I chose to create a reader’s guide for I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem because with as much as I have read about the Salem Witch Trials, Tituba was never included in that narrative. Specifically, the reader’s guide will paint a picture of how history has erased Tituba from the Salem Witch Trial events. The Witch Trials have been portrayed as tragedy against white women since it occurred. However, Tituba had an important role during the trials, she was the first woman accused, and as a slave woman of an undetermined race she has largely been excluded from the history. I chose to focus on the Witch Trials as the focus for this reader’s guide because it is widely taught, studied, and it is an interesting topic used in literature and popular culture. Just as Tituba is excluded from the historical narrative of the Witch Trials, she is equally excluded when the Witch Trials are used in literature and popular culture; or perhaps even worse, when Tituba is included she is portrayed as evil, other-worldly, and as a stereotypical ‘witch’ figure. I think it is important to give readers of this novel as much information about Tituba as possible because knowing she really existed outside of a fiction novel gives Condé’s work a much deeper meaning in terms of Condé’s purpose in retelling the Witch Trials through Tituba’s perspective.
In each section of the reader’s guide, I have provided information that will give readers a deeper comprehension of Condé’s story and message as well as an acknowledgement to Tituba’s legacy that the Salem Witch Trials deny her. The archive section provides context for the historical background of Condé’s novel. It would be remiss to assume that all readers of I, Tituba have prior knowledge about the Salem Witch Trials and would recognize the key figures in the Witch Trials history Condé includes in her fiction. The archive section works has a point of reference for readers to look too that will benefit their understanding of Condé’s larger goal with this novel. For example, images and transcripts of Tituba’s real trial testimony are included in the Archive section. Condé also includes this in the novel, but again, it cannot be assumed the reader has prior knowledge of the Salem Witch Trials before reading Condé’s novel; even if they do have prior knowledge, Tituba would most likely still be unknown to them. The overall purpose of the archive section is not only to provide historical reference points for the reader, but to also show that Tituba has been excluded from the main narrative of the Salem Witch Trial because of her race and origins.
I also include two timelines in this reader’s guide. These timelines will place the historical events of the Salem Witch Trials against Condé’s placement of Tituba during those same events. Again, it can’t be assumed that readers of this novel will have prior knowledge of the Witch Trial’s, so the timelines provided in the Reader’s Guide give the reader a visual comparison between the Salem Witch Trials and Condé’s placement of Tituba. I chose to include two timelines because inserting Tituba into the Witch Trials timeline shows how again she has been totally excluded from the history.
The scholarly literature surrounding Condé’s work has a lot to say about Condé take on Tituba’s race. Condé portrays Tituba as an African-American woman and scholars strongly believe that this would not be accurate. However, Condé’s decision plays into her choosing to tell readers the history of the Salem Witch Trials through Tituba’s point of view. As far as what scholars have to say regarding this retelling of the Salem Witch Trials, scholars have praised Condé’s I, Tituba for giving Tituba a voice and for righting the wrongs done to her throughout history. Suzanne Roszak for example, compares Condé’s rewriting and depiction of Tituba and the Witch Trials to that of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. She states that “Condé imbues Tituba with qualities that in Miller’s work are exclusively associated with the white male hero” (114). Similarly, Jennifer R. Thomas writes in “Talking the Cross-Talk of Histories in Maryse Condé’s I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem” that though Condé is giving Tituba a voice and a narrative, she does not “seek to declare fiction historical fact”. Rather, Condé is using her novel to expand “historical consciousness through a dialog that engages the (not always clear) convergences and divergences of various histories” (87). An opposing view on I, Tituba comes from Jane Moss, author of “Postmodernizing the Salem Witchcraze: Maryse Condé’s I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem”, argues that Condé’s work is perhaps just as problematic for Tituba as Miller’s The Crucible. Moss writes that Condé’s novel makes two opposing claims; one, that the novel serves as “redressing a wrong by writing Tituba into history” and two, that the novel serves as an “act of revenge and a mock epic, not a serious historical novel” (2). These scholars are both praising Condé’s novel and acknowledging the questions and problems it raises as a historical fiction novel. Regardless, all give credit to Condé for giving Tituba’s story a place to shine after being cast aside for so long.
Scholarly Reader's Guide for Maryse Condé's I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem 