MRS. PUTNAM: This is no silly season, Rebecca. My Ruth is bewildered, Rebecca; she cannot eat.
REBECCA: Perhaps she is not hungered yet.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 1. Rebecca Nurse attempts to bring sense and logic to the situation, when Ann Putnam claims that her daughter Ruth cannot eat because she is under some spell. Rebecca’s calm and composure is in stark contrast to the hysteria of some of the other characters in the play. She simply suggests that Ruth is not yet hungry.