The Witch Of Blackbird Pond Summary

In this book Carol Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in 17th century New England, and brings forth the portrait of gender in the New England Society.

Question #2: In the book The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, my feelings towards the character Matthew Wood changed throughout the story. At first I didn't really like him. He seemed unwelcoming to his niece Kit who had just arrived from a nine day trip on a ship. “Seven times he returned bending his tall frame to enter the doorway, and with wordless disapproval set down one after the other the seven trunks. (Speare 38) Next, he made fun of Kit’s clothes. On page 43 it says, “Her uncle regarded her with scorn. “No one in my family has any use for such frippery,” he said coldly.” (Speare 43) The last reason why I didn’t really get a good vibe from him was because he forbid Kit from seeing her friend Hannah. I understood why he didn’t really allow it because everyone in the town believed she was a witch, but he called her heretic which was rude.

While spring is a time for growth, newlife, and awakening, in the spring of 1692 a rotten presence (both figuratively and literally) swept over Salem Village, Massachusetts when a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. Not only was this the spark of a religious uproar in the quaint, puritan town; but a spark that lit the match which eventually convicted over a hundred innocent people and claimed 20 lives. While the true pain of these trials cannot be seen in photographs or videos, it can be experienced through the words that have been written. In Marilynne Roach’s novel, “Six Women of Salem”, she tells the untold story of six women who underwent the grueling Salem witchcraft trials, and she evoked a strong sense of empathy for the victims through her use of first person narratives and factual evidence. Through these devices Roach successfully highlighted the twisted, prejudice, and uneducated society that America was, and, in some ways, still is today.

In The witches Stacy Schiff starts off by giving accurate background information of what happened in Salem. Fourteen women and five men died in 1692 because of the witch trials. Then Schiff starts to get in to detail. In the village minister’s house, the two little girls crawled under the furniture it was a great hassle to get them out, they would make made silly noises, spread their arms out like wings and pretended they could fly. Betty Parris nine years old who was the parson’s daughter, and cousin Abigail Williams who was eleven years old. These actions were absurd hence they have always been exemplary children. Soon enough comments began to spread through Salem: The children had been bewitched. Then Clergymen started coming then the

After her grandfather’s death in 1687, 16 year-old Kit feels that she must leave and sail to the only relatives she knows of, her uncle and aunt in Wethersfield, Connecticut. She desperately travels there on a ship called the Dolphin, where she meets a gentleman named Nat. She and Nat have a very playful relationship, Nat always has a mocking grin on his face and Kit occasionally flirts with him on the boat. When she arrives in Wethersfield, Connecticut, she is taken by surprise at the dull landscape and endless fields. Kit meets her uncle, a strict and sometimes grumpy man named Matthew Wood, her aunt, a sweet and caring woman named Rachel, her cousin Judith, a picky and vain young lady who’s otherwise kind, and her other cousin Mercy, a

This is a book broken into chapters with 376 pages. This novel discusses the people and events that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. The author, Emerson Baker, does this by taking a large number of primary documents, scholarly interpretation, and speculations from the centuries that surround the trials. Baker examines the trials inside the 1600 time period, he then places the trials into the bigger picture of American history

The novel Conversion by Katherine Howe, published in 2014, is an incredibly gripping teen mystery that includes suspense, satire, and sadness all at once. The story centers around an all girls private school and its eerie similarity to the female hysteria during the colonial Salem witch trials. Howe, a descendent of three of the women accused of witchcraft during these trials, was interested in the topic of this time period and sought out to find a reasoning behind the accusations made upon the women. The novel varies its chapters and the timeline of the story between those set in the current time of 2012 and others taking place back in 1706. With these chapters switching back and forth, readers begin to notice the strange resemblance of the

In Rosalyn Schanzer book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem a story is told about a time when Salem, Massachusetts was flooded with witchcraft accusations. In 1692 Betty Parris and Abigail Williams started having mysterious fits. After a doctor examined the girls he diagnosed them with being bewitched! The people started a hunt for all witches in the new land. The first cause are the accusations, the second cause, the fits and the third cause is anger.

In, “Six Women of Salem” by, Marilynne K. Roach she does three major things that make her book extraordinary. First, her interesting style of writing skillfully strengthens the envelope of time in the book. Second, Roach masterfully answers any questions the reader or I may have or had about these Witch Trails. Third, K. Roach successfully illustrates to her readers the story of these horrid trials. In the stories of the six women, Roach helps us grasp events of the trials in the conditions

Stacy Schiff’s national bestseller The Witches highlights the suspicions, betrayals and hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, the commonwealth of Massachusetts executed five men, fourteen women, and two dogs for witchcraft. One might wonder how and why this Puritan colony became so caught up in this witch frenzy. In this book she is able to paint a clear picture of the panic that occurred among the people of Salem.

The witchcraft crisis through colonial New England is visualized through the work of Mary Beth Norton and Carol F. Karlsen. The scholars demonstrate deep understanding in the subject, and both present valid information through their overall theses. In order to understand the complete story of witchery in the seventeenth-century, these two books intrigue the reader in what the authors want to present. Although, their research seems bias, both historians similarly delve into the topic with an open mind, and successfully uncover information that has not be presented before. Not only does Norton’s In the Devil’s Snare and Karlsen’s The Devil in the Shape of a Woman both represent the study of witchcraft through feminist ideals, Karlsen’s

In this essay I will talk about two main central ideas. First, some people accuse innocent people for witchery. Secondly, there is a lot of hatred in the town of Salem.

As the story of Tituba unfolds, it reveals a strong and kind hearted young woman, very different from the Tituba we meet in The Crucible. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem unveils for the reader, Tituba's life, loves, and losses. Her long and arduous journey through life is inspired by her many female counterparts, yet also hindered by her insatiable weakness for men, who also press upon her the realities of life.

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

These many details contribute to her important role in the novel. Tom saw in her eyes a motherly instinct, the one who heals, and an influential person in their lives. “From her position as healer, her hands had grown sure and cool and quiet; from her position as arbiter. She had become as remote and faultless in judgment as a goddess” (100).