The Witch Of Blackbird Pond (1978) - Plot & Excerpts
Sticks and stones will break my bones,but words will never hurt me....Well, unless you happen to be in court being tried for witchcraft: "You will listen to the charges against you."A clerk read from a parchment, giving full weight and due to every awful word."________ _____, thou art here accused that not having the fear of God before thine eyes thou hast had familiarity with Satan the grand enemy of God and man, and that by his instigation and help thou hast in a preternatural way afflicted and done harm to the bodies and estates of sundry of His Majesty's reign, in the third year of his majesty's reign, for which by the law of God and the law of the colony, thou deservest to die."Mistress _____, you are accused by Adam Cruff with the following actions. Firstly that you were the familiar friend and companion of the Widow Hannah Tupper of Blackbird Pond, an alleged witch who has within the past week disappeared in a suspicious manner. Such friendship is a lawful test of guilt, inasmuch as it is well known that witchcraft is an art that may be learned and conveyed from one person to another, and that it has often fallen out that a witch, upon dying, leaveth some heir to her witchcraft."Secondly, that you are guilty of actions and works which infer a court with the devil, which have caused illness and death to fall upon many innocent children in this town."...Her head reeling, ___ stood helpless as, one after the other, they rose and made their complaints, these men and women whom she scarcely recognized. The evidence rolled against her like a dark wave.One man's child had cried aloud all night that someone was sticking pins into him. Another child had seen a dark creature with horns at the foot of her bed. ... A man swore he had seen ___ and Goody Tupper dance round a fire in the meadow one moonlit night, and that a great black man, taller than an Indian, had suddenly appeared from nowhere and joined in the dance....Dr. Bulkeley cleared his throat. "In my opinion," he said deliberately, "it is necessary to use the greatest caution in the matter of testimony. Since the unnatural events so far recounted appear to rest in each case upon the word of but one witness, the legality of any one of them is open to question.""It is ridiculous to talk of legality," interrupted Matthew. "There has not one word been spoken that makes sense!"Right, nonsense: lethal nonsense.Supposing you're not in jail, but you wake up one morning and find your reputation has been destroyed in the newspaper. You have achieved pariah status. Life and liberty aren't threatened, not immediately, yet when power is involved, who can predict? If, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb (The Black Swan) says, ...our highest currency is respect, what then?So, yes, words matter. If you are going to be a dealer in words, I say get your black belt. Then have fun. Dance--whenever you're not in the stocks. Stocks in Keevil, Wilshire, from the Wikipedia articleBut I have digressed.This book is for adolescents but it's a good read. It's better than most movies, when you get right down to it! If, as with movies, it doesn't quite channel the people of another day and age (despite the period language), you do get some of the flavor--particularly with the above excerpt. What struck me first was the anti-authoritarian flavor, the routine questioning of authority. In the '50s, it would not do to have recommended it in the schools here (in the South). But by the '70s, it was on a school reading list in this very county. I thought my generation worked changes for ourselves, but it seems society followed right along.Worthy of note, though, is that, according to the plot, the "real" witch still was a woman.------------------------------------------------------ Personal narrative: When I was around 9 years old (fourth grade), my mother gave me two books: hardbacks but with those flimsy lightweight covers like Nancy Drew. One of them I just loved. It was about two little girls who ran away from an orphanage where they were being kept hungry and otherwise poorly treated, and they found a loving family. (I think the new mother figure made them waffles, and that's where I learned to read the word "recipe.") It had, I'd say, an anti-authoritarian theme, although I'm only saying that in retrospect. All I remember is that over the next year, of all my books, that is the one I constantly reread. Then one day it was gone! My mother had decided that my seeming preoccupation with it wasn't healthy. She had given it away, and it was gone forever.That's the first time I can remember the spark of anger and rebellion seething in my breast.
"No, writing is not lonely. It is a profession crowded with life and sound and color. I feel privileged to have had a share in it." —Elizabeth George Speare*A couple of chapters into The Witch of Blackbird Pond, I had to flip back to the copyright page and double check that it was actually published in 1958. That's just four years after The Wheel on the School, which, while it has some admirable qualities, can most kindly be described as quaint. Witch, on the other hand, with its vivid, immediate language and strong heroine, could easily have been written last year. In the fifties, it must have been a groundbreaking read. Despite the fact that it takes place over three centuries ago, it feels like a harbinger of modernity in middle grade literature. In the next ten years, Island of the Blue Dolphins, A Wrinkle in Time, and From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler would all take their place in the Newbery pantheon. Witch feels much more a part of their world than that of The Wheel on the Schol and Ginger Pye. I suppose you could argue that the focus on "who marries whom" is feministically retrograde, but in this era of Team Jacob/Edward/Peeta, that hardly stands out as old-fashioned. And realistically, this is historical fiction. In seventeenth century New England, a girl's choice of husband really did go a long way towards deciding her fate in life. Go Team Nat!So yes, I'd hand this book to any kid today (and I would probably play up the love triangle plot as well, because frankly, the witch trial was a bit of a letdown after all the foreshadowing). I really like the cover they're using these days too, with rosy-cheeked Kit looking all ready to start some Caribbean-style trouble. Ahead of her time, just like her creator. But happily, Elizabeth George Speare is not one of those authors who had to wait for the world to catch up to her talent. She won the Newbery Medal twice, as well as a Newbery Honor, the Scott O'Dell, and, in 1989, the Wilder. Wilder Committee chair Anita Silvey commented on the "vitality and energy, grace of writing, historical accuracy and tremendous feeling for place and character" of Speare's writing. That feeling for place is very much apparent in Witch, where Kit is reluctantly seduced by landscape of Speare's native New England.Aaaand it was in that very New England that the book was challenged a mere ten years ago. For promoting witchcraft. File under "unclear on the concept."
What do You think about The Witch Of Blackbird Pond (1978)?
I just read this for the first time since elementary school. It may as well have been the first time ever, because I remembered nothing about it. Quite frankly, I was blown away.This is a terrific read - well-written, and it weaves historical events into the narrative seamlessly. The messages of friendship were sweet and the connections between the characters were realistic and affecting.Something that surprised me was how central romantic intrigue was to the story. I'm starting to wonder if it's possible to write a y.a. book for girls without including a major romance. Probably not, given the predominate concerns of the age group and gender for whom the book was written. In many ways this read exactly like a Jane Austen novel. As such I'm not convinced the rituals and behaviors of Puritan courtship were accurately reflected. Everyone here acted exactly like the Edwardian era English, but with a lot of "twas", "tis" and "thee".Two things the author really did get right, though: onions and corn-husking. Both really big deals in Old Wethersfield.I have to disclose, I'm biased toward this book because it's set in my hometown, and the geography that's described, as well as the historical events surrounding the story, is very familiar to me. A fun trip down memory lane!
—Sue Bridehead (A Pseudonym)
Forced to leave her sunny Caribbean home for the bleak Connecticut Colony, Kit Tyler is filled with trepidation. As they sail up the river to Kit's new home, the teasing and moodiness of a young sailor named Nat doesn't help. Still, her unsinkable spirit soon bobs back up. What this spirited teenager doesn't count on, however, is how her aunt and uncle's stern Puritan community will view her. In the colonies of 1687, a girl who swims, wears silk and satin gowns, and talks back to her elders is not only headstrong, she is in grave danger of being regarded as a witch. When Kit befriends an old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, it is more than the ascetics can take: soon Kit is defending her life. Who can she count on as she confronts these angry and suspicious townspeople?
—Jessica
I still like to read children's and young adult books. There are so many good ones out there. This has been on my list for a very long time. I thought the author did a good job describing the puritan lifestyle of pre-revolutionary Connecticut. That the main character comes alone from Barbados to Weathersfild is a bit of a stretch but makes for a nice contrast. As an adult reader, I found the outcome somewhat predictable, but it is one that I think a young woman who is interested in history might like. This book won a Newberry award.
—Sandie
