Empowerment, Scourge of Salem
Were there really girls in Salem evil enough to cause something as horrible as the Salem Witch Trials? Stephanie Hemphill wrote a book of poems showing a fictionalized account of the witch trials called Wicked Girls. Empowerment, or the act of gaining power, runs throughout this book. While the actual Salem Witch Trials were based upon hysteria, Wicked Girls focused more on how the girls were empowered by their acting, showing how gaining power at the cost of others can have harmful effects on your community.
The girls get doted upon numerous times in the book as a result of their actions. Ann bribed her mother to be nicer using her alleged link to the Invisible World. She said, “‘My sight can sometimes become …show more content…
The girls said after one of their naysayers, John Proctor, got jailed, “Cross us not, for thou shalt see be there power in not three but in four or six or five: this is how we will survive. For the man who calls us mad, claims we’re lying, deviling, bad, is named a witch, his ankles clad,” (Hemphill 280). This shows that the girls possessed the power to jail whoever they wanted to. Since the people knew that if they called the girls liars, they would get hanged, they probably would keep their thoughts to themselves. After Isaac started to accuse the girls of lying, Mercy took revenge. “‘Who torments thee, child?’ Reverend Parris kneels over Mercy in front of the whole membership. Mercy can’t make full words, but she ekes out, ‘Eye Ah,’ and gestures toward Isaac with her eyes. Ann and Abigail squint dumbstruck in the morning sun when Reverend asks them to confirm, ‘Isaac?’ They do nod heads and repeat, ‘Isaac.’ The Reverend cradles Mercy in his arms as she moans and quivers. ‘Poor girl.’ He shakes his head and scowls at Isaac. Someone cries, ‘Arrest the wizard!’,” (Hemphill 303). This shows how much sway the girls held over the village. They accused an upstanding member of the community of being a witch just because he called them liars, and everyone believed the girls. The girls really could do whatever they wanted to the people of the
Were there really girls in Salem evil enough to cause something as horrible as the Salem Witch Trials? Stephanie Hemphill wrote a book of poems showing a fictionalized account of the witch trials called Wicked Girls. Empowerment, or the act of gaining power, runs throughout this book. While the actual Salem Witch Trials were based upon hysteria, Wicked Girls focused more on how the girls were empowered by their acting, showing how gaining power at the cost of others can have harmful effects on your community.
The girls get doted upon numerous times in the book as a result of their actions. Ann bribed her mother to be nicer using her alleged link to the Invisible World. She said, “‘My sight can sometimes become …show more content…
The girls said after one of their naysayers, John Proctor, got jailed, “Cross us not, for thou shalt see be there power in not three but in four or six or five: this is how we will survive. For the man who calls us mad, claims we’re lying, deviling, bad, is named a witch, his ankles clad,” (Hemphill 280). This shows that the girls possessed the power to jail whoever they wanted to. Since the people knew that if they called the girls liars, they would get hanged, they probably would keep their thoughts to themselves. After Isaac started to accuse the girls of lying, Mercy took revenge. “‘Who torments thee, child?’ Reverend Parris kneels over Mercy in front of the whole membership. Mercy can’t make full words, but she ekes out, ‘Eye Ah,’ and gestures toward Isaac with her eyes. Ann and Abigail squint dumbstruck in the morning sun when Reverend asks them to confirm, ‘Isaac?’ They do nod heads and repeat, ‘Isaac.’ The Reverend cradles Mercy in his arms as she moans and quivers. ‘Poor girl.’ He shakes his head and scowls at Isaac. Someone cries, ‘Arrest the wizard!’,” (Hemphill 303). This shows how much sway the girls held over the village. They accused an upstanding member of the community of being a witch just because he called them liars, and everyone believed the girls. The girls really could do whatever they wanted to the people of the