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Part 2: Chapter 8
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Surviving vs. Enduring
Slavery and Daily Life
Nature as Knowledge
Desire, Patriarchy and the Difficulty of Feminism
Archival History vs. Memory
Summary
Analysis
Tituba recovers from the news of John Indian, and she has four happy months with Benjamin and his children; her new lover declares that “our God knows neither race nor color,” and urges her to convert to Judaism. But even as Tituba finds a brief moment of peace, she waits in fear for tragedy to return to her life—as it always has.
Once more, Benjamin’s stated beliefs—that he does not notice or care about Tituba’s race—is at odds with his actions, as he continues to act as an enslaver. This passage also shows how deeply Tituba has been traumatized: she automatically distrusts happiness because all of her previous moments of peace have been interrupted by (white) violence.
Themes
