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Benjamin Cohen d’Azevedo
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, which then leads Darnell to have her publicly hanged as punishment. In life, Abena struggles to show affection to her daughter—because she is the product of a white man’s rape—but in death, Abena’s spirit becomes an essential guide and source of solace to Tituba. Along those lines, Abena repeatedly tries (and fails) to steer Tituba away from sex, lamenting that women “can’t do without men.”
Abena Quotes in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
The I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem quotes below are all either spoken by Abena or refer to Abena . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 1: Chapter 1
Quotes
The dead only die if they die in our hearts. They live on if we cherish them and honor their memory, if we place their favorite delicacies in life on their graves, and if we kneel down regularly to commune with them. They are all around us, eager for attention, eager for affection. A few words are enough to conjure them back and to have their invisible bodies pressed against ours in their eagerness to make themselves useful.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Chapter 3
Quotes
John Indian closed the door with a wooden latch and took me in his arms, whispering: “The duty of a slave is to survive! Do you understand? To survive!”
Get the entire I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem LitChart as a printable PDF.
Abena Quotes in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
The I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem quotes below are all either spoken by Abena or refer to Abena . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 1: Chapter 1
Quotes
The dead only die if they die in our hearts. They live on if we cherish them and honor their memory, if we place their favorite delicacies in life on their graves, and if we kneel down regularly to commune with them. They are all around us, eager for attention, eager for affection. A few words are enough to conjure them back and to have their invisible bodies pressed against ours in their eagerness to make themselves useful.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Chapter 3
Quotes
John Indian closed the door with a wooden latch and took me in his arms, whispering: “The duty of a slave is to survive! Do you understand? To survive!”
