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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Puritan Hypocrisy
Love, Values, and Attraction
Difference, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Home and Belonging
Sexism
Summary
Analysis
By mid-August, dame school ends, and Kit finds herself doing endless chores. There is so much to harvest and prepare for the winter that she doesn’t have time to spare to visit Hannah. Finally, one day after candle making, Rachel lets Kit and the other girls have the afternoon off. As Kit slips to the door, Rachel hands her an apple tart to give to Hannah. Even though she doesn’t approve of Kit’s visiting Hannah, she doesn’t want anyone to go hungry.
Even though Rachel worries about Kit’s reputation—the townspeople may think less of Kit for befriending a Quaker—she still wants to help Hannah. Rachel’s kindness serves as an example that not all Puritans are alike.
Themes
When Kit arrives at Hannah’s, she’s surprised to see Nat chopping wood. Nat teases her, but she decides to “overlook his mockery” and comments on how much he has already chopped. Nat is trying to help Hannah with tasks to last her for a while—he’ll be leaving for Barbados soon. When Nat moves on to rethatching Hannah’s roof, Kit asks to help.
Here, Nat teases Kit just as she teased him for his lack of swimming skills at the beginning of the novel. Their similar senses of humor, as well as their mutual desire to take care of their friends, begin to hint that they’re compatible (much like Mercy and John are).
Themes
Kit and Nat work together to rethatch the roof. Afterwards, the two of them sit quietly in the sunshine on the roof, gazing out at the river. Kit notes that even though she thinks she has “been working like a slave,” she feels happy and light, like how she felt in Barbados.
Kit and Nat’s working together to help Hannah is representative of how they both look after their friends. Although they have not professed romantic feelings for each other, they do work well as a team. Kit also thoroughly enjoys her time with Nat, even feeling as happy as she did in Barbados, implying that she feels at home with Nat. In fact, she even doesn’t mind working—she is motivated to work because she cares about Hannah. At the same time, Kit’s casual statement that she has “been working like a slave” speaks to her racist beliefs. Her casual use of this statement shows that she hasn’t taken the time to consider the horrors that enslaved Black people endure, perpetuated by people like her and her grandfather.
Themes
Nat seriously asks Kit how she has been in Wethersfield. She feels like she doesn’t “fit in,” but at least she doesn’t feel homesick around Hannah. Nat confides that she reminds him of a bird he once saw in Jamaica. It was a beautiful, colorful bird, and Nat wanted to bring it back to Saybrook, but Captain Eaton had told him that “it wasn’t meant to live up here, that the birds here would scold and peck at it.”
Even though Kit still doesn’t feel at home in Wethersfield—she doesn’t “fit in” with the Puritan townspeople—she does feel at home with Hannah. When Kit is with Hannah, she feels the same emotions—comfort, love, peace, and freedom—that she previously only associated with Barbados. Meanwhile, the bird that Nat mentions represents Kit, as both are lively and dynamic. Captain Eaton told Nat that such a colorful bird didn’t belong in New England because it wouldn’t fit in with the other birds. Nat fears that the same thing will happen to Kit—that the townspeople will single Kit out because she is different.
Themes
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Kit is touched and surprised that the “cocky young seaman” had such serious thoughts. Nat then teases that he never expected to see her dirty from working on a roof. The Puritans may not have managed to transform her completely, he merrily adds, but “they’ve done their best to make [her] into a sparrow.”
Nat happily notes that the Puritans haven’t been able to change Kit from being bold and adventurous, even though they have tried to restrict her with their rules.
Themes
Kit wonders aloud why the Puritans are so serious. Nat thinks it’s because of “all that schooling.” He admits that while he despises the Puritans’ difficult texts, he loves reading books. Kit is thrilled to hear that he likes reading the same kind of books she misses so much, like The Tempest.
Kit and Nat both enjoy reading the same kind of books. Notably, neither of them is fond of the Puritans’ religious texts. Their shared love of reading shows that they both value the same kind of excitement and adventure that one can get from books. This interest distinguishes Nat from John, who also loves reading but whom Kit can’t see eye to eye with because he doesn’t like non-religious texts.
Themes
Kit then asks Nat another question that’s been bothering her: why do New Englanders dislike the King of England? Nat explains that the King needs to respect the New Englanders’ rights if they are to respect the King. As he explains, if the King breaks his own laws and goes back on his promises, the New Englanders will have no choice but to overthrow him. Aghast, Kit cries out that such thinking is treasonous. But Nat disagrees. In his eyes, “A man is loyal to the place he loves.”
As Nat explains, the New Englanders are very protective of the rights—like the right to self-govern—that they have enjoyed since the prior King (King Charles) gave the colonists their charters. If the King tries to take back the colonists’ rights and liberties that were guaranteed in the colonies’ charters, he will break his own laws, given that the charters were issues from the English government. Additionally, the colonists don’t feel loyal to the King of England anymore because they’re loyal to their new home, New England. The colonists have carved out a new way of life—including a new government—for themselves here.
Themes
Hannah calls out that it’s time for supper, which Kit takes as her cue to leave. As she and Nat climb down from the roof, Nat solemnly asks Kit to keep visiting Hannah. Kit quickly promises to do so and then asks whether Hannah is okay—she is worried that Hannah sometimes talks about Thomas as if he is still alive. Nat quickly lays these worries to rest, assuring her that Hannah may be old, but she’s healthy enough. Plus, he adds, is it really so wrong that Hannah can still talk to the man she loves?
Nat and Kit continue to bond over their affection for and care of Hannah. They both want to keep Hannah happy and safe, and they work together to make that happen.
Themes
Nat walks with Kit all the way to the Woods’ house, Kit all the while wishing that he would leave so that she won’t have to explain his presence to Matthew. When they arrive at the house, she is anxious to see that William is there too—he has been waiting for her to come back.
Nat wants to spend extra time with Kit, which suggests that he may have romantic feelings for her—after all, they have a lot in common. Kit, however, is anxious of what Matthew will think. After all, Rachel previously warned Kit that Matthew would be upset if he found out that she has been visiting Hannah, whom he dismisses as a “heretic,” what the Puritans call people of other religions.
Themes
When Matthew demands to know why Kit was gone for so long, Kit announces that she was at Hannah’s house. Nat chimes in, saying that Kit’s tardiness is his fault: he had asked her to help him thatch the roof. As he says this, Kit watches William and Nat make eye contact. William’s jaw clenches.
Kit doesn’t lie, even though she knows that Matthew will not like the truth: she was spending time with Hannah. Nat loyally defends Kit by adding that he is at fault for making Kit late because he asked her to help him thatch Hannah’s roof. This instance shows that loyalty and honesty are also traits that Nat and Kit share. Meanwhile, William looks unhappy at seeing Nat with Kit, which suggests that he sees Nat as a rival for Kit’s heart.
Themes
Furious that Kit is helping a Quaker, Matthew forbids Kit from visiting Hannah again. Even when Kit mentions that Hannah lives alone and needs assistance, Matthew cuts her off, declaring that since Hannah is a “heretic,” Kit isn’t obligated to help her.
Like the rest of the Wethersfield Puritans, Matthew thinks less of Hannah because she’s a Quaker. The Puritans believe that the Bible instructs them to care for people in need (Mercy even reminded Judith about this earlier in the book, when Rachel was bringing food to a widow). But the Puritans also discriminate against non-Puritans based on their religion. This can be read as hypocritical, given that the Puritans also experienced religious discrimination from the Church of England and sought to escape this persecution by migrating to the colonies. But the Puritans seemingly have no intention of sharing the religious freedom they acquired by colonizing New England. They simply wanted to advance their own community’s rights, not ensure equal rights for everyone.
Themes
