I tituba black witch of salem chapter 1 summary

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Activity Sheet per French 149 Novel

Africa to the Americas Introduction to Maryse Condé’s I Tituba

Deadlines:

: Spring Recess No class next Monday, March 26

: For Monday, April 2

→ I will start to read Maryse Condé’s novel I Tituba (Part I, chapters 1-9) and prepare the activities #1-6.

→ I will also write film essay #3 on Special Topics (see Assignments for the list on Blackboard) if I choose to do so. I will bring a paper copy of this film essay (with proof of submission to Turnitin) and also load it up on Blackboard by class time.

→ I will read . two articles from the New Times

→ I will also turn in all that same day. my journal activities about So Long A Letter

For Monday, April 9:

→ I will and prepare read Maryse Condé’s novel I Tituba (Part I, Ch. 10-11 & Part II, Ch. 1-9)

the activities #7-12 Some of these activities are optional and/or for extra-credit. .

→ I will also write if I choose to do so. book essay #3 on Mariama Bâ’s novel So Long A Letter

I will bring a paper copy of this film essay (with proof of submission to Turnitin) and also load it up on Blackboard by class time.

→ I will submit my . Second Draft/Progress Report for my creative project

→ I will read . two articles from the New Times

For Monday, April 16:

→ I will finish and prepare the reading Maryse Condé’s novel I Tituba (Part II, Ch. 10-end)

Some of these activities are optional and/or for extra-credit. activities #13-17.

→ I will also write if I choose to do so. I will bring a film essay #4 on Racism, Genocide & War

paper copy of this film essay (with proof of submission to Turnitin) and also load it up on Blackboard by class time.

→ I will read . two articles from the New Times

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1. I Tituba: Part I, Chapters 1-9 Activity #1: At home. Read the document entitled “Introduction to Maryse Condé” and answer the questions below in writing with coherent paragraphs and complete sentences:

 What are 5 facts you learned about Maryse Condé’s life and work?

 How do you understand “magical realism”? Define this concept in a 1-3 lines. Can you give an example of a book you have read or a film you have seen which fit this definition.

 Write 3 facts you learned about Barbados. Why is Barbados important here?

Activity #2: At home.

 Watch the 20-minute film on Guadeloupe where Maryse Condé’s was born and grew up.

 Write 5 questions about this short film.

 During class time and in pairs, you will take turn to quiz each other using your questions. At the end of this activity, you should have a good idea about Maryse Condé’s native island.

Activity #3: At home. Read the second two-page document, “Facts about the Slave Trade”, which (re)introduces you to some of history of the transatlantic slave trade and puts Maryse Condé’s novel into context. Activity #4: A home. No need to write your answers down.

 Before you start reading the novel, read the foreword in your book by Angela Davis.1

 Think about the following questions that we will discuss in class during the three weeks we will be reading Condé’s novel: → Why did Maryse Condé write I Tituba according to Angela Davis? → What controversy did Maryse Condé’s novel I Tituba provoke? Whose side does Angela

Davis stand in this controversy? → Why did Maryse Condé portray Tituba the way she did?

 Keep these answers in mind while you read the entire book! Activity #5: At home.

 Read chapters 1-9 in the first part of Condé’s I Tituba.

 While reading them, use the questions below to figure out what happens in Condé’s novel.

 You do not need have to write your answers down. Except for the two charts which you find under the headings of chapters 2 and 3-4: these you complete in writing.

1. Chapter 1: → Who are Tituba’s parents? → Describe Mama Yaya. What is her role in Tituba’s life? → What are the limits of Tituba's powers? What can she do and what can she not do?

1 Angela Davis is an African-American activist, scholar and writer who advocates for the oppressed. For more info about Angela Davis, go to:

 https://www.biography.com/people/angela-davis-9267589

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis

https://www.biography.com/people/angela-davis-9267589
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis
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→ What does each of Tituba’s spirits represent?

2. Chapter 2: → How did Tituba meet John Indian? → Compare and contrast Tituba and John Indian: How are they similar/different?

Tituba John Indian

→ Think about the name of John Indian: what could it mean? → Do Tituba’s spirits approve of John Indian?

3. Chapters 3 & 4: → Who is Susan Endicott? → How does John Indian behave toward Susanna Endicott? Why does it behave that way?

What is a slave’s duty according to John Indian? What do his words remind Tituba of? → Compare and contrast Tituba vs. Susan Endicott. How are they similar/different?

Tituba Susan Endicott

→ What is Susan Endicott’s last action? Why is her last action important?

4. Chapters 5-7: → Why does Tituba have to leave Barbados? Does she have a choice? → Describe the following characters: Samuel, Elizabeth and Betsey Parris, and Abigail Williams. → Describe the religion of Samuel Parris. What does he emphasize in his religion? → Describe the relationship between Elizabeth and her husband. → What kind of tales does Tituba tell to children? Why is she telling them? Is this dangerous? → Explain the psychological development leading Betsey and her friends to fabricate

witchcraft stories. → Who is Judah White? What role does she play in the novel? 5. Chapter 8: → What does Tituba do when she discovers she is pregnant? Why? 6. Chapter 9: → Describe the Parris family’s economic situation. Does this have an impact on Parris actions? → Describe the village of Salem.

Activity #6:

 Which two articles are you going to read for the next class?

 No need to download and/or to summarize them. We will be discussing them in class.

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1. I Tituba: Part I, Ch. 10-11 & Part II, Chapters 1-9 Activity #7: At home.

 Read the first part of the afterword by Ann Amstrong Scarboro (in your book p. 187-198). The first part of the afterword gives you the historical context in which you have to place Maryse Condé’s and her writing. Always explain your answer!

 Choose five of the questions below about the first part of Scarboro’s afterword. Answer them in complete sentences. Explain your answers where necessary. → Why is Maryse Condé’s novel I Tituba important for the United States? → What is the code noir? → What is the role of the black women on the plantations? → Why does Maryse Condé’s novel bring to the history of slavery in the Caribbean? → What effect does the absence of nonwhite Caribbean historians have on the Caribbean

people? → Who were the maroons and why are they not celebrated as heroes? → What happened after the abolition of slavery in the French West Indies? → What is the role of Caribbean writers for their people? → What does “creoleness” mean for Maryse Condé? → What are Maryse Condé’s political views regarding her native island?

Activity #8: At home.

 Check out the folder “Who are the Puritans”. This folder will give some answer for the questions you might have about the Puritans. There are several documents in that folder: (1) Notes on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter which is alluded to in Condé’s novel. (2) A link to a website presenting the Puritans and their faith. (3) A 6-minute film recreating life at a Pilgrim plantation in colonial America in 1630. (4) Two filmic adaptations of Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter that you can view for extra-credit.

 If you want to get extra-credit for activity #8, I invite you to write a short summary about what you learned in these documents.

Activity #9: At home.

 Read Part I, chapters 10-11 & Part II, chapters 1-10 of Maryse Condé’s novel.

 While reading these chapters, read the questions below to help you focus on what is important in Condé’s novel.

 Give a title to each of these chapters. Write these titles down.

 You do not need to write down the answers to the questions below. Except for the chart which you find under the heading of “5. Part II, Ch. 2”: you complete this chart in writing.

1. Part I, Ch. 10: → What are some of the sentences in this chapter that describe the relationship between

black slaves and Satan? → What does Tituba mean when she thinks, "Yes, I was becoming another woman. A stranger

to myself "(p. 66)? → Who are the new characters in this chapter? What is their role in the story? → What is going on with Betsey Parris? Can you explain her behavior?

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2. Part I, Ch. 11: → What does John Indian mean when he says "I wear a mask, my tormented wife” (p. 74)? → How is he different from Tituba? → Who are the people who accuse Tituba of witchcraft? → Does everyone accuse her of witchcraft?

3. Part I, Ch. 12: → What does Dr. Griggs do to see whether Betsey and Abigail are possessed by the devil? → What advice do Abena and Mama Yaya give to Tituba? → Keep in mind Mama Yaya’s words that Tituba keeps repeating to “bring peace back into

[her] heart”. These are: “Out of them all, you’ll be the only one to survive” (p. 86). Later in the novel, you will figure out what Mama Yaya meant when she said that.

4. Part II, Ch. 1: → Who are the people who accuse Tituba of witchcraft in this chapter? → What makes them act that way? → Who wants Tituba to confess to witchcraft? → Who are the people who are arrested for witchcraft? 5. Part II, Ch. 2: → Who is Hester Prynne? → What is Hester’s story? → How does Hester treat Tituba? → What does Hester think of the name Tituba? → What does Tituba say about her African roots (p. 96)? → Compare & contrast Hester Prynne as she is presented in Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter & the

way Maryse Condé presents her in her novel:

Hester Prynne by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester Prynne by Maryse Condé

→ What advice does Hester Prynne give Tituba? 6. Part II, Ch. 3: → What does Tituba say during the trial? → Why she says these things? (p. 104-106) → Why does Tituba hate herself at the end of this chapter? (p. 106) 7. Part II, Ch. 3: → What does Tituba say during the trial? → Why she says these things? (p. 104-106) → Why does Tituba hate herself at the end of this chapter? (p. 106) 8. Part II, Ch. 4-5: → Elizabeth Parris comes to visit Tituba: What shocked Tituba in the conversation she had with

Elizabeth? → How have trial and prison transformed Tituba?

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→ What happens to Rebecca Nurse and why is this surprising? → What role does John Indian play in all this? Does that have to do with the “mask” he told

Tituba about earlier in the novel? → How does the relationship between John Indian and Tituba evolve? → What are Tituba’s feelings toward John Indian? → What happened to Hester while Tituba is away? → How do the trials end? 9. Part II, Ch. 6-7: → What creates a change of heart in the population around Salem? → What is Tituba’s sentence? Why do you think she was sentenced that way? → What does Tituba do in prison? → Why does Tituba owe money? Can she pay? How is Tituba’s debt resolved? → Why does Tituba say the following: “Few people have the misfortune to be born twice”

(p.122)? What does that sentence allude to? 10. Part II, Ch. 8-9: → Who is Benjamin Cohen d’Azevedo? → How does he behave towards Tituba? → Why is Benjamin included in this novel? → Who is Mary Black? What does she explain to Tituba? → What happened to John Indian? → What would make Tituba “happy or almost happy”? → Keep in mind Tituba’s following thought at the end of chapter 9: “I knew that misfortune

never gives up” (p. 131). Why is this important? Activity #10: At home.

 Which two articles are you going to read for the next class?

 No need to download and/or to summarize them. We will be discussing them in class. Activity #11: At home. Optional and for extra-credit. This activity is for those of you who are American History Buffs.

 Four short video clips that explains the 1692 Salem witch trials are discussed by Elizabeth Reis, Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and History at the University of Oregon. Real is the author of Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England (Cornell University Press, 1997).

 Available at: http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/examples-of-historical- thinking/24551 → Dynamics of a confession (7 min.) → The Dangers of Innocence (5 min.) → Elements of a "Successful" Confession (6 min.) → Leading Students through the Material (6 min.)

Activity #12: At home. Optional and for extra-credit.

http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/examples-of-historical-thinking/24551
http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/examples-of-historical-thinking/24551
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There are two films which you might be interested in with links to on Blackboard. These links are in the folder devoted to Maryse Condé’s book. They are: → A 55-minute documentary by the History Channel about the 1692 Salem witch trials. → A 60-minute BBC documentary entitled “The Pendle Witch Child”, the trial in Britain that

created a precedent for the 1692 Salem witch trials.

Interested in additional info about the 1692 Salem witch trials?

 Experience the events of 1692 through the eyes of an accused witch: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/salem-interactive/

 Salem Witchcraft Trials 1692 by Professor Linder: http://www.famous-trials.com/salem Site with a lot of details about the development of the trials from the perspective of the law.

 Map of Salem Village: Witchcraft Accusations: http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/maps.html An interactive map showing the locations of the accused and the accusers, as well as major roads, rivers, townships, and households.

 Witchcraft in Salem Village: http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/ This site provides a wealth of primary source documents, from trial transcripts to rare books, and historical maps of Salem Village. You can find the transcripts about Tituba as well as her and John Indian’s testimonies. The site also features a helpful Q&A with the town archivist for Danvers (formerly Salem Village).

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/salem-interactive/
http://www.famous-trials.com/salem
http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/maps.html
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
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3. I Tituba: Part II, Ch. 10-end) Activity #13: At home.

 Read the second part of Scarboro’s interview of Maryse Condé in the afterword of your book (p. 198-213).

 What five points that Maryse Condé explains in her discussion with Scarboro. Write them down in complete sentences.

 The pages after the Condé interview (p. 213-225) are optional but they will help you with better understanding Condé’s novel.

Activity #14: At home.

 Read the document entitled “Introduction to Voodoo or Vodun”. This document might answer some of the questions you have about Tituba’s religious beliefs.

 Tituba hails from the island of Barbados and her mother was an Ashanti from Ghana. Can you figure out and summarize in 3-5 lines what Tituba beliefs are?

Activity #15: At home.

 Finish reading Maryse Condé’s novel I Tituba (Part II, Ch. 10-end)

 While reading them, use the questions below to figure out what happens in Condé’s novel.

 Give a title or each of these chapters. Write your titles down.

 You do not need to write down the answers to the questions below. 1. Part II, Ch. 10-11: → What are a “mezuzah” and a “kippah”?

Mezuzah Kippah or Yarmulke

A small box placed on the right doorpost of Jewish homes. Inside is a parchment scroll, called a klaf, with verses from the Torah, including the Shema prayer. The concept of a mezuzah comes from the Torah, where we read, “And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts (of your house and on your gates”, Deuteronomy 6:9, 11:20).2

A small cloth cap worn by Jews. Traditionally it was worn only by men, but in modern times the push for equality between the sexes in the practice of Judaism has led some women to wear yarmulkes. Some Jews only wear them while praying; others always wear (especially outside). The basis for wearing a head covering is a story in the Talmud.3

2 Sources:

 https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-a-mezuzah/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashanti_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah
http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm
https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.6.9?lang=he-en
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-a-mezuzah/
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2. Part II, Ch. 12: → Who welcomes Tituba upon her return to her native island of Barbados? → Is she happy to be “home”? → How has the island changed? → What do the words bossales (p. 141) and maroons (p. 143), grangrek (p. 144), Zenaida (p.

143) and Ti-Noël (p. 146) refer to?

The bossales4 are the black slaves forcibly brought from Africa, who were considered far better than New World-born slaves or “black creoles” because of their presumed superior physical strength. They were seen as less cunning, more obedient, yet uncivilized. As far as the slave masters were concerned, the bossales were more productive than the black creoles who grew up in the plantation system or had purchased freedom.5 The maroons6 are escaped African slaves who with the indigenous Caribbean people formed independent settlements. The English word supposedly comes from the Spanish cimarrón and describes the runaway slave communities of Florida, the Great Dismal Swamp between Virginia and North Carolina and the Caribbean. The Cuban philologist Jose Juan Arrom traces this term further than cimarrón, first used in Hispaniola to refer to feral cattle, then to enslaved Indians who escaped to the hills, and, by the early 1530s, to enslaved Africans who did the same. He suggests that the word derives from the Arawakan simarabo, meaning “fugitive”, in the Taíno language spoken by the people native to the Caribbean. A grangrek7 is a person who is “very learned”, an “expert” in Guadeloupian Creole. It is derived from the French grand (great) and grec (Greek). A grangrek is a scholar, one who knows ancient Greek. This is a beautiful testimony of the prestige of knowing ancient Greek.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezuzah

 http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm 3 Source: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kippah 4 Bossales is a distortion of the French “peaux sales” or “dirty skins”. 5 Source: http://www.bostonhaitian.com/columns/2017/%E2%80%98i-am-haitian-not-creole- and-i-speak-haitian%E2%80%99. 6 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_(people) For more info, go to:

 https://folklife.si.edu/resources/maroon/educational_guide/23.htm

 https://scholar.library.miami.edu/slaves/Maroons/maroons.html 7 Source: http://projetbabel.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1157

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Dismal_Swamp
https://www.loc.gov/item/n50001571/jose-juan-arrom-cuba-1910-2007/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arawakan_languages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezuzah
http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kippah
http://www.bostonhaitian.com/columns/2017/%E2%80%98i-am-haitian-not-creole-and-i-speak-haitian%E2%80%99
http://www.bostonhaitian.com/columns/2017/%E2%80%98i-am-haitian-not-creole-and-i-speak-haitian%E2%80%99
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_(people)
https://folklife.si.edu/resources/maroon/educational_guide/23.htm
https://scholar.library.miami.edu/slaves/Maroons/maroons.html
http://projetbabel.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1157
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The Zenaida bird is a dove that breeds throughout the Caribbean and the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is the national bird of the Caribbean island of Anguilla. It lays two white eggs on a flimsy platform built on a tree or shrub. It also nests in rock crevices and on grassy vegetation if no predators are present. It has been recorded that some birds have up to 4 broods a year. Eggs take approximately two weeks to hatch, and the young chicks typically fledge after only two weeks in the nest. Parents feed the young pigeon's milk, a nutrient rich substance regurgitated from its crop.8 Ti-Noël, meaning literally “Little Christmas” in French, is the central character of El reino de este mundo (The Kingdom of This World), a novel by Cuban author Alejo Carpentier, published in 1949 in Spanish and first translated into English in 1957. A work of historical fiction, it tells the story of Haiti before, during, and after the Haitian Revolution led by Toussaint Louverture. Ti- Noël begins as a young slave who, during the unravelling of the novel, travels to Cuba before returning to Haiti. He is twice branded as a slave but now is a free man.9 Mama Yaya is a Nago according to Tituba (p.145). She belongs to a Yoruba subgroup brought to the Americas mainly by Spanish. Many of the slaves brought to the Caribbean and the modern United States come from Benin and were sold by the King of Dahomey, in Whydah.10

→ Who is Christopher? → What is the reaction of the maroons when Tituba tells them her story? → What do Tituba’s spirits tell her when she wants to help Christopher? → How is Tituba’s first night in Barbados? → Keep in mind the following words that Mama Yaya tells Tituba: “Door is a door that nobody

can lock. Everybody has to go through it when his day and hour come. You know full well it can only be kept open for those we love so that they can catch a glimpse of these they left behind” (p. 146). Later in the novel, you will figure out what Mama Yaya meant when she said that.

3. Part II, Ch. 13: This chapter is a transition chapter where Tituba reflects about her life. → How does Christopher treat Tituba? What does he want from her? Can she deliver? → Why does she leave Christopher? Where does she go? → What are the two sides of Tituba’s island?

8 Sources:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenaida_dove

 https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/zendov/overview.

9 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_This_World#Ti_Noel. 10 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_Americans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucat%C3%A1n_Peninsula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anguilla
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_milk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_(anatomy)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejo_Carpentier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_Louverture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Dahomey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Whydah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenaida_dove
https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/zendov/overview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_This_World#Ti_Noel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_Americans
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4. Part II, Ch. 14-15: Tituba has become a legend. Everybody knows her story: the maroons, the slaves as well as the plantation owners. → What are two events that touch her deeply in chapter 14? → Who is Iphigene? What is his role in Tituba’s life? → What are some of the bad omens that might prepare the ending of the book? → How does chapter 15 end? 5. Epilogue: → What is the purpose of the epilogue in Condé’s novel? → What is her role now? → Who is Samantha? → Is Tituba happy? Activity #16: At home. Choose three of the questions below. Answer them in coherent paragraphs and complete sentences. Explain your answers where necessary. → What is the meaning of the title of Maryse Condé’s novel? What did she want to emphasize

in her title? → What is the role of the dreams Tituba has several times in the course of the novel? → What kind of a witch is Tituba? → What is the role of Benjamin Cohen d’Azevedo in Condé’s novel? → What is the role of religion in Maryse Condé’s novel? → Why does Maryse Condé borrow Hester Prynne from Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. → What did Maryse Condé convey through Tituba in her eponymous novel? Activity #17: At home.

 Which two articles are you going to read for the next class?

 No need to download and/or to summarize them. We will be discussing them in class.

A reminder: Do not forget the two essays on 2 different books and your 2 film critiques. You need to write your 650-700 word for each essay. Use double spaces 3-4 pages. Or if you prefer, create a semester project and write 1 essay on a book and one on a film. Check the deadlines for these on your Overall Course Reading & Assignment Schedule.