The Apothecary

Four years after the end of World War II in 1945, the People’s Republic of China was formally established, and a year later, the Korean War began. This led to a deep suspicion that Americans of Chinese or Korean descent could be communists or communist sympathizers. Increasing Cold War tensions between the US and Soviet Russia heightened fears that communist ideas were undermining US government and society: “The intense rivalry between the two superpowers raised concerns in the United States that Communists and leftist sympathizers in America might actively work as Soviet spies and pose a threat to U.S. security” (“Red Scare.” History, 27 Feb. 2025). These fears are reflected in the novel through the Scott family’s experiences and prompt their move to escape political persecution.

The political situation compels Janie’s family to leave the country after a friend’s family fled to Mexico when the government targeted her father and US marshals followed Janie home. Her father tells her, “Something called the House Committee on Un-American Activities—has gotten so paranoid about the idea [of communism] […] that they’re going after innocent people who may hold the idea or have held it in the past” (10). The real-world counterpart, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was formed in 1938 and gained momentum in the late 1940s during Senator Joseph McCarthy’s rise to power.