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Great Meadows
In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Hannah Tupper’s cats symbolize how prejudice can cause people to misinterpret innocent things. Hannah owns several cats, and the animals bring comfort and joy to her and her friends Kit, Nat, and Prudence. In fact, Nat fondly notes that “Hannah’s magic cure for every ill […] [is] Blueberry cake and a kitten.” But many Puritans in town suspect that Hannah is a witch, and they believe that one of her cats is demonic and therefore evidence of her witchcraft. They already assume that Hannah is a witch, so the cat takes on a threatening significance in their eyes.
Yet the cat is “just an ordinary cat.” The Puritans misjudge the creature because they are prejudiced against Hannah—instead of observing her behavior and character in an unbiased way, they only ever see her actions as sinister. Had they gotten to know Hannah, the townspeople of Wethersfield would realize that their assumptions about her are wrong. She is actually a kindly old woman who lives on her own—she’s not at all the scary witch they think she is. The same goes for her cat, which is an “ordinary” animal, not a demon in disguise. In this way, Hannah’s cats represent the dangers of prejudice, as it can cause people to misunderstand, unfairly judge, and mistreat people (and animals).
Hannah’s Cats Quotes in The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The The Witch of Blackbird Pond quotes below all refer to the symbol of Hannah’s Cats. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 8
Quotes
“[…] She’s been there as long as I can remember.”
“All alone?”
“With her cats. There’s always a cat or so around. People say she’s a witch.”
“Do you believe in witches, Judith?”
“Maybe not,” said Judith doubtfully. “All the same, it gives me a creepy feeling to look at her. She’s queer, that’s certain, and she never comes to Meeting. I’d just rather not get any closer.”
Kit looked back at the gray figure bent over a kettle, stirring something with a long stick. Her spine prickled. It might be only soap, of course […] But that lonely figure in the ragged flapping shawl—it was easy enough to imagine any sort of mysterious brew in that pot!
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Chapter 19
Quotes
“Is it true that you were also acquainted with a certain cat which the widow entertained as a familiar spirit?”
“It—it was just an ordinary cat, sir, like any cat.”
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Hannah’s Cats Symbol Timeline in The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The timeline below shows where the symbol Hannah’s Cats appears in The Witch of Blackbird Pond. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 8
Impatient with Kit’s awe at the Great Meadows, Judith urges her onward. Kit catches sight of a little house and asks who lives there—don’t the Meadows flood in the...
(full context)
Chapter 10
...found him and invited him back to eat blueberry cake, and she gave him a kitten.
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Chapter 11
...arrive at Hannah’s, Hannah is delighted to have a new visitor. She shows Prudence the kittens that her cat just gave birth to, and Prudence is immediately charmed. Hannah also gives...
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Chapter 17
...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...
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Chapter 18
...used magic to disappear—they think she turned herself into a mouse that they saw the cat carrying away from the house. On top of this, they think that Kit is working...
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Chapter 19
...Kit if she is indeed a friend of Hannah’s and was therefore “acquainted” with Hannah’s cat. Kit admits to being friends with Hannah and to knowing the cat, although she adds...
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