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Aug. 24th, 2017 06:45 pmIn other Childhood Classics About Christianity, I also recently reread The Witch of Blackbird Pond, a book I loved and still love about NEW ENGLAND and how it is full of REALLY JUDGMENTAL PURITANS.
The heroine of The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Kit Tyler, was raised in luxury in Barbados, but after the death of her grandfather and subsequent loss of his fortune, decides that her only choice is to descend on her long-lost Puritan relatives in Connecticut and inform them that she is a member of their household now. She brought all her prettiest clothes! This is going to go great!
While en route to Connecticut, Kit jumps in the water to save a little girl's doll. This is her first mistake, as all the other passengers immediately start judging her for:
- heedlessly and foolishly ruining what looks like a REALLY EXPENSIVE dress
- which is kind of a legitimate reason to be judgy
- but also, not drowning! like a witch!!
Except for Nat, the captain's son, who is instead busy judging her for:
- talking about the slaves she used to own like it's not a big deal
- which is a super extra legitimate and good reason to be judgy
- ... but also for BEING RUDE ABOUT HIS BOAT, HOW DARE
Anyway, Kit lands and meets her relatives: sweet but tired Aunt Rachel, beautiful bratty cousin Judith, saintly lame cousin Mercy, and and disapproving uncle Matthew, who judges Kit for:
- owning fancy dresses
- trying to give Judith and Mercy fancy dress
- getting bored in church
- wanting to read books that are not the Bible
- being a Royalist who approves of the king despite the fact that he's obviously terrible
- playing make-believe with the children like a devil-worshipping Theater Person
- turning up on his doorstep with literally no advance warning and suddenly making him responsible for a teenaged girl from Barbados in extreme culture shock
- admittedly the last one was a little bit rude
- I too would balk
There are about five people in town who do not spend all their time judging Kit:
- Mercy, who is too saintly to judge anyone, and also busy with a love triangle between her and Judith and the nice-but-kind-of-boring divinity student down the road
- Aunt Rachel, who is very nice but also so, so tired
- William, Kit's new suitor, who turns up at her house to creepily stare at her during incredibly awkward courting dates
- Prudence, the little girl who lost her doll, who loves Kit but can only hang out with her in secret because of her abusive family
- Dame Hannah, the sweet old Quaker woman who lives just outside of town, who is both non-judgmental AND non-creepy AND makes really good cake! FRIEND JACKPOT
So, Kit starts secretly hanging out with Hannah as much as possible. (Secretly, because Puritans really REALLY do not disapprove of Quakers.) Also, she's friends with Nat the captain's son, who becomes significantly less judgy when he and Kit are teaming up to help fix a sweet old Quaker woman's roof.
Meanwhile, in a C-plot, the whole town is stressing about the king revoking their charter, which is a super interesting bit of historical detail that is honestly mostly lost on Kit who does not really care about the Connecticut charter and early American political conflicts.
...and then in my memory the book ended with basically everyone getting accused of witchcraft, ( which is not exactly true but pretty close )
The heroine of The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Kit Tyler, was raised in luxury in Barbados, but after the death of her grandfather and subsequent loss of his fortune, decides that her only choice is to descend on her long-lost Puritan relatives in Connecticut and inform them that she is a member of their household now. She brought all her prettiest clothes! This is going to go great!
While en route to Connecticut, Kit jumps in the water to save a little girl's doll. This is her first mistake, as all the other passengers immediately start judging her for:
- heedlessly and foolishly ruining what looks like a REALLY EXPENSIVE dress
- which is kind of a legitimate reason to be judgy
- but also, not drowning! like a witch!!
Except for Nat, the captain's son, who is instead busy judging her for:
- talking about the slaves she used to own like it's not a big deal
- which is a super extra legitimate and good reason to be judgy
- ... but also for BEING RUDE ABOUT HIS BOAT, HOW DARE
Anyway, Kit lands and meets her relatives: sweet but tired Aunt Rachel, beautiful bratty cousin Judith, saintly lame cousin Mercy, and and disapproving uncle Matthew, who judges Kit for:
- owning fancy dresses
- trying to give Judith and Mercy fancy dress
- getting bored in church
- wanting to read books that are not the Bible
- being a Royalist who approves of the king despite the fact that he's obviously terrible
- playing make-believe with the children like a devil-worshipping Theater Person
- turning up on his doorstep with literally no advance warning and suddenly making him responsible for a teenaged girl from Barbados in extreme culture shock
- admittedly the last one was a little bit rude
- I too would balk
There are about five people in town who do not spend all their time judging Kit:
- Mercy, who is too saintly to judge anyone, and also busy with a love triangle between her and Judith and the nice-but-kind-of-boring divinity student down the road
- Aunt Rachel, who is very nice but also so, so tired
- William, Kit's new suitor, who turns up at her house to creepily stare at her during incredibly awkward courting dates
- Prudence, the little girl who lost her doll, who loves Kit but can only hang out with her in secret because of her abusive family
- Dame Hannah, the sweet old Quaker woman who lives just outside of town, who is both non-judgmental AND non-creepy AND makes really good cake! FRIEND JACKPOT
So, Kit starts secretly hanging out with Hannah as much as possible. (Secretly, because Puritans really REALLY do not disapprove of Quakers.) Also, she's friends with Nat the captain's son, who becomes significantly less judgy when he and Kit are teaming up to help fix a sweet old Quaker woman's roof.
Meanwhile, in a C-plot, the whole town is stressing about the king revoking their charter, which is a super interesting bit of historical detail that is honestly mostly lost on Kit who does not really care about the Connecticut charter and early American political conflicts.
...and then in my memory the book ended with basically everyone getting accused of witchcraft, ( which is not exactly true but pretty close )
