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I am mortified to have forgotten one of the formative books of my childhood! Not only was it the first book I read that used the word "Damn!" (I will never forget seeing that on the page - we were on a road trip to my grandparents' house. I thought I was so grown-up and sophisticated to be reading a book with cursing!) but it was also the first time I'd ever thought about what it meant to be accused of witchcraft in a small town in the 17th century.
Although our sympathies while reading this novel do not lie with the accusers, Speare nonetheless shows us why perfectly reasonable, faithful people might look for a witch among them. The people of Wethersfield, CT, live in a small and tight-knit community. When crops are bad, everyone suffers. When disease strikes, everyone knows a victim. Times are hard, and it's sometimes hard to believe that the God you love is allowing you and yours to suffer.
Who wouldn't understand the desire to find a scapegoat?
Of course, the scapegoats they find are the outsiders: young Kit Tyler, the newly-arrived granddaughter of a prominent Royalist from Barbados, is suspect at a time when the king is trying to take away the colonies' hard-earned rights. Hannah Tupper, a Quaker who was branded and expelled from Massachusetts Colony, is suspect because she refuses to attend the town's religious services, which do not fit her beliefs.
Our friend Bernadino of Siena is like the folks who accuse Kit and Hannah. Is he misguided? Sure. Are his methods questionable? Absolutely. But does he act out of hatred, or a desire to do harm? Unlikely. He's concerned for his community, and fearful that by harboring unorthodox behavior, he and everyone he knows may be held to account, either on earth or in heaven.
He and all of the accusers and inquisitors have many important lessons to teach us. Most of them are lessons about what NOT to do. But in today's world, where we are taught to look out for #1 rather than caring about our responsibilities to others, we also have to remind ourselves that their regard for their neighbors is nothing to be outraged about.
