way, it is this sense of vulnerability or instability which threatens one's self-image or ego. This notion of insecurity, is explored thoroughly throughout Arthur Millers’ play “The Crucible” and Ken Kesey’s allegorical novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (One Flew), specifically through the characterisation of both texts’ protagonists as well as the other major characters. The themes explored throughout the texts demonstrate the intensity to which authority can diminish an individual’s rights, freedoms and ways of thinking. The notion of social dissention and the effect hysteria and injustice can have on a society as a whole and the use of dramatic techniques and theatrical devices are other ways in which insecurity and not-belonging are highlighted throughout the duration of each text
“The Crucible” is a play written by Arthur Miller, set in Salem in 1692 during the times of the Salem Witch Trials; it explores the ideas associated with the permanent derangement of the American psyche and the compromising of judicial and democratic rights as those whose loyalties were considered suspect, found themselves accused and condemned by innuendo rather than by any proof of wrongdoing. The sensationalism of these accusations increased public insecurity as individuals

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