In the biography Tituba Reluctant: Witch of Salem, Elaine G. Breslaw focuses on telling the narrative of Tituba an American Indian slave accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 and connecting her confessions to the fear of a diabolical conspiracy among the Puritan society. The author, Elaine G. Breslaw, graduated with a BA in History from Hunter College, received an MA in History from the same college, and completed graduate work with a Ph. D. from the University of Maryland. She has also taught History at multiple universities and colleges and has written multiple essays on the Salem witch hunt. (Elaine Breslaw Author & Speaker 2012) Breslaw organizes the book into two chronologically organized sections, the first section is
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She dedicates multiple pages to Samuel Parris’s personal life because he too would be at the center of the Salem witch trials. From Elaine Breslaw’s point of view Tituba’s confessions during the Salem witch-trials served as a form of resistance. “Tituba’s confession, which became a model for resistance rather than a confirmation of Puritan values, had so distorted its meaning that, like the witch trials themselves, that ritual was discredited.” (Breslaw 1996, 180). I disagree with the author’s point of view, I believe that Tituba complied with Parris’s orders to confess to avoid death, being jailed, and physical punishment. Even the title of the book suggests that Tituba was reluctant to confess that she participated in witch-craft, I don’t believe that resistance against Samuel Parris led Tituba and the other Indians and Slaves to confess to accusations of witch-craft brought on by Samuel Parris and the girls in the Parris household and neighboring …show more content…
I expected this book to be a more in depth analysis of the concepts presented in Chapters five through eight. Overall Tituba Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritans is a formal chronologically organized biography that not only discusses the accusations that Tituba faced, but it also provides the readers with context on Tituba’s life prior to the trials that would take place in Salem, Massachusetts as well as information on the lasting effect that Tituba’s confession would have on the Puritan
She dedicates multiple pages to Samuel Parris’s personal life because he too would be at the center of the Salem witch trials. From Elaine Breslaw’s point of view Tituba’s confessions during the Salem witch-trials served as a form of resistance. “Tituba’s confession, which became a model for resistance rather than a confirmation of Puritan values, had so distorted its meaning that, like the witch trials themselves, that ritual was discredited.” (Breslaw 1996, 180). I disagree with the author’s point of view, I believe that Tituba complied with Parris’s orders to confess to avoid death, being jailed, and physical punishment. Even the title of the book suggests that Tituba was reluctant to confess that she participated in witch-craft, I don’t believe that resistance against Samuel Parris led Tituba and the other Indians and Slaves to confess to accusations of witch-craft brought on by Samuel Parris and the girls in the Parris household and neighboring …show more content…
I expected this book to be a more in depth analysis of the concepts presented in Chapters five through eight. Overall Tituba Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritans is a formal chronologically organized biography that not only discusses the accusations that Tituba faced, but it also provides the readers with context on Tituba’s life prior to the trials that would take place in Salem, Massachusetts as well as information on the lasting effect that Tituba’s confession would have on the Puritan