One of the themes of this novel is the dehumanizing effects of slavery.By allowing Tituba to tell her own life story, the author makes a powerful choice that restores some agency to this real-life figure whose complete life story is not part of the historical record. Tituba is conceived when her mother is raped by a white sailor aboard a slave ship from Africa to Barbados, so Tituba is a a product of the...
One of the themes of this novel is the dehumanizing effects of slavery. By allowing Tituba to tell her own life story, the author makes a powerful choice that restores some agency to this real-life figure whose complete life story is not part of the historical record. Tituba is conceived when her mother is raped by a white sailor aboard a slave ship from Africa to Barbados, so Tituba is a a product of the cruelty of slavery. Her mother is later executed for refusing the sexual advances of a white slave master.
Another theme is persecution for one's cultural or religious beliefs. When Tituba arrives in Salem, the Puritans regard her with distrust and isolate her because of her spiritual healing abilities and her background. Similarly, they isolate her eventual master and lover, Benjamin Cohen d’Azevedo, a Jewish merchant who must eventually leave Salem for Rhode Island, so that he can practice his religion freely.
Finally, the novel is about feminism and the power of women. Tituba meets the fictional character Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter in jail and celebrates her feminism when Hester protests against her imprisonment for out-of-wedlock motherhood, while the father of her child remains free. At the end of the book, Tituba is reunited with her mother and the healer Mama Yaya in the afterlife, and they continue to help the slaves fight for their freedom. They are powerful female figures with the ability to use their spiritual healing techniques to help others in a way that men can't.
No comments:
Post a Comment