Thomas+Putnam

How Much Influence Did Thomas Putnam Really Have? Posted by: Kierie Smith

Research Summary To begin with, Thomas Putnam's situation with his children is completely different. In the book, __The Crucible__ Thomas Putnam only has one daughter, Ruth. All of his children before and after that had died sometime after birth. However, in real life, Thomas Putnam and his wife, Ann Putnam had not only that one daughter (Ann Jr. being her real name) but also several other healthy and alive children. Only one child, Sarah, died six weeks after birth. To add to that, in real life, Putnam got Ann Jr. to say that a man named, John Willard had killed Sarah through witchcraft. Whereas in the book, both mother and daughter claimed it to be Rebecca Nurse.

Thomas Putnam was the cheif filer of all the complaints in the village and had complete control over both his daughter and the servant of the house, Mercy Lewis. To add to that he was either related to or friends with all of the people that was accusing others. His daughter, Ann Jr. became the most active accuser after Betty Parris was sent away. She claimed to have been afflicted by 62 seperate people. Even his wife got herself mixed up in it. She was the only adult to be afflicted aswell.

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