Kitchen Witch Essay

From emancipation leading all the way to the 20th century, African American women struggled to find better opportunities outside of their agricultural laborer and domestic servant roles. In Cooking in Other Women’s Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865-1960, author Rebecca Sharpless illustrates how African American women in the American South used domestic work, such as cooking, as a stepping stone from their old lives to the start of their new ones. Throughout the text, Sharpless is set out to focus on the way African American women used cooking to bridge slavery and them finding their own employment, explore how these women could function in a world of low wages, demanding work, and omnipresent racial strife, and refute stereotypes about these cooks. With the use of cookbooks, interviews, autobiographies, and letters from the women, Sharpless guides readers to examine the personal lives and cooking profession of these African American women and their ambition to support themselves and their families.

To completely understand the history of New England witchcraft you have to understand the role of colonial women. The author of this book, Carol Karlsen, used a lot of Secondary and primary sources to support her thesis. She uses first hand accounts of witch

Most observers now agree that witches in the villages and towns of the late Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century New England tended to be poor. They were usually not the poorest women in the community, but the moderately poor. Karlsen tries to show that a woman who was vulnerable was most likely to be accused of being a witch. Even women who had gained wealth because of the death of a husband were prime candidates.

From emancipation, leading all the way to the 20th century, African American women struggled to find better opportunities outside of their agricultural laborer and domestic servant roles. In Cooking in Other Women’s Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865-1960, author Rebecca Sharpless illustrates how African American women in the American South used domestic work, such as cooking, as a stepping stone from their old lives to the start of their new ones. Throughout the text, Sharpless is set out to focus on the way African American women used cooking to bridge slavery and them finding their own employment, explore how these women could function in a world of low wages, demanding work, and omnipresent racial strife, and refute stereotypes about these cooks. With the use of cookbooks, interviews, autobiographies, and letters from the women, Sharpless guides readers to examine the personal lives and cooking profession of these African American women and their ambition to support themselves and their families.

John Demos’s nine point portrait of a witch is one way to analysis the case of Rebecca Nurse. To do so, one must first evaluate and understand the history of Rebecca Nurse and her role in the Salem in the late 1600’s. Rebecca Nurse was the wife of Francis Nurse, a farmer who became wealthy after buying and tending a large plot of land between Salem Village and Salem Town. Together they had eight children, and as a family they were prosperous. Connecting this information to Demos’s portrait of a witch, Rebecca Nurse falls under the first four points made in his sketch. These first two points are that she was “female” and that she was of “middle age”. However, the latter point is slightly inaccurate because Nurse was older than sixty years. The final two points that Rebecca Nurse falls under in Demos’s portrait of a witch are that she was of “English” and “Puritan” descent and culture, and that she was “married”, with little or no children. Again, the latter point is not fully accurate because Rebecca Nurse, while married, had, in fact, eight children in her lifetime. The significance of these traits of Rebecca Nurse agree, for the most part, with the

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”. In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, puritans believed that witches existed and because of this belief twenty innocent people were sent to their death. The puritans believed every single word of the bible. There were at least three causes of the Salem Witch Trial Histeria of 1692, One reason was gender, age and marital status. Another reason is girls lying, jealousy.

Reasons for being accused of witchcraft are multidimensional, and although there is no definitive reason, gender was likely a major reason as to why someone was seem as likely to be a witch. In colonial New England, gender was set by strict standards and was in no way fluid. It is indisputable that women were especially vulnerable to be charged with witchcraft. Puritans were guilty of sexism even before the witch trials; the biblical story of Adam and Eve was an example of how Eve had disobeyed God and caused the downfall of man. Consequently, rebellious women were accused of witchcraft because they emulated Eve’s disobedience (Godbeer 13). Most notably, acting outside of one’s gender roles was grounds for accusations. As previously mentioned,

The witch craze had widely spread through Europe from the Middle Ages up to the 1700’s. Those who were accused of being a witch were persecuted by the use of torture. The number of “witches” who were tried surpassed 100,000. Witches were not viewed too fondly, for they were assumed to associate with the Devil. The three major reasons for the persecutions of witches were economic greed, age and gender bias, and religious beliefs.

In 1692 nineteen women and men were accused of witchcraft. There has to be reasons for the accusations; however, scholars disagree on what led the accusers to accuse the "witches". Some believe it was character traits that led the village to do this act; others still think it was sexist’ intolerance. Because religion is the biggest factor of being Puritan, religious persecution is the main motive for making people of Salem accuses others of witchery; because of its fundamental part in the Puritan society.

This is not to say that villagers simply created the myth of witchcraft on the spot as a means of obtaining a scapegoat, but, rather, that they latched onto rumours, morphed from old folklore and spread about the village, of witches that would cause misfortune to their neighbours. This is exactly the kind of behaviour we see in the play, as the villagers of Edmonton use the accusation of ‘witchcraft’ in order to wield power, not only over Sawyer herself, but over the events in their village which they wish to prevent. The villagers appear to have known that Sawyer is a witch for some time, but it is not until a villager blames her for their misfortunes, that others speak out and claim that she has wronged them, too. For example, towards the end of the play, Old Banks claims that his horse has become suddenly ill, and says ‘and this, I’ll take my death upon’t, is long of this jadish witch Mother Sawyer.’ A countryman then speaks out, and claims that he found his wife and a serving man ‘thrashing in [his] barn together such corn as country wenches carry to market’, which he reasons must also be the work of

She accuses others of witchcraft as the trials take place. She is a very smart girl.

"I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!" The Wicked Witch of the West...

Great writers convey their message without bluntly stating it to their audience. Hardy’s insightful poetry conjures the minds of his audience and encourages them to reflect on how inhumane the social classes were and how poorly women were treated without every saying it. Because of its’ simplicity and relatability Hardy’s clever use of an everyday conversation between two women is more powerful than any lengthy lecture or straightforward statement he could have given.

Revenge of the Witch is the first book in The Last Apprentice series, written by James Delaney. The story revolves around Thomas Ward, a boy who receives an apprenticeship with a man named The Spook - the person who fights dark and evil spirits and creatures in the County, the place they both live in. These include boggarts, witches, ghasts, and others. In this specific book, Tom starts his apprenticeship and learns many things. He meets a girl named Alice - who is actually a witch. He promises her a favor.

Semiotics of the kitchen by Martha Rosler and Safe by Todd Haynes both revolves around the theme on Feminism. One is performing and the other acting, as to how women are depicted as weak or strong in character in different scenerios. In Martha Rosler’s six minutes video art, it represents a Martha Rosler, a women who performs using kitchen tools based in a kitchen setting. While, Safe by Todd Haynes is a two-hour plus film where it depicts a female character that slowly weakens in her mental and physical state as she have contracted a virus called “environmental illness” or rather multiple chemical sensitivity in the twentieth century. Her condition worsens as the film progresses.