33 pages • 1 hour read
Paul S. BoyerSalem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1974A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “Two Families: The Porters and the Putnams”
Two prominent families, the Putnams and the Porters, wielded significant influence in the affairs of Salem Village, and their antagonism led directly to the witchcraft epidemic of 1692. In the 1640s, John Putnam and John Porter both arrived in Salem and established vast farm holdings. The Porter family properties were situated close to the Town and extended inside its boundaries: “They had easy access to the roadways and water routes which connected Town and Village, and in some instances they actually controlled these arteries” (117). In contrast, the Putnams established themselves on the western edge of the Village, where the farmland was poorer:
As the Putnams increased their holdings over the years, they necessarily did so by purchasing lands which lay, on the whole, still further to the interior. In the process, the family became locked into an agrarian existence in a way the Porters were not (123).
Over the years, the Porters expanded into more commercial activities, which tied them even more closely to the Town and its merchant class. The Putnams had no such opportunity, and their property was strained to accommodate numerous male heirs over the next three generations, causing their voices to eventually be “almost silence” in the Town’s political affairs (128-129).
The divergent fortunes of the Porter and Putnam families dictated the roles they would play in the Parris controversy. The Putnams were ardent supporters of Parris and of the independence of Salem Village, and the Porters were equally adamant that the Village remain annexed to the Town, and none of them supported Parris’s church.
Not coincidentally, the most vocal accusers of witches came from the Putnam faction:
Ann Putnam, the twelve-year-old daughter of Thomas Putnam, Jr., was by far the most active of the afflicted girls, and a total of eight members of the family […] were involved in the prosecution of no fewer than forty-six accused witches (115).
In 1692, these accusations effected a minor political coup as several prominent Porters and their allies were accused of witchcraft and were either jailed or forced to flee. For a brief time, the Putnams regained political power and “it seemed fleetingly possible that Salem might again become the kind of community which valued men like the Putnams and the things for which they stood” (132).
Chapter 6 Summary: “Joseph and His Brothers: A Story of the Putnam Family”
To understand the animosity that drove the witchcraft accusations, it becomes necessary to understand the internal dynamic of the Putnam family itself. As the eldest son, Thomas Putnam, Jr. assumed he would inherit much of his father’s extensive holdings. Unfortunately, in his later years, widower Putnam Senior married Mary Veren, who bore him a single son named Joseph. Much to Putnam Junior’s surprise, when his father died, he left his fortune to Mary and Joseph, and none of the Putnam family suits attempting to overturn the will succeeded.
To compound Putnam Junior’s chagrin, Joseph then married into the Porter family and became prosperous and influential in the Town. Israel Porter, the head of the clan, may have orchestrated both the amended will of Putnam Senior and Joseph’s marriage to his own daughter. These events would have given financial advantage to the Porters and increased Putnam Junior’s animosity toward them.
Putnam Junior’s financial prospects were further diminished when he failed to inherit merchant interests through his wife, Ann Carr. At the time of her father’s death, Ann’s own mother arranged to keep the family wealth for her two sons, with only minor bequests to her married daughters. Lawsuits attempting to overturn this will also failed.
If these events weren’t galling enough to Putnam Junior, when Mary Veren died, she left the entire Putnam estate that she had gained through marriage to her son Joseph, effectively cutting off all the remaining Putnams from their father’s property. Her deathbed will may have been orchestrated and/or forged by Israel Porter, but suits attempting to prove his manipulation of Veren’s will never bore fruit.
The authors see European folk tales of wicked stepmothers, evil witches, and victimized children as a metaphor for the violent resentment felt by Thomas and Ann Putnam. Though the Putnams couldn’t vent their subconscious rage at Mary Veren directly because of her social influence, they could redirect their fury at surrogates. These were elderly and vulnerable females within their own community. The Putnams graduated from accusations again social outcasts to women nearer in rank to their true target. They began with Martha Cory and Rebecca Nurse, both were “women of advanced years, both were prosperous and respected, both were in failing health, and both were members of the Salem Town church” (148-49).
Ann Putnam’s spectral evidence was pivotal in convicting Cory of witchcraft. Her husband also played an active role in the trials by testifying against twelve accused witches and filing complaints against twenty-four others. The authors contend it is unlikely that the Putnams were consciously aware of their vendetta against Mary and Joseph. They note that, within Puritan society, the lines between private and public were often blurred; moreover, a private battle over property could easily be projected as a cosmic battle between good and evil: “For the Putnams […] it was Mary Veren and her son Joseph who were the serpents in Eden, and if they, or their psychological equivalents, could only be eliminated, all might again be well” (151-52).
Chapters 5-6 Analysis
This set of chapters turns from an analysis of geography to the personalities of the men who shaped the Village factions. The Porters and the Putnams initially drew their fortunes from agriculture. Three generations later, the families had diverged in terms of their wealth and future prospects. To the authors, Thomas Putnam, Jr. embodied the traditional agricultural values of the original Puritan colonists and, not surprisingly, lived in the western part of the Village. In contrast, Israel Porter embodied the values of the new merchant class as he led his family to align with the interests of the Town. Although the Porter family still held large tracts of farmland, these were all located on the eastern side of the Village, and some even extended over the boundary into the town.
The authors depict Israel Porter as secretive and manipulative. They suggest that he may have arranged his daughter’s marriage to wealthy Joseph Putnam and gained his son-in-law’s allegiance for Porter family interests. Further, they speculate that Israel may have falsified a deathbed will in which Joseph’s mother bequeathed all her Putnam holdings to the Porter side of the family.
The contrast between Israel Porter and Thomas Putnam explains the animosity between the stolid farmers of the west and the opportunistic merchants of the east, as well as the factions that coalesced around the leadership of each of these men. The authors take pains in this segment to explore the psychological toll that financial reversals would take on both Thomas and Ann Putnam. Their subconscious rage against the Porters and their followers helps to explain why the Putnam home became the nexus for the entire witch craze that was to follow.
