Tituba because she is a slave often ends up taking the punishment when things go wrong, or is to blame when things go wrong. She comes from Barbados which has customs that severely differ from those of the people of Salem. Where in Barbados a women could dance and sing, even while being half dressed, you could not do that in Salem. The puritans viewed dancing as an association with the devil as well as certain kinds of songs and ways of dressing. Their close minded views allowed for radical ideas to explain things that transpired in the town. When Reverend Parris's daughter becomes very Ill, they blame a witch for cursing her. When it was discovered that Tituba, Abigail, Ruth were in the woods around a fire and dancing and mouthing unrecognizable words, they automatically assumed witchcraft. Act One Scene One when Parris who is distraught over his daughters sudden lapse in health utters," I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when I came on you. Why was she doing that? And I heard screeching and gibberish coming from her mouth. She were swaying like a dumb beast over that fire!". Instead of recognizing that doing that is a custom practiced by her people, in his close minded views suspects a possibility of witch craft on his child, so he sends for Reverend Hale. The Putnams eventually enter the bigotry to disclose Tituba's speculated ability to converse with the dead. When opposed by Reverend Parris, their response is how would Tituba have known who killed them, if she had no spoken with spirits? This ultimately led to Tituba being accused of succumbing to the teachings of the devil and ensnaring other puritan in her grasp, to do the dark lords purpose as well.
Because Tituba is not only a slave and viewed as just a person their to help and doesn't own many rights, it is easy for her blaming. Why not blame choose the scapegoat with the least amount of damage to a family or town name? In addition her culture is foreign to the puritans strict and slightly radical spiritual beliefs resulting in what transpired. Among Tituba's people to be a clairvoyant or to be able to summon the spirits of the dead to talk with them, is quite common. When taking into consideration the Puritans monotheistic Views from the bible and with their personal feelings, to do so is to defy god, and therefore an action sanctioned by the devil. It is the puritans failure to recognize and educate themselves on a culture far different than their own that allowed for the Salem witch trials, and in this case the demise of an innocent slave and other puritan girls.
Tituba was a vulnerable character in this story. She was a black slave that had absolutely zero say. She was the one who introduced the white girls rituals where unsuspected spotted and claimed to be doing witchcraft. This was the beginning of the chaos in Salem.
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