Mr. Eleazer Kimberley is the schoolmaster in Wethersfield. He has authority over Kit and Mercy, who both teach in the town. He is outraged when he finds out that Kit has the children acting out scenes from the Bible. Puritans believed that acting in plays was sinful, so instead of trying to understand Kit’s different perspective, Mr. Kimberley fires Kit on the spot. He assumes she is a bad teacher because she is using a technique that his religion forbids. This shows his prejudice: he condemns Kit simply because she has different beliefs and ideas than he has. When Mr. Kimberley fires Kit, she is distraught and runs crying to the Great Meadows. There, she meets Hannah for the first time. After her conversation with Hannah, Kit returns to Mr. Kimberley and convinces him to give her another chance at teaching.