Maryse Condé's Tituba: Western Civilization, Race & Gender
This essay examines Maryse Condé's I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem as a critique of Western civilization, analyzing how Condé characterizes Colonial society as exploitative, hypocritical, and unjust. Through close reading of the novel's key passages and characters, the paper explores Condé's views on the foundations of Western society, the subjugation of women, racial and religious oppression, and the persistence of colonial prejudices into the present. The essay also situates the novel within the broader tradition of personalized historical narratives — alongside works by Frederick Douglass and Olaudah Equiano — that preserve the human reality of slavery for future generations.
- Condé's Characterization of Western Civilization: Hypocrisy and exploitation in Colonial Christian society
- What Western Civilization Was Built On: Slavery and the subjugation of women as foundations
- Does a True 'Society' Exist in the Novel?: Whether Colonial society meets the definition of civilization
- Race, Gender, Imperialism, and History: Condé's portrayal of racial and imperial injustice
- Is Condé's Critique About the Past or the Present?: Colonial prejudice and its persistence into modern times
- The Significance of the Novel as Historical Commentary: Novel's role preserving human reality of slavery
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper consistently grounds its claims in direct textual evidence, quoting key passages from the novel to support each analytical point rather than making unsupported assertions.
- It moves logically from description (what Condé shows) to interpretation (what she believes), building a coherent argument about the author's worldview across multiple thematic dimensions.
- The essay effectively contextualizes the novel within a broader literary tradition — connecting Condé to Douglass, Equiano, and Wiesel — which strengthens the argument about the novel's historical and social significance.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates authorial-intent analysis: the student consistently distinguishes between what happens in the narrative and what the author intends to communicate through those events. Phrases like "the author seems to indicate" and "the narrative suggests" show awareness of the interpretive layer between text and meaning, a key skill in literary analysis.
Structure breakdown
The essay is organized around a series of focused interpretive questions — what Condé thinks Western civilization consists of, what it was built on, whether it qualifies as a society at all, and whether her critique is contemporary or historical. Each section answers its guiding question using textual evidence before a final section addresses the novel's broader literary and historical significance. This question-driven structure keeps the analysis focused and progressive throughout.
Condé's Characterization of Western Civilization
The characterization of Western civilization that emerges from the narrative of I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem is of an exploitative, unjust, and profoundly hypocritical society. Through the character of Tituba, Maryse Condé describes Colonial society from the perspective of an individual who is doubly situated to experience both the subjugation of women by men and the cruelty of slavery within a society that considers itself more civilized — and closer to godliness — than other human societies. That theme is evident throughout the work, beginning with the opening image of Tituba's mother's rape:
"Abena, my mother was raped by an English sailor on the deck of Christ the King one day…"
The name of the ship is no coincidence. It highlights the complete hypocrisy of the predominantly Christian society whose routine practices and utter absence of empathy or compassion for enslaved people stand in direct contradiction to its professed Christian ideals and values. This fundamental hypocrisy permeates the entire work. Tituba makes the point explicitly in her description of the Reverend Samuel Parris, who — despite his position as a religious leader — is so abusive toward his wife and daughter that Tituba regards him as a frightening figure rather than a spiritual one:
"However fanatical and dour were those who shared his convictions, they were not as frightening as this tall, irate silhouette with his words of reprimand and warning."
What Western Civilization Was Built On
According to Condé's work, Western civilization was built on the backs of enslaved people who were exploited within their own societies and then horribly abused by their eventual masters in the New World. In the author's view, much of so-called "polite" Western society remained ignorant of the extent to which other human beings had suffered in order to build and sustain the modern societies that Westerners regarded as great accomplishments. This view comes through in the voice of Mary Prince:
"The truth ought to be told of [the horrors of slavery]; and what my eyes have seen I think it is my duty to relate; for few people in England know what slavery is. I have been a slave — I have felt what a slave feels, and I know what a slave knows."
It is equally clear that the author believes much of Western society was built upon the unjustifiable subjugation of women by men. The narrative suggests this was accomplished partly through the use of sexuality as a violent means of oppression and partly as a psychological mechanism for maintaining control over women. Tituba's mother, whose rape opens the novel, is eventually hanged for defending herself against yet another assault — she wounds, but does not kill, her attacker with a sword.
The psychological subjugation of women through Western teachings about sexual morality is evident in the confusion and guilt surrounding Tituba's discovery of her own sexuality and her capacity for sexual pleasure. The author also uses the metaphor of Tituba's need to remain silent during sexual encounters — to avoid discovery — as an expression of the shame associated with female sexuality in Colonial and other Western societies. Tituba ultimately wonders why women allow themselves to be subjugated and exploited while being harshly punished for daring to explore their own desires:
"Why can't women do without men?" "Why must any relationship with the slightest hint of affection between a man and a woman necessarily end up in bed?"
The author further illustrates Tituba's voiceless existence as a Black African female slave through her refusal to incriminate others at her trial. This choice is distinct from her confession: she confesses guilt primarily because she has been falsely promised that doing so will earn her freedom. She refuses, however, to implicate others even when it might reduce her own punishment.
Race, Gender, Imperialism, and History
The author's understanding of race, gender, imperialism, and history — expressed through her narrative and characters — reflects a profound sense of social injustice, racial oppression, and the centuries of forced subjugation and enslavement carried out by Western Christian societies. Seventeenth-century Colonial society was predicated on the supposed superiority of Western Christian peoples over the native populations and the so-called "uncivilized savages" of Black Africa. Condé suggests that the victims, at least to some degree, understood more about the arbitrary nature of such class distinctions and the moral failures they produced than did their captors and exploiters, who prided themselves on their superiority. Mary Prince, speaking of her mistress, says:
"I was truly attached to her, and, next to my own mother, loved her better than any creature in the world. My obedience to her commands was cheerfully given: it sprung solely from the affection I felt for her, and not from fear of the power which the white people's law had given her over me."
This passage underscores the irony that the enslaved person's loyalty arose from genuine human affection, while the enslaver's power rested entirely on legal coercion — a distinction the enslaver's society was structurally unable to recognize.
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.