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Chapter 4
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
It’s Sabbath morning, and Kit has already managed to upset Matthew twice. First, she declined to go to Meeting with them; she and her grandfather only ever went to Christmas Mass. Now that Matthew is forcing Kit to attend Meeting, he’s upset that she has only extravagant silk dresses to wear. Rachel manages to calm him, reminding him that everyone will know that Kit hasn’t had time to get simpler clothes. Kit notices that Judith is also furious, but out of envy, not piety.
Kit is still struggling to adapt to Puritan culture. She doesn’t want to go to Meeting, their religious service, because she grew up in a different religion (the Church of England). But Matthew doesn’t respect her different religious beliefs, and he forces her to come with the family to Meeting. This begins to suggest that the Puritans are generally intolerant of other religions. Although the Puritans migrated to the American colonies to have religious freedom (the Church of England was hostile toward them), most do not extend religious freedom to anyone else.
Themes
As the family walks into town, Kit is dismayed at its bareness. They enter the Meeting House, where women sit on one side and men sit on the other. As Rachel leads the girls to their bench, Kit is aware of the disapproving silence that follows her and her luxurious outfit.
Kit continues to judge Wethersfield against her home country of Barbados. Because Wethersfield is less developed than where Kit is from, she thinks less of it. Meanwhile, many of the Puritans at the Meeting disapprove of Kit because she is dressed more elegantly than most of them. Like Matthew, they presumably think that Kit’s dress represents vanity.
Themes
Kit finds the Puritan service boring; she spends her time looking around at the other churchgoers. While most of them are plainly dressed, there are a few elegantly dressed people as well. Kit also notices Black people whom she assumes are enslaved.
Kit dismisses the service as boring, without really listening to what is being said. While looking around the church, she realizes that Puritans are varied in their appearance—they don’t all dress as plainly as the Woods. The implication is that Puritans don’t all behave the same. But while the Wood family does not enslave people, it appears that other Puritan families do. Given that there were very few freed Black people in New England in the 1600s, it is likely that the Black people Kit sees in the church are indeed enslaved.
Themes
After about two hours, the service—which Kit sees as a test of endurance—finally ends. Once outside the Meeting House, Reverend Bulkeley and two of the deacons greet her, all of them mentioning that she must be grateful for her relatives’ help. Kit realizes that they must all think Matthew is helping her out of charity—no wonder they are shocked at her dress.
Kit is not what the Reverend or the deacons expect of someone in need of charity. They seem to have preconceived ideas of what someone looks like when they are in need, and Kit is dressed far more extravagantly than they expected.
Themes
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Then, Kit sees Goodwife Cruff whispering to other hostile-looking women, all of whom glare at her. Kit takes a moment to wave at Prudence, who blushes with joy.
Goodwife Cruff is still prejudiced against Kit. Given that she has already encouraged other women to gossip about Kit, it seems that she was right when she told Kit that the people of Wethersfield do not like strangers.
Themes
John Holbrook at last walks over to greet Kit. He is very serious with her, and he comments that he found the sermon “uplifting” and “remarkable.” Kit, who found the sermon dull, is lost for words. Judith, meanwhile, gazes sweetly at John and agrees that the sermon was inspiring.
John’s intense interest in the sermon shows that he is a serious and pious man. Judith seems to take an interest in John—she looks at him flirtatiously as she joins in conversation. Judith’s interest in the sermon may be feigned (she may simply think that John is attractive and want to impress him). Or, she may indeed be as interested in the sermon as John is, which would indicate that they share similar interests.
Themes
When the Reverend Bulkeley joins John and the family, Rachel tells the Reverend that he must bring John to their house when he has dinner with them later this week. The Reverend agrees before leading John away. Rachel then introduces Kit to Mrs. Ashby and her son, William. William is speechless—he is clearly quite captivated by Kit.
William is immediately enchanted by Kit, which suggests that he is attracted to her appearance. He hasn’t spoken to her at all, so whatever connection he feels can’t be because of her personality.
Themes
As they turn to leave, Judith asks Kit whether she has “set [her] cap” for John Holbrook, whom she finds handsome. Embarrassed, Kit denies Judith’s assertion. After a moment, Judith notes that William seemed impressed by her. She cruelly adds that he probably just liked her dress, as Kit isn’t especially pretty.
Judith’s interest in John is indeed because she finds him handsome. She asks Kit whether Kit has “set [her] cap” (is trying to attract) John, which suggests that Judith plans to woo John if Kit hasn’t already decided to do so herself. Meanwhile, her comment that William probably only likes Kit because of her dress, is spiteful—either Judith is still jealous of Kit’s dresses, or Judith is interested in William. In this case, William Ashby may be the same William that Judith mentioned previously, when she said that she hoped William would see her wearing Kit’s beautiful dress. Either way, it is clear that William is solely attracted to Kit’s looks—he hasn’t had a chance to get to know her yet.
Themes
Kit changes the subject, asking if anyone lives in the small shacks that line the roadway to the Meeting House. Judith tells her no, those buildings are used by the families who live too far from the Meeting House to go home in between services. Realizing with horror that there’s a second service that afternoon, Kit asks herself why she ever came to Connecticut.
Kit doesn’t feel at home in Connecticut because her idea of home is feeling carefree and unrestricted, like she did in Barbados. In comparison, her life with the Puritans is rigid and confined by strict rules.
Themes
