I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem Character Analysis

Tituba

Tituba, the daughter of an Ashanti woman named Abena and the white man who assaulted her, is the protagonist of Maryse Condé’s novel. After losing both her mother and her adoptive father Yao at a… read analysis of Tituba

Mama Yaya

Mama Yaya is a Nago healer who lives on the outskirts of Darnell Davis’s plantation in Barbados. After Tituba is orphaned at the age of 7, Mama Yaya takes her in, and she quickly educates… read analysis of Mama Yaya

John Indian

John Indian is Tituba’s first lover, and despite his many flaws, he is also the love of her life. The two meet when John Indian, born to an indigenous father and a Nago mother… read analysis of John Indian

Hester

Hester becomes Tituba’s closest and most important friend after they meet in a jail cell near Salem. A prosperous white woman who has been outcast from Puritan society for having a brief affair with a… read analysis of Hester

Benjamin Cohen d’Azevedo

Benjamin d’Azevedo is an older, wealthy, Jewish merchant from Portugal. He purchases Tituba after the conclusion of the Salem witch trials, because he distrusts the Puritans and so does not put stock in their accusations… read analysis of Benjamin Cohen d’Azevedo

Abena

Abena is Tituba’s mother. As an Ashanti woman enslaved by Darnell Davis, Abena lives in constant fear of violence and sexual assault. When Darnell does indeed try to rape her, she strikes back… read analysis of Abena

Yao

Yao is an Ashanti man who has been captured, enslaved, and brought to Barbados; now, he too works on Darnell Davis’s plantation. Yao serves as both a mentor and a lover to Abena… read analysis of Yao

Christopher

Christopher is the leader of a group of maroons living high in the hills of Barbados. Having heard of Tituba’s healing powers, and inspired by the legend of the invulnerable maroon Ti-Noel, Christopher… read analysis of Christopher

Iphigene

Iphigene is a young, enslaved man who, after being nearly beaten to death by a plantation overseer, ends up in Tituba’s care. At first, Tituba views Iphigene like a son, and the two bond… read analysis of Iphigene

Susanna Endicott

Susanna Endicott is an elderly widow and landowner in Barbados. Though she claims to be anti-slavery, she has kept John Indian in bondage since he was a little boy—and once he marries Tituba, she… read analysis of Susanna Endicott

Samuel Parris

Samuel Parris is the brutal, hypocritical minister of Salem. After purchasing Tituba and John Indian as slaves from Susanna Endicott, Parris brings them to New England; from the moment she meets him, Tituba is… read analysis of Samuel Parris

Elizabeth Parris

Elizabeth Parris is the quiet, sickly wife of Samuel Parris. As they travel to Boston and then to Salem, Elizabeth and Tituba connect over their shared hatred of Parris; Elizabeth is especially resentful of her… read analysis of Elizabeth Parris

Betsey Parris

Betsey Parris is the young daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Parris. Initially, she and Tituba form a close bond, but Betsey is susceptible to the stories of witchcraft that Abigail circulates. Halfway through I, Tituba… read analysis of Betsey Parris

Abigail

Abigail (whose full name, historical records reveal, is Abigail Williams) is the teenaged niece of Samuel Parris and the central figure behind the witchcraft panic. As the leader of the young women in Salem, Abigail… read analysis of Abigail

Sarah Goode

Sarah Goode is one of the poorest residents of Salem village, often begging for money and sleeping outside because she cannot afford a home. She is also the mother of little Dorcas Goode. Though initially… read analysis of Sarah Goode

Sarah Osborne

Sarah Osborne is somewhat of a pariah in Salem; though she is wealthy, she has not attended church for many years, and as both Tituba and later historians suggest, she is dogged by rumors of… read analysis of Sarah Osborne

Judah White

Judah White is an herbal healer and one of the few Black women living in New England. She connects with Tituba in the forest outside Salem, explaining that she and Mama Yaya know each other… read analysis of Judah White

Deodatus

Deodatus is a sailor whom Tituba meets while on board the ship from New England back to Barbados. Deodatus remembers what happened to Tituba’s mother Abena, and the two form a connection based on… read analysis of Deodatus

Ti-Noel

Ti-Noel is legendary across Barbados for having founded the first maroon colony on the island. It is said that Ti-Noel is invincible, and his legacy inspires everyone from Tituba to Christopher. Though the factual details… read analysis of Ti-Noel

Samantha

After helping Samantha’s mother deliver her baby, Tituba becomes attached to the little girl—and even after Tituba dies, her love for Samantha lingers. It follows, then, that in the afterlife, Tituba chooses her as a… read analysis of Samantha

Darnell Davis

Darnell Davis is a prominent white plantation owner and slaveholder in Barbados, who purchases both Abena and Yao and pairs the two of them together. He is a hateful man, who mistreats his wife Jennifer… read analysis of Darnell Davis

Mary Sibley

Mary Sibley is a working-class resident of Salem. She is the first to greet Tituba and the Parris family upon their arrival, and she epitomizes the kind of casual racism and paranoia that Tituba will… read analysis of Mary Sibley

Goodwife Anne Putnam

As the wife of Thomas Putnam, one of the wealthiest men in all of Salem, Goodwife Putnam holds lots of social and political power within the village. Throughout the novel, she is shown to be… read analysis of Goodwife Anne Putnam

Little Anne Putnam

Little Anne Putnam is Goodwife Putnam’s daughter and one of Abigail’s best friends. Anne helps to catalyze the frenzy in Salem when, while a crowd of villagers watches, she has a fit and… read analysis of Little Anne Putnam

Rebecca Nurse

Rebecca Nurse is one of the most widely beloved residents of Salem village, until she is charged with witchcraft and executed. Though she is usually kinder to Tituba than some of the other villagers, she… read analysis of Rebecca Nurse

John Proctor

John Proctor, the stoic, honorable protagonist of the 1957 play The Crucible, is also a minor character in I, Tituba. A well-respected farmer in Salem during the witch trials, Proctor is consistently a voice… read analysis of John Proctor

Elizabeth Proctor

Elizabeth Proctor is the kind, quiet wife of John Proctor; though she is a minor character in I, Tituba, she is a major character (and the moral center) in Arthur Miller’s play The… read analysis of Elizabeth Proctor

Sarah

Sarah is a young, Black, enslaved woman in Salem. The woman Sarah works for is particularly violent, causing Sarah to seek Tituba’s help in getting revenge. When Tituba encourages Sarah to be better than… read analysis of Sarah

Dr. Griggs

Dr. Griggs is a doctor in Salem who also bills himself as a witchcraft expert. Initially, he and Tituba often collaborate to heal various residents of the village. But after Tituba is accused, Griggs turns… read analysis of Dr. Griggs

Dorcas Goode

Dorcas Goode is the young daughter of Sarah Goode. Dorcas grows up with little money or stability, and when her mother is initially accused and jailed, the only people who will take her in… read analysis of Dorcas Goode

Minor Characters

Jennifer Davis

Jennifer is the much younger wife of Darnell Davis. Because Jennifer fears Darnell almost as much as the enslaved people on his plantation do, she forms a friendship with Abena. Jennifer is in poor health, and after giving birth to an equally sickly baby boy, she passes away.

Mercy Lewis

Mercy Lewis is little Anne Putnam’s servant girl. She is among the teenaged women who push Tituba for stories about consorting with the devil.

Sarah Hutchinson

Sarah Hutchinson is a middle-class villager in Salem. When Tituba steals Goodwife Hutchinson’s sheep for a sacrifice, she is surprised that the seemingly proper woman hopes to use witchcraft to take revenge.

Giles Corey

Giles Corey is one of the most prominent farmers in all of Salem. Though initially Tituba resents him because he testified against her, she grows to respect him more when—even as he is stoned to death—he refuses to admit to the false accusations against him.

Noyes

Noyes is the superintendent of the jail in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He is a stingy and cruel man, and he forces Tituba back into slavery in order to pay for the meagre food and lodgings the jail provided her with.

Mary Black

Mary Black is one of the few other enslaved Black women in Salem. She breaks the news to Tituba that John Indian is sleeping with someone else.

Abigail d’Azevedo

Abigail d’Azevedo is the kindly wife of Benjamin Cohen d’Azevedo. Though she is dead by the time Tituba meets Benjamin, the memory of Abigail’s kindness and intimacy allows Benjamin to bond with Tituba—and using sacrifices, Tituba allows Benjamin to contact Abigail’s spirit.

Metahebel d’Azevedo

Metahebel is the eldest daughter of Benjamin and Abigail d’Azevedo; she is also Tituba’s favorite of the nine d’Azevedo children. Along with the rest of her siblings, she is killed when the New England Puritans, in a fit of anti-Semitism, set fire to Benjamin’s home.

I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem Characters