Summary Of I Titub Black Witch Of Salem

French novelist Maryse Condé’s novel, I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem (1992), tells the fictional story of Tituba, a black slave from Barbados who is eventually tried for Witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts during the early stages of the Salem Witch Trials. Condé’s Tituba is based on a real historical figure, though the novel’s rendition of her life is largely its own character, created with little documentation of historical fact. Narrated in the first person, Tituba tells of her life story, which seems to be frequently conformed by other characters in the novel that subsequently cause Tituba to behave in a performative manor. Within these moments, the novel also mocks the narratives that try to conform Tituba’s story, and only in death does

In order to live with her lover, John Indian, Tituba voluntarily puts herself into slavery under Susana Endicott, who, in order for the two to marry, requires Tituba’s conversion to Christianity. This prompts John Indian to teach Tituba the necessary Christian prayers, but only to repeat and memorize them. “Repeat my love. What matters for the slave is to survive” (Condé 25). John stressing the importance of repetition conveys his urgency for Tituba to merely act out the words, as if she is rehearsing for a show, which is high stakes given that the believability of Tituba’s performance determines whether or not she will be able to marry her husband. His belief that “what matters for the slave is to survive,” shows that his character has capitulated his role (though not by his choice) to the religious slave conversion narrative. Even though the prayers “meant nothing to [her]” (Condé 25), Tituba obeys John Indian’s request, which shows the limited control she has over how her story is told; it survives, but it forces Tituba to play a character whom she is not

When Tituba meets Hester Prynne in prison. Hester teaches Tituba how to act and what to say during her testimony: “Make them scared, Tituba! Give them their money’s worth” (Condé 99). In this situation, Tituba has an opportunity to use performance to her benefit her by convincing the puritans that other women in the town hold secret “witches’ meetings, where they all arrive on broomsticks” (Condé 100). Again, Tituba’s only way out is to put on a show in accordance to the narrative determined for her. The use “broomsticks” suggest a mockery of popular western tropes regarding witchcraft, and for Tituba to “give them their money’s worth” alludes to her selling the performance. Furthermore, Hester advices Tituba to give out specific names and instances of witchcraft she witnessed in her trial, and tells Tituba that if she gives the judges “an element of doubt” that they will, regardless, “know how to fill in the blanks” (Condé 100). The puritan judges “filling in the blanks suggest an allusion to how history is constructed in narrative: there are always gaps in the historical record, but written documents attempt to create impossibly whole narratives by piecing together the fragments available. In this case, the puritan judges, in a sense, become the judges of history, with the power to determine Tituba’s role is based on her performance. Tituba even admits, “I wasn’t a very good actress,” however, her