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The Witch of Blackbird Pond Analysis

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Written by Anastasia Melnyk

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a tragically beautiful story about forgiveness, understanding, kindness, and loneliness. The protagonist of the novel, young and vivacious Kit, is viewed as an ignorant and terribly spoiled kind of a girl by the majority of people. It is true that she comes from a wealthy family, and thus has no idea of terrible poverty and suffering that lower classes have to endure simply to survive. However, the girl is not malicious, she has the golden heart and the kindest soul, but to her dismay, the only thing people see, when they look at her, is her beautiful and expensive dress that seems to scream that Kit is not a simple girl.

People around her are deceived by her looks and refuse to notice that she is just young and inexperienced. When she finally arrives in America, the girl is even more confused, for whatever she does, she does it in the wrong way. The solemn Puritans both anger and frighten Kit; thus, she feels like an outcast. However, being a kind-hearted person, Kit decides to try and become a part of that strange and unwelcoming society for her aunt and uncle’s sake.

For someone who has never held a broom in her hands, Kit surprises everyone with her eagerness to learn the lore of household maintaining in order to help the family. What is more, she finally finds both her place and her calling; Kit proves to be a wonderful teacher. Unfortunately, no one approves of the methods she uses to teach the local children to read and write. They say the texts she chooses are frivolous and dangerous, for children are evil creatures and such silliness only fuels their worst qualities.

Falsely accused, desperate, and homesick, Kit meets Hannah, a local woman who just like Kit is a stranger in that grim town. Kit sees how fruitless gossips around this woman make her life even harder. They call her a witch, even though no one has even tried to get to know her. Kit finds a way of forgetting about her own problems by helping Hannah. That is the moment of transformation: a generous girl turns into a responsible one. She finally finds a purpose to fight for, a friend, and even love in the face of a young sailor called Nat. When the villagers try to catch the old woman, Kit risks her own life to save the friend. What is more, she refuses to escape with the woman she adores like a grandmother she has never had and the man she loves, for Kit knows that it is her responsibility to stay, that she owes to a family that helped her in the hour of need. She endures everything: threats, accusations, and even a trial. Kit and Nat get their happy ending which would never be possible without them changing and growing up so much.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond teaches to stay loyal to one’s ideas and beliefs. It shows how important it is to stay strong and kind no matter how much this world is cruel.

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond Study Guide

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Introduction

A concise biography of Elizabeth George Speare plus historical and literary context for The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Plot Summary

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Detailed Summary & Analysis

In-depth summary and analysis of every chapter of The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Visual theme-tracking, too.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Themes

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Quotes

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Characters

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Terms

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Symbols

The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Theme Wheel

Brief Biography of Elizabeth George Speare

Elizabeth George Speare was born in Massachusetts to Harry Allan and Demetria Simmons George. Speare started writing stories in high school and continued to study English at the university level. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Smith College before earning a master’s in English from Boston University. In the 1930s, Speare taught English at several high schools in Massachusetts before marrying her husband, Alden Speare, and moving to Connecticut. They had two children together. Although Speare had always wanted to be a published author, she didn’t find the time to dedicate herself to writing until her children were in junior high. Her first published works—articles about family and motherhood—were published in various magazines. Speare’s first book, Calico Captive , was published in 1957. She gained a reputation as a children’s author as she went on to write three more children’s books, including The Witch of Blackbird Pond , which won the Newbery Medal. Speare died at the age of 85 from an aortic aneurism.

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Historical Context of The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is set in Connecticut Colony in the 17th century and explores politics and social issues in a Puritan community. In the 1630s, the English colonized Connecticut. In 1662, King Charles II of England granted the leaders of Connecticut Colony a charter that gave the colonists of Connecticut an exceptional degree of self-governance. According to the charter, the colonists could divide up and sell Connecticut’s land as they saw fit, and they could elect their own officials. But King James II, the next King of England, wanted more control over the colonies. So, in 1686, he appointed Sir Edmund Andros as Royal Governor of the colonies. This appointment invalidated all previous charters, including Connecticut’s. The result was that the colonists could no longer govern themselves; they had to answer to the King of England again. This led to tension among colonists, which plays an important role in The Witch of Blackbird Pond . For example, Matthew Wood is passionate about maintaining self-governance, whereas Reverend Bulkeley is a royalist, someone who believes the King should have control over the colonies. In addition to the era’s politics, The Witch of Blackbird Pond also focuses on religion. Many of Connecticut’s English colonists were Puritans, members of a religious group that was persecuted in England. Wanting to practice their religion freely, thousands of Puritans left England for the American colonies. Like many Christians in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Puritans believed that demons existed and could possess people. It was not uncommon at this time to blame unexplained events on witchcraft, like how the Puritan townspeople in the novel blame a plague on Hannah Tupper’s supposed witchcraft. In many instances—such as in the famous Salem witch trials—people killed or otherwise persecuted men and women who were regarded as outsiders or were generally resented.

Other Books Related to The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is one of many literary works that takes place in Puritan New England. One of the most famous stories about Puritans is The Crucible , a play by Arthur Miller. The Crucible was inspired by the real-life Salem witch trials in the 1690s and explores the effects of mass hysteria and prejudice. Another famous story about witch hunts in New England is I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé, which explores racism and sexism in colonial New England and Barbados. At one point in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem , Tituba meets Hester Prynne, the main character of Nathanial Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter , which (like The Witch of Blackbird Pond ) addresses Puritanism’s hypocrisy. While those three literary works were written for an adult audience, Elizabeth George Speare mainly wrote her historical fiction for children. All but one of her children’s books were set in New England. Her final children’s book, The Sign of the Beaver , takes place in Maine in the 18th century. Although it received numerous awards around the time of its publication, it has been criticized for its problematic misrepresentation of Native Americans.

• Full Title: The Witch of Blackbird Pond
• Where Written: New England
• When Published: 1958
• Literary Period: Modern
• Genre: Children’s Novel; Historical Fiction
• Setting: Wethersfield, Connecticut
• Climax: Kit realizes that she is in love with Nat and decides to stay with him in Connecticut instead of returning to Barbados.
• Antagonist: Goodwife Cruff, Matthew Wood (at times), and prejudice
• Point of View: Third Person

Extra Credit for The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Connecticut’s Famous Oak. According to legend, when Governor Andros held a meeting in Hartford, Connecticut to collect the Connecticut colony’s charter (as he does in The Witch of Blackbird Pond ), attendees snuck the charter out of the meeting room and hid in an extraordinarily large oak tree, now known as Charter Oak. Charter Oak became a symbol of the colony’s independence from the British and is still on the Connecticut state quarter today.

The Witch Of Blackbird Pond

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapters 1-6

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

In 1687, 16-year-old Kit Tyler is sailing into Saybrook Harbor in the American Connecticut Colony from her home in Barbados. The formerly wealthy girl has just lost her grandfather and has come to live with her aunt’s Puritan family. She isn’t impressed with her first glimpse of her new home: “The bleak line of shore surrounding the gray harbor was a disheartening contrast to the shimmering green and white that fringed the turquoise bay of Barbados […]” (1-2).

During the crossing, Kit made friends with the captain’s son, Nathaniel Eaton, who acts as first mate on her ship. He praises her sea legs since she is the only passenger who didn’t get sick during the journey. When the boat docks at Saybrook, it takes on additional passengers to make the journey upriver to Kit’s final destination of Wethersfield. A Puritan family named Cruff joins the group along with a young clergyman called John Holbrook. Kit immediately raises the ire of Goodwife Cruff by diving into the water to retrieve her daughter’s lost doll. Everyone is shocked that Kit, a female, can swim because they believe that only witches can do so.

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