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Chapter 16
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
A few days after John leaves, Judith becomes sick. Shortly thereafter, many of the town’s youth are struck by the same illness. Kit gets sick as well but recovers even before Judith does. When Mercy falls sick, however, she becomes seriously ill. Rachel suggests that Matthew ask Reverend Bulkeley to tend to Mercy, but Matthew staunchly refuses—he meant it when he declared that Bulkeley would never enter the house again.
Reverend Bulkeley is a doctor as well as a reverend, so it’s possible that he could help Mercy recover. But Matthew is stubborn in his prejudice against loyalists and refuses to ask Bulkeley for aid, even if it would mean saving Mercy’s life. Matthew and Rachel prioritize different things at this moment, and their different values reveal the tension in their relationship.
Themes
As Mercy gets worse, the family struggles to manage. Rachel is worn out from taking care of all the girls, Matthew is tired from working all day in the fields, and Judith is still too weak to complete any chores. Only Kit is able to complete all the household tasks, so she does so on her own.
Up until this point, Kit has been resistant to working in the Wood household. Now, however, she uncomplainingly completes the tasks, presumably because she knows that she is the only person who can help her family through this time of sickness. The implication is that she feels closer to the Woods now than she did at the beginning of the novel—she loves them enough to remain loyally by their side and keep the house running during a difficult time.
Themes
On the fourth day of Mercy’s sickness, Matthew announces that he is going to leave the house. At that moment, someone knocks on the door: it’s Reverend Bulkeley. The Reverend says that even if they don’t agree on politics, he still wants to care for Mercy. Matthew’s voice breaks—he had been about to fetch Reverend Bulkeley himself.
At last, Matthew overcomes his prejudices enough to go seek help from Bulkeley. The implication is that he has reconsidered his priorities, deciding that giving Mercy every chance at survival is more important than taking a stand against the doctor’s political views.
Themes
Reverend Bulkeley teaches them how to make a special poultice to help Mercy. Kit follows his instructions and makes the meal as well. As Kit clears the table afterward, she suddenly hears a crash at the door. There is a crowd of people outside.
Overcoming political prejudices ends up being the right thing to do, as Bulkeley immediately begins to help Mercy. Kit continues to show her dedication to helping the Woods by aiding Bulkeley in making the poultice and making dinner for the family. Her selflessness shows that she has begun to see the Woods as her new family. Even if her life with them is very different from her life with her grandfather in Barbados, she has come to respect and love them.
Themes
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Matthew opens the door and demands to know why people are disrupting his family at this difficult time. Someone responds to say that they are going to attack “the witch,” Hannah Tupper, whom they blame for the sickness. Matthew says they are being nonsensical—the illness is not caused by witchcraft. When someone in the crowd suggests that Kit knows something about the sickness—after all, she spends lots of time with Hannah—Matthew become enraged, telling them to stop slandering his household. He then orders them to leave the house. The crowd departs.
The townspeople’s blaming Hannah Tupper for the illness is an example of scapegoating. The sudden illness has created fear and uncertainty, and the scared townspeople are looking for answers and solutions. They decide to explain the sickness as witchcraft, as doing so makes them feel in control of the sickness—if they know the source, then perhaps they can end the plague. So, the townspeople single out Hannah who, as an ostracized Quaker, is an easy target, as she doesn’t have many friends who will come to her aid. Even though Matthew is prejudiced against Hannah for being a Quaker, he doesn’t think she’s a witch, so he refuses to join in the witch hunt. This again shows that there is variety among Puritans—not all of them believe in mob violence and scapegoating. Matthew has also become loyal to Kit, perhaps because her hard work has shown him that she is a valuable part of their family.
Themes
Frightened, Kit asks Matthew what the crowd plans to do to Hannah, who really is just “a poor helpless old woman.” Matthew is upset that Kit is concerned, and he tells her that the crowd will likely just bring her to trial. When Kit sees that neither Matthew nor Rachel will do anything to help Hannah, she runs from the room.
Although Matthew won’t join in the witch hunt, he also won’t help Hannah, which shows his continued prejudice against non-Puritans. He doesn’t have empathy for someone whose religion is different than his, and he isn’t inclined to protect her from the townspeople’s persecution. His indifference shows the hypocrisy of the Puritans, who migrated to New England in pursuit of religious freedom, which they do not extend to anyone else.
Themes
Realizing that Hannah will be facing a mob alone, Kit decides to warn her. She grabs her cloak, sneaks out the door, and runs to Hannah’s house on Blackbird Pond.
Even though she knows that she risks punishment and danger by disobeying Matthew and trying to protect Hannah from an angry mob, she decides to put her friend’s safety above her own. She is loyal and empathetic to Hannah—she believes that the townspeople’s discrimination is unjust and cruel.
Themes
When Kit enters the house, she sees Hannah asleep in her chair. She wakes Hannah up and urges her to leave. Realizing that she is being hunted once again because she is a Quaker, Hannah begins to cry as Kit hurries her from the house and into the underbrush.
Kit (and the reader) know that Hannah is kindhearted and hasn’t done anything to deserve punishment. Her terror here emphasizes the cruelty and misguidedness of the townspeople’s witch hunt—she’s just as afraid of the mob as they are of her.
Themes
The mob reaches the house and, realizing that Hannah is no longer there, decides to set the house on fire to have “light to search by.” Kit pulls Hannah toward the edge of the river, where they watch with horror at the burning house. While they hide, Kit frantically thinks of what to do next.
Although the Puritans are very defensive of their own property, they don’t extend that same respect to people who are different from them. Hannah’s house is dear to her, but they don’t consider her feelings—they think she is inferior to them and less deserving of respect simply because she isn’t Puritan.
Themes
The night quiets, and the hours slip by. Suddenly, Kit catches sight of the Dolphin on the river. Kit jumps into the water and swims to the ship. The sailors help Kit into the ship. Nat is there, and Kit quickly tells him about the mob and how Hannah is in danger. Nat immediately directs the ship toward the shore.
Kit and Nat once again work as a team to help save Hannah. Their loyalty to their friends is an important value that they share—they know that they can trust each other.
Themes
As soon as the ship reaches Hannah, she tells Nat that she can’t leave without her cat. Nat immediately agrees to find the animal, though Kit pleads with him to just leave it. But Nat reminds Kit that “[t]hey’ve taken everything else”—Hannah should at least have the comfort of her cat. After searching together, Kit and Nat find the cat and bring it back to Hannah.
The crowd has taken her home away and has treated her inhumanely, so Nat understands the importance of treating Hannah with dignity. The cat is a source of comfort for her, and Nat believes that she should be able to have this—just because the Puritans don’t respect her doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have basic needs and desires, too.
Themes
Once they are all on the boat, Nat informs Hannah that he is bringing her to Saybrook, where she can stay with his grandmother. Nat then invites Kit to come along with him to the West Indies. Kit is tempted, but she tells him that she has to stay—she needs to see Mercy through her illness. After a pained moment, Nat gets on the boat and leaves.
Nat’s invitation betrays his romantic feelings for Kit, even though he never explicitly says that he loves her. Although Kit wants to go back to Barbados, she refuses because she doesn’t want to abandon Mercy during her time of need. Kit’s decision to stay with Mercy shows how her sense of home has shifted; even though she still misses Barbados, she has people in Wethersfield whom she loves too much to leave.
Themes
Kit hurries home. It’s the early morning, but she manages to creep inside the house without anyone noticing her. When Kit approaches the kitchen, Rachel joyfully calls out to tell her that Mercy has made it through the worst of the sickness.
In one night, Kit shows her loyalty to both Hannah and Mercy. She is rewarded for her efforts, as both women make it through the dangerous night. This night has also emphasized how Kit and Nat are similar in their staunch loyalty to their friends, as they risk danger (and, in Kit’s case, give up her dreams of returning to Barbados) in order to save the people they care about.
Themes
