How Does Susanna Endicott Objectify Tituba

Susanna Endicott attempts to objectify Tituba in an attempt to deny her the agency and individuality she is accustomed to. Slavery starts from the body and seeks mental domination over the oppressed such that the slave internalizes his subjugation, not even entertaining the notion of resistance let alone retaliation. Tituba finds Endicott unabashed denunciation of her person in her very presence a novel emotion. She likens it to being knocked off the “map of human beings.” (24) Her existential angst begins as she realizes the colonizer has the power to render the oppressed voiceless – “a nonbeing” (24) She states, “Tituba only existed insofar as these women let her exist… Tituba became ugly, coarse and inferior because they willed her so,”

She marks the eggs John Indian was supposed to sell at the market, “with a blue cross” (31). The Malleus Maleficarum states, “people have been visited with epilepsy or falling sickness by means of eggs.” (312) This practice and similar rituals are associated with witchcraft and is considered unlawful. Far from being able to convict Tituba, Susanna ironically falls victim to her own plot and is understood to be the witch. Witchcraft being a grave issue in the community leads to the summoning of Cotton Mather who is parodied as Dr. Fox who had according to Tituba published Wonders of the Invisible World. Mather follows the then standard procedure employed by the Puritans to identify a witch. Looking for the devil’s mark or “witches teets” as instructed by the Malleus Maleficarum to be the most substantial proof of a witch consorting with Satan. According to the documentary Salem Witch Trials: History Channel the devil mark or teets are meant for the witch to suckle the familiar spirits. This mark if found was then probed with a needle and if there was no resultant bleeding or pain felt it was clear the person was a witch. Conde reenacts this Puritan ritual of looking for the devil’s mark. After his examination Dr Fox

For now, Tituba must choose either to be separated from her mate or her land. She chooses the latter dejected and “cursing her powerlessness” for she is unable to “decipher the future”. (34) She courageously assumes responsibility of her choice. Her exile from Barbados is meant to alienate her and leave her beleaguered as Mama Yaya or any of her ancestral spirits cannot cross the seas to America. Tituba’s initiation into the Puritan world is far more painful after being displaced from her land. Tituba’s journey from Barbados to Boston maybe seen as significant for it mirrors Abena’s humiliation on board a ship. Tituba is humiliated by Samuel Paris who forcefully baptizes Tituba and then proceeds to bind John Indian and Tituba through Christian matrimony. Tituba finds herself alienated by the Christian rites and finds her ‘lips were sealed” resisting the colonizers religion.