The story “I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem” was written by Maryse Conde who is a French well known novelist that wrote novels based upon African slavery diaspora. Maryse Condé gives voice to a woman whose life has been largely overlooked by historians by portraying Tituba as the heroine of her story and providing a first-person account of her life. This semi-fictional story examines Tituba's resilience in the face of oppression while also providing a razor-sharp and timely criticism of both the damaging effects of gender bias, racism, and hatred. Maryse opens her narration by explaining her conception along on a slave ship set sail for Barbados. An English sailor raped her slave mother, an Ashanti woman named Abena. Her mother ended up being assaulted again after …show more content…
Tituba is raised by a healer named Mama Yaya after her mother dies. Tituba is taken in by Mama Yaya as a surrogate mother and taught the art of spiritual healing, which she excelled at right away. When Tituba is fourteen years old, Mama Yaya passes away, and Tituba spends sometime in the forest conversing with the divine beings of both her mother and Mama Yaya. In the end, Tituba falls in love with John Indian, a slave who is owned by a man. The Puritans in Salem Village despise Tituba and frequently ask her for help, but they are dubious of her healing powers. After being accused of witchcraft by several local girls, Tituba is later imprisoned. She ultimately decides to confess after John Indian successfully persuades her that doing so will save her own life. But eventually John leaves her out of fear for his own life. Hester Prynne, one of The Scarlet Letter's entirely fictional female leads who is incarcerated because she had an unmarried child, is introduced to Tituba. Hester is furious that her male partner is unaffected by the consequences of the affair, while she is the only one who