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Chapter 15
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Puritan Hypocrisy
Love, Values, and Attraction
Difference, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Home and Belonging
Sexism
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Matthew bitterly announces that Governor Andros has cancelled Thanksgiving, already taking away Connecticut’s authority. Judith is upset—they had planned fun festivities for the holiday. Matthew adds that some rivermen caused mischief the night before, which happened to be All Hallows Eve. When Rachel reminisces about how the holiday was celebrated in England, Matthew cuts her off, saying that “All Saints’ Day is a papist feast.”
Governor Andros is already exercising his power by cancelling the colonists’ holiday. When Rachel brings up another holiday, All Hallows Eve, Matthew scolds her for talking about a holiday that is Catholic, not Puritan (All Saints’ Day is the day after All Hallows Eve). Matthew’s scolding again captures his intolerance for non-Puritan cultures and religions.
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Matthew goes on to say that the rivermen made jack-o-lanterns and put them in the windows of William’s house. As punishment, the men will be put in the stocks (located in front of the Meeting House) during Thursday Lecture. Kit is sure she knows who the culprits are.
Given the way Nat reacted to the news that Kit and William are getting married, it is likely that Nat is one of the pranksters. This would be additional evidence that Nat sees William as a rival for Kit’s heart.
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On Thursday, Kit goes to the Meeting House on her own, feeling anxious. Sure enough, Kit approaches the Meeting House to see Nat along with two other men from the Dolphin crew. The prisoners are wittily replying to the onlookers’ jeers when Kit nears the stocks. Not wanting to upset a lady, much of the crowd disperses. Tearfully, Kit tells Nat that she can’t stand to see him treated so horribly.
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But Nat doesn’t want Kit’s pity. He would extend his punishment, he tells her, if he could see the outrage on William’s face when he saw the jack-o-lanterns. Upset, Kit turns from him and marches up to the Meeting House door, only to see that a notice is posted there, saying that the culprits will be banned from Wethersfield. Not wanting to hear the sentence read aloud during Thursday Lecture, Kit turns races back home.
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But as soon as Kit gets home, she decides to visit Hannah instead—she needs to talk to someone. Once with Hannah, Kit regretfully tells her that Nat is now banished. But Hannah isn’t concerned in the least, making Kit realize that Nat has always been sneaky about his visits. Calmed, Kit notes that “things seem[] to look much less desperate” at Hannah’s.
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Once Hannah hears the reason behind Nat’s punishment, she asks Kit about William, whom Nat never talked about. Kit hesitatingly explains that William is courting her. Hannah wants to know if Kit loves him, but Kit dodges the question, declaring that marrying William is the only way she can escape living with the Woods’. Hannah reminds her that she “has never escaped at all if love is not there.”
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Prudence arrives and informs Hannah that Nat won’t be able to visit—as soon as he was released from the stocks, he was marched onto the Dolphin. In response to Kit’s surprise—how does Prudence know Nat?—Prudence explains that Nat often visited while she was with Hannah. Kit feels a pang of jealousy.
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Nonetheless, Kit begins to teach Prudence how to write. On a copybook, Kit writes Prudence’s name and instructs her to copy it, which she does. As Kit listens to the scratching quill, she soaks in the calm of the house and finds herself wishing that Nat were there. Shaking herself from her daydream, Kit realizes that it’s time to leave.
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Kit and Prudence leave. As they walk down the road, Kit thinks about Hannah’s words regarding the upcoming engagement to William. She doesn’t know that that afternoon will be the last one that she, Hannah, and Prudence will ever enjoy together in that house.
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When Kit arrives, she is surprised to find Judith crying—John is leaving Wethersfield to join a northern militia. Rachel suspects this is John’s way of cutting ties with Reverend Bulkeley, whose Royalist ideas he could never agree with, especially not now that he is actively promoting Governor Andros. While Rachel and Mercy commend John’s decision to be true to himself, Judith resents it.
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