The Witch of Blackbird PondAuthor: Speare, Elizabeth GeorgeGenre: General Novels Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Released: December 1, 1958 |
A Review by Laurie Edwards
03/08/2002
Katherine "Kit" Tyler was a spoiled, educated rich girl from Barbados; she had an indulgent grandfather and many slaves to make her life pretty. When Sir Jonathan Tyler died, however, it turned out he'd wasted all the cash there was. Kit had no place to go, unless she wanted to marry a stinky man as old as her late grandfather.
Her late mother had a sister, however, living in the Connecticut colony with the Puritans. Aunt Rachel and her cold husband, Matthew, agreed to take Kit in, although it's clear from the get-go this girl is out of place in the dreary God-fearing colony. Rachel and Matthew's two daughters, gentle Mercy and flirty Judith, dealt with the intrusion as their very different temperaments required.
Kit befriended an old Quaker woman named Hannah who'd been persecuted by the Puritans and named a witch. She taught school, including a young girl whose mother was a nasty hag and her father too gutless to stand up to his wife. When things go wrong in the village, Hannah and Kit are accused of witchcraft. Hannah escapes, and Kit is finally declared innocent.
Three men came calling on the girls. William Ashby, a young rich kid, wanted Kit but later settled for Judith. John Holbrook wed Mercy, whose disability had always made everyone think she'd never catch a man. Nat Eaton, the handsome captain of a new ketch called The Witch, took Kit away from the severe culture of Connecticut's Puritans, back to lovely Barbados—and into married life.
The characters are mostly one-sided, as befits a book for young girls. There are really no conradictions to confuse; you know right off whom you're supposed to like, and who not. The only character with any real depth is Matthew Wood, Aunt Rachel's husband, who first grudgingly allows Kit to stay, despises her for her giddiness and "Popery," and finally comes to like and respect her—even defending his niece to the Tribunal when she's charged with witchcraft.
Don't think this means the characters are bland or boring, though! Each one, from terrified little Prudence to headstrong Judith, are fun and will keep a young reader interested from first page to last.
Unlike most books written for this age group, The Witch of Blackbird Pond has wonderful narrative. The village, the river, even the fields are explained in great detail. Dresses, whether silk or homespun, are described so completely you can almost touch them in your mind. It never gets overwhelming, though; kids won't tune it out. They'll be fascinated.
I have some quibbles over the dialogue. These people sound like 1958, for the most part, with some "thee" and "thou" thrown in for bad measure. If you're writing a period piece, you should write the dialogue the characters would have spoken. And if you're going to even begin to use the language as it was then, you should go the whole nine yards. An occasional period word doesn't add mood; it only comes off like an anachronism, rather like the German characters in "Hogan's Heroes" occasionally saying a German word.
I know the Puritan settlements were quite sexist, and so was 1958, but there's an added chauvanist tone here that can grate at times.
"Hold your tongue, woman," shouted her husband unexpectedly.If you find passages like that one a tad offensive, be sure you lightly touch on the sexism when your daughter reads this book. Discuss it with her. Let her know that was how people thought back in the day, but things are different now.
Goodwife Cruff's jaw dropped. For one moment she was struck utterly dumb, and in that moment her husband stepped into his rightful place. There was a new authority in his voice.
I keep mentioning the target audience her for one reason: I can't imagine any twelve-year-old boy wanting to read it or being willing to get into it. The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a girls' book, that's all there is to that.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a first-rate story that's stood the test of time for a popular young person's novel. Definitely get your daughter into it; it'll be a lifelong favorite—it certainly is one of mine.
© Copyright ToxicUniverse.com 03/08/2002
