The Crucilbe

Salem itself features many characteristics that are common of dystopian settings: strict social stratification, as in Brave New World; restricted sexuality and the melding of church and state, as in The Handmaid's Tale; minimal privacy and required conformity, as in 1984; and invasive political apparatus, as in Fareneheit 451. But by virtue of having actually existed, Salem itself cannot be a proper dystopia, by definition. Rather, The Crucible is a dystopian narrative, making use of the tropes of the genre to dramatize the real history of the Salem witch trials.