American Literature Today: Importance and Relevance

American Literature is important today because it helps us learn from past mistakes. For example, in the story of Sarah Good we see how people were wrongfully accused of something so ridiculous, that many lost their lives for it. Sarah Good was convicted in 1692 by two young women, Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, for causing them to act in weird ways. This is how the story goes for more than 200 people. They were all accused with little to no evidence, and were later murdered for no reason. After all of this, many would think the government would have changed its ways, but this is still happening today. A study conducted by Samuel Gross and his colleagues shows that there is a 4.1 percent error rate for those who are sentenced to death. If these people are lucky their sentence is lowered to life in jail, but for others they die knowing that they should be free and that’s just wrong.

During the Salem Witch Trials there were only a few things you could do to be completely proven innocent. One of these was the accused person would have to read scripture aloud and if they couldn’t, they were a witch. Sarah Good, not being educated at all and couldn’t read, was tested this was. With her having no reading ability at all, Sarah Good was not able to read scripture and was convicted guilty on the spot. This all shows us that government was too easily influenced and persuaded by those who accused innocent people for no reason. During the Witch Trials the government was given little to no evidence at all and it always seemed that they would always side with those accusing someone of something so ridiculous. All they relied on were what children and other unreliable sources were saying. Now today, the government looks more into the cases. If this hadn’t happened back then, maybe today our government would care a lot less about certain types of cases that they get. At that time the government didn’t care to look in depth in the cases that had to deal with witches because they were all so scared and convinced that witches were real that they would’ve believed anyone was a witch. Own families and friends would turn on each other so that they would not be accused of being a witch. Sarah's husband even testified against Sarah say that she had a mole on her back which interpreted a witch’s mark. Many had to watch their family and friends die because they were being wrongfully accused of something that wasn’t true. In the past government had too much power, and many are saying that the government still has too much power today.

According to Gallup’s annual Governance survey, conducted September 6-10, between 51% and 60% of people say that government is too powerful. Government is the biggest deciding factor when it comes to major events, including the death sentence. In Sarah Good's trial the government had the chance to save her and to look more in depth about her case. Instead they took what other people were saying and decided that it would be easier to just put her to death. All they did was accuse her of being a witch saying, “Sarah Good, do you not see now what you have done? Why do you not tell us the truth? Why do you thus torment these poor children?”. It was their laziness and idiocy that led to the deaths of Sarah and 200 other innocent lives. Even though the government hasn’t been the best, they still have changed a lot in the recent years. Without government today the world would most likely be more divided than it is already. The government helps to keep the majority of people safe and they protect our rights. Unlike the past they also help everyone get some sort of education. American Literature has influenced government to most likely take more time to look at court cases. Even though they do still convict innocent people, they also convict a lot of criminals as well. American Literature is an important factor in our society today. From government to the way people act today. It has helped us shape what the world is today. Without American Literature society might have been the exact same way it was back then. We now know how the events from the past should not be repeated today. How we needed to change to make the world a better place. The stories from the past will continue to be told so that all generations know how we need to continue to change and develop to not repeat the mistakes of the past.