Tituba of Salem Village

Rating:
Summary: Find out what a "witch cake" is.
Review: Tituba is the main character of the story. She is a slave who lives in Salem, Mass. Back then, with all of the witch trials, it must have been a very confusing time. Everyone was thought to be a witch. The most upsetting part is when one by one the young girls in Salem start to have "fits." I find the story really interesting, especially learning how they reacted to things like fits, tarot cards, and "witch cake". Those are just some of the things to look for if you read this book.

Rating:
Summary: This book is good!
Review: Tituba is the perfect historical fiction on the Salem Witch Trials. It is perfect for ages 10 and up. Ann Petry Makes the charecterscome to life with there real emotions.

Rating:
Summary: A must read book for historical fiction lovers!
Review: Tituba of Salem Village was a good book, I enjoyed this book because it kept you reading. The only slow part was when the story got to the middle there was a lull in action but it all had to do with the plot and in the end, was all worth reading. It was about a slave who moved from her original master in Barbados and only dreams of going back. She is now in cold, cruel, unwelcoming Salem Village. Now they suspect her and others to be involved in witch craft after some very strange things happen. I would definitely read this again and I hope you have the opportunity to as well.

Rating:
Summary: The Witch type of book!
Review: Tituba of Salem Village was a good book. It taught me about history. This book showed me how the slaves would act and live. While i was reading it, I wanted to warn the characters, "Don't do it!" and "Be quite!" This book is mostly about a girl named Abigail, a preacher's niece, who is doing witchcraft. Then Tituba and other girls start getting accused of witchcraft. This has to do with history because it goes with the Salem Witch Trials. The part of the book that I disliked was the whole chapter about firewood. I believe the best part was when Tituba read the tarot cards for the girls.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Read
Review: Tituba

This book, published in the early sixties centers around a slave woman who during the Salem Witch Trials is tried as a witch. While the book itself is written in a fashion that made me wonder if I were reading something intended for young adults, it does hold water. The story is reasonably compelling and has enough intricacies of characters and betrayals to engage the reader. It telegraphs itself from a mile away, yes, that simplicity of form making it a story that doesn’t demand nor deceive.

Tituba comes across as not so much foolish but as trapped by her circumstances. She is the property of a family, lead by a reverend of stern character in charge of white children who know that they have power over their adult caretaker. The mistress of the house spends all of her time sick and therefore powerless so the role of caretaker without authority falls to Tituba. For a book set during slavery, the subject of personal freedom isn’t addressed here because that’s not what this book is about. It’s about a further removal of rights and personal power through the witch-hunts. Tituba, through a series of first seemingly innocent events and then gradually darker, is trapped to becoming a witch on trial. Only when she is accused of being a witch does it really grind home the trap that slavery has her in. She cannot flee, she barely has rights to speak up for herself and because of race, is already half-condemned. It becomes literally her slave workman skills that bring her “friends” who will testify on her behalf, give her value over the other women on trial who are merely seen as witches.

This book is an easy read, less than a couple of hours, closer to being like a short story in it’s simplistic form and intent. The adventure of the read is the twist ending. Being a slave saves Tituba so that she can return to slavery. A dark irony that strikes home when one begins comparing what was the greater evil and how one evil can save a person from another by enshrouding them. Here, slavery is a helper, unfortunately. Luckily, it is made clear by the force of witch-hunt story that this is not a book about slavery, pro or con. It is about a woman, a Black woman, who is a slave in a culture that persecutes all of its inhabitants in any way possible for being different or having new ideas. In the end, this book is about the cruelty of humans, in so many forms---bigotry, misogyny, racism, etc..

Four stars