I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé

The trouble in Salem began in January, 1692 when Tituba, a slave from the West Indies was talking to Elizabeth Parris, daughter of the Reverend Samuel Parris, and his niece, Abigail Williams about their futures. After telling them their futures, the girls begin to cry hysterically and act strangely as if bewitched. These fits could be brought on by the idea that their futures as Puritan child-bearing women was at risk or also by the girl’s wanted attention that they had no chance at getting regularly in Puritan society. Tituba also is undergoing torments at this time, seeing specters and having the same type of fits that the other girls are having. As the fits begin to happen to other

This shows they are treated like animals and not as equals. TJ is considered disposable by the white men as they do not care what happens to him. Also the fact that there was no legal intervention displays how racist the community really was towards black people. In my opinion, I think Mildred Taylor included this in the novel to show that no one stood up to it even though it was unjust and unfair.

If there isn't a child yet, may his wife never bear one! I know you can do it! Everyone says you are the most awesome of witches!"pg 86 This is what the residents in Salem led to think of Tituba. But was she really a witch, or was she evil like how the Puritans viewed them? Did she use her power to harm people or to comfort people? Did her actions strike sickness or to cure them?

Tituba’s fear of physical harm motivates her to cry witch. Reverend Hale’s harsh treatment of Tituba causes her to cower from him even before being accused of witchcraft. Tituba’s fear increases when Abigail accuses her of making her “drink blood” (43). Reverend Hale in turn concludes that Tituba serves the Devil. Reverend Hale orders her to wake Betty who she has sent her “spirit out upon” (44). Initially, Tituba pleads that she “don’t compact with no Devil” (44) but when she realizes that she

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Tituba is most to blame for the Salem Witch Trials. Tituba was a slave from Barbados that worked for Reverend Parris. She performed the roles of the wife, even though they were not married. Tituba practices what the Puritans contemplates as black magic, but she only practices at the appeal of Abigail Williams. She never considered spell casting, dancing, and singing was premeditated evil because those practices were spiritual and common descending from her African roots. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Tituba’s flaws Gullibility, Immaturity, and Ignorance that led her to be most responsible for the tragedy of the witch-hunt in Salem.

In the evenings Tituba entertained little Betty and her cousin Abigail Williams by the kitchen fire. She played fortune-telling games and told them stories of magic and spirits from the Caribbean. Tituba was pointed out by the three girls and accused of teaching them witchcraft and fortune telling, which resulted in their strange behavior. Tituba did not deny the allegations. She confessed to being a witch after Reverend Parris beat her.

The Salem Witch Trials were a dark spot in America’s early history. During a time where acts of the unknown were simply considered spiritual signs or supernatural forces with meanings; the early American settlers in Salem, Massachusetts were plagued with what they claimed were acts of the Devil putting witches in their town to disrupt Puritan beliefs and actions. One of the earliest accused witches was the village pastor’s slave Tituba Indian. Tituba was especially vulnerable to accusations to due to her extreme double minority status as well as the fact that she was owned by the village pastor.

Tituba was a women considered to be an outcasts of the village since she has very little dignity in being a slave. These false accusations lead Tituba to be condemned to death. This unjust act is only the beginning of a series of false allegations that take control of Salem, as well as the spreading of paranoia and hysteria through the village. This finally results in the deaths of the some of the main characters, such as Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor, for carrying out acts of witchcraft.

That was a quote from Mrs Putnam. I think the fact that she has lost 7 babies makes her think it is work of the devil trying to punish the “good”. Once everyone believed it was the work of the devil, they blamed Tituba who is only low class person in the household and her being a black slave makes it easy for everyone to blame her because as she doesn’t have any power or authority she won’t react and her coming from a completely different culture to than the people in Salem makes the believe that she is affected by the witch and devil.

When Abigail accused her of witchcraft, Tituba dined all of the accusations. Unlike Abigail, Tituba did not have a plan to defend herself. She was also not able to control the girls and make them tell the truth. When Tituba was threatened to be hanged, she changed her mentality on the situation. Instead of dining what she had done, she confessed her sins. During her confession, shame affected what she revealed to the others. Tituba said that the devil had control of her, and wanted her to kill Reverend Parris. This was Tituba’s way of admitting that she had thought about killing Reverend Paris. Tituba also took the center of attention off of herself by

In the novel A Mercy, poetry collection of Thrall, and the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano the author use historical events and rewrite them based on the black experience. Both Thrall and A Mercy are neo-slave narratives in which the author did extensive research on the history of slavery and rewrote certain aspects in the form of a story to educate the masses. Olaudah Equiano however, being written by the author about his own experience of being stolen from his village as a boy and later on in life coming to realize that he identifies as a European is a true story. A Mercy rewrites the experience of black voodoo culture and witchcraft during the time of slave codes with striking similarities to the story of Tituba. Thrall has several poems inspired by true story and paintings from Europe during the times of slavery. Despite the contrast in how both of these are written they all share a common thread on the treatment of black slave during that time. In A Mercy, Thrall, and the autobiography of Equiano all being to take on the culture of their slavers and are labeled as barbaric for their culture and are forced to see culture through the eyes of others.

The decisions that Tituba made throughout her trial, contributed in a substantial magnitude to the American history that’s known nowadays. If it wasn 't for the confession of the actions that Tituba made, the unfolding of the witch trials might have had a different angle. Braslow discuses, “Tituba is perceived during the trials as a woman, as a slave, as an American Indian, and as an outsider in a Puritan society”. Being an outsider in a world where if you make one mistake, must have been terrifying for Tituba, and perhaps she felt that by confessing, she would have more opportunities to survive. She initiated an era of terror among the European society, an era of witchcraft and hostility towards women, like Tituba, that were only mostly peasant and ignorant women, without any knowledge and influence over people. Church communities, manifested hatred towards women that were merely part of an injustice act. These women did not understand what was happening, and even some were convinced of

One of the reasons that I chose to read this book was because I had prior knowledge of the Salem Witch Trials from reading The Crucible in high school. Reading The Crucible helped me when I read In the Devil’s Snare because I recognized a lot of the people’s names. In particular, I recognized the name of Titbua. Samuel Pairs’ daughter and niece accused Tituba for bewitching them. Tituba was believed to have had known people who were witches, but she denied being one. It is interesting to note that In the Devil’s Snare refers to Tituba as Reverend Pairs’s Indian Slave, when I read The Crucible and saw the movie; I always believed that Tituba was African. Norton states that “Many scholars have addressed these questions…. Every surviving piece of contemporary evidence identifies her as an Indian. Later tradition transformed her into an African or half African slave.” Since Tituba was an Indian this

In Maryse Conde novel, I Tituba Black Witch of Salem, Conde tells the story of Tituba a woman condemned for witchcraft in Salem. Conde opens the novel with story of Tituba’s mother, Abena taken from Africa and raped on a ship for the island of Barbados. Conde uses Tituba’s violent conception and racial identity to foretell Tituba’s struggles with a patriarchal society, Christianity and race. First sentence of the novel states, “Abena, my mother, was raped by an English sailor on the deck of Christ the King…”(Conde). Conde stresses Tituba’s racial identity as a mulatto through Abena and the contrast to the English sailor.

2. Describe her yearning for home, for Barbados, and give examples. She is now living in exile, a major theme in Caribbean women's writings. It is important that Tituba comes to identify with Barbados which is home. For example its people during her exile in Salem. Condé wanted to address the story at a point in her life when she wanted to address issues of birthplace and