Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Surviving vs. Enduring
Slavery and Daily Life
Nature as Knowledge
Desire, Patriarchy and the Difficulty of Feminism
Archival History vs. Memory
Summary
Analysis
Tituba reflects on how happy she was for her few months with Benjamin: “we used to pitch and plunge like a drunken boat on a choppy sea.” Hester would be angry at her for caring so much about a man, but Tituba cannot help feeling that Benjamin’s weakness makes her desire him.
Fascinatingly, it is the very fact that Benjamin is non-threatening—that he is gentle and approachable, much as Yao was—that makes Tituba desire him. Tituba is thus also beginning to formulate a feminism that leaves room for men (or at least some men), in contrast to Hester’s beliefs.
Themes
