I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem

While searching the elements to conjure Christopher’s request, Tituba encounters an Ashanti man. Recognizing Tituba, he chastises her: “If I had been in your shoes […] I would have gone down as the demon of Salem. Whereas what name do you have” (149).

Again, Tituba’s narration creates an intermingling of fiction and non-fiction:

I had already regretted having played only a minor role in the whole affair and having had a fate that no one could remember. ‘Tituba, a slave originating from the West Indies and probably practicing hoodoo.’ A few lines in the many volumes written on the Salem witch trials. Why was I going to be ignored? This question too had crossed my mind. Is it because nobody cares about a Negress and her trials and tribulations? Is that why?

I can look for my story among those of the witches of Salem, but it isn’t there […] not a word about me (149-50).

Dismayed, Tituba heads back to the camp amidst slaves warning her that the plantation owners are after her for helping to plan revolts. Again, the narration turns: “Those of you who have read my tale up till now must be wondering who is this witch devoid of hatred, who is misled each time by the wickedness in men’s hearts?” (151).

Mama Yaya and Abena protest Tituba’s choice to live with maroons, calling them thieves and wretches. Tituba still thinks of John Indian, fantasizing about him when she is with Christopher. Awaiting the immortality she cannot deliver, Christopher grows tired of Tituba. Mama Yaya and Abena chastise her: “Your hair is already turning gray, and still you can’t do without men” (155).

Tituba returns home to her cabin and replants her magic garden. Once again, her narration turns to its audience: “The reader may be surprised that at a time when the lash was constantly being used, I managed to enjoy this peace and freedom” (156). She explains that her side of the island is the “mysterious, and secret side […] protected by common collusion” and hidden behind thick vegetation (156).

Tituba splits her time between tending her garden and healing slaves. She soon discovers that she is pregnant with Christopher’s child. Mama Yaya and Abena are evasive and reserved in their reactions to Tituba’s pregnancy. Tituba suspects they are hiding something but cannot decipher what it is.

The slaves bring her a young boy, a slave beaten almost to death, named Iphigene. Tituba practices spiritual arts to bring him back to health, and he awakens mistakenly thinking she is his mother. Iphigene stays with her, tending to the house and helping Tituba in her pregnancy.

Tituba does what she can with the spirit world to help Iphigene with the slave revolt he is planning. Despite his hatred for Christopher, he begs Tituba to speak with him to prevent the maroons interfering with the revolt.

She calls upon her spirit trio for advice and is warned, this time by Yao: “The time is not ripe for our freedom […] Our memory will be covered in blood” (165).

Chapter 15 opens with Tituba again shifting the narrative address: “Do I have to go on to the end? Hasn’t the reader guessed what is going to happen?” (166).

The night before the revolt, Iphigene and Tituba become lovers. At first feeling as if she were committing incest, Tituba is quickly overwhelmed with desire and urgency and gives in. They awake to a room full of smoke. Having been betrayed by Christopher, they step outside and discover armed soldiers surrounding them. The lovers are taken to be hanged; Iphigene is the “first to swing in the air, hanging from a heavy beam” (172) Tituba is then taken to the gallows, where Mama Yaya, Abena, and Yao are “waiting to take [her] by the hand” (172).