I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem

In Maryse Conde’s novel,”I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem,”Tituba went through various hardships in her life her witchcraft and being black got her into a lot of trouble. Also being with a man who turned on her. She ended up being hanged just when she finally got a chance to go back to Barbados she dies. Most stories of Tituba are always like this. But in article “The Further Transformation Of Tituba,” we find that in Ann Petry’s book, “Tituba of Salem Village,” she goes through little or no hardships at all. So the following will closely examine how she was portrayed in “I, Tituba, Black Witch or Salem” and Tituba Of Salem Village.”

In “The Further Transformation Of Tituba,” some earlier accounts of her and John Indian were looked at as lazy, half demented, louts, with a cornpone dialect. But in Petry’s book they were not lazy and spoke standard english;”The ships come and go to unload spices and silks and molasses and sugar.........”this quote shows that there was no dialect like yessir and i’s goin to master. They were also far from being lazy, “Tituba was the best weaver, housekeeper, nurse, and cook John was the best wood cutter, gardener, and all around worker” The puritans of Salem actually depended on them for survival in Petry’s book. Petry shows “Tituba drawn by the girls into harmless story telling but never has her actually conjure.” Like most stories where she does conjure like “The Crucible,” and “I, Tituba, Black Witch Village Of Salem” she doesn’t get hysterical and start accusing other people as witches.

The paper to which she signed has details she never said. Accusers put words in her mouth. Tituba even made John pretend to have fake fits so he wouldn’t be looked at as “the devil”. In the end they both lived a good life in Boston.

Now in “I, Tituba, Black Witch Of Salem,” the situation was completely different. First off John Indian was weak man. He didn’t want to change the lifestyle he had. So she changed her independence for the love she had for him. But even though she did so her beliefs and what she stood for didn’t change which caused John to eventually turn against her. He felt she was jeopardizing him and making him look bad too . When she was convicted of being a witch he said “Oh, Oh, Tituba is tormenting me, Yes my wife is a witch!” he said that to save himself and leave her in the dust. Second off she did conjure spells in the Conde’s book. She put a spell on her former master Susanna Endicott. When she got sold to Parris she made little Betsy drink blood and bathe in it. She wasn’t the heroine she was more like the villain. The puritans used what she can do to help them get other people within the village. Then when they thought that people like Sarah good and Martha Corey was witches they threw Tituba in the mix too.