The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

The Witch of Blackbird Pond By Elizabeth George Speare

Plot Summary

· Kit, 16-year-old girl leaves her home of Barbados to travel to Connecticut to stay with relatives than do not know of her coming whom she has never met. She arrives in Connecticut and is taken in by her duty bound family. In this new home, Kit has to work hard and menial tasks she quickly learns she has neither skill nor patience to excel at. She is forced to join the family in the daily and weekly living including Puritan religious services.

Kit gains a wealthy suitor, William Ashby, and a job teaching. She flies to the meadow after disastrous teaching incident in front of the headmaster. Kit is initially dismissed, but meets and is cured by Hannah, a Quaker Women regarded as a witch by the others. Kit regains her job, and discovers a child learning from outside. Kit discovers Prudence, a girl whom she met on the ship coming to the colonies and takes her to the meadow to learn and then meet Hannah. Here she enjoys an escape with Hannah, Prudence, and Nat, the captain’s son also met on the journey to Connecticut.

Soon, drama unfolds as threat to the charter of Connecticut comes and goes. Then there is sickness in Kit’s home and across the village. Kit helps Hannah escape with Nat, yet is accused of witchery by Prudence’s mother who had been wary of Kit from the start when she saw her jump in the river to swim to retrieve Prudence’s doll. In the end, Nat and Prudence prove Kit’s innocence. William is a no show at her trial and the two part amicably.

In the end, Kit it becomes clear that all of the Wood family will be well taken care of and Nat goes to Kit’s Uncle Matthew for her hand in marriage and to come with him aboard the ship named for her, “Witch.”

Characters

· Katherine “Kit” Tyler – The Protagonist - formally wealthy and from Barbados, is orphaned and travels to pre-colonial Puritan Connecticut

· Hannah Tupper – Older woman, a Quaker who lives separate from the Puritan community in Wethersfield Connecticut. Know as the “Witch of Blackbird Pond”

· Nathanial “Nat” Eaton –The son of the captain on the Dolphin (Ship that brings Kit to Connecticut). He becomes Kit’s match at the end of the story.

· John Holbrook – A self-educated scholar who comes to Wethersfield to study with Reverend Bulkelely. Falls in love with Mercy.

· Matthew Wood – Kit’s hard Uncle whom she loathes, respects, and eventually wins over

· Rachel Wood – Kit’s worn Aunt who is cautious yet kind.

· Mercy Wood – Kit’s eldest cousin who is physically disabled, yet possesses patience, kindness, and most remarkable reserved strength.

· Judith Wood – Kit’s outgrowing, social, and beautiful cousin.

· William Ashby – Kit’s wealthy suitor who courts her, yet eventually more appropriately courts and is to marry Judith.

· Prudence Cruff – A shy, neglected daughter whom Kit befriends, teaches, and introduces to Hannah.

· Goodwife Cruff – The narrow minded, shroud woman who is mother to Prudence.

· Reverend Bulkeley – A real historical figure. He was a Royalist, a Preacher, and a Scholar of the time.

· Governor Edmund Andros – A real historical figure who was sent to retract the charter given to Connecticut by King James II (Also a real figure)

Themes

· The weather expressing the mood or Kit’s emotions

· Identity

Symbols

· Kit’s Dresses – They are as out of place as herself

· The Meadow – A Place where Kit can be at home

· Tropical Flower – A metaphor for Kit, something exotic that learns to thrive in a unwelcoming atmosphere.

Author Information

· Elizabeth George Speare was a teacher, a mother, and a wife in Massachusetts before she found time to begin her career as a Novelist mostly in Connecticut. The Witch of Blackbird Pond was her second novel published in 1958 and it won the Newberry Medal in 1959. Her other novels include The Bonze Bow(1961) and Sign of the Beaver(1983).

Quotes

· “She pulled up the hood of her scarlet cloak and turned away. Embarrassment was a new sensation for Kit. No one on the island had ever presumed to stare like that at Sir Francis Tyler’s granddaughter.”

· “Justice! What do you young men know about rights and justice? A soft life is all you have ever known. Have you felled trees in a wilderness and built a home with your bare hands? Have you fought off the wolves and the Indians? Have you frozen and starved through a single winter? The men who made this town understand justice. They knew better than to look for it in the King’s favor. The only rights worth all that toil and sacrifice are the rights of free men, free and equal under God to decide their own justice. You’ll learn. Mark my words, some day you’ll learn to your sorrow!”

· “William said he was starting to build his house, didn’t he? What more could you want him to say?”

· “But remember, thee has never excaped at all if love is not there.”

Key Facts

· This novel is frequently assigned to teach history in schools.

· This novel is a work of historical fiction than is also a bildungsroman (a coming of age novel)

Sources

· The book itself, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1986 edition

· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_George_Speare

· http://www.shmoop.com/witch-blackbird-pond

· http://www.enotes.com/topics/historical-novel

Sarah Stoloff