Living between frontiers: identitary trajectories in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
Narrative strategies; Metafiction; Diaspora; Identity; I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem.
This thesis aims at investigating the process of identitary construction, as well as the possibilities of empowerment and agency of Tituba in Marise Condé’s metaficcional novel I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem. To accomplish the proposed aims, I analyze the narratives strategies used by the author in order to revisit the history of Tituba, and then re-signify the silences and gaps present in the historical process around her, thus making it possible to deconstruct the stereotypical images, as well as the rewriting of historical events seen as hegemonic under the perspective of the subalternized individuals. I also describe aspects concerning the history of Tituba and the obscure period of the witch-hunt in seventeenth-century America, as an attempt to contextualize the atmosphere of persecution of that time. In addition, I also investigate diaspora and becoming in transit experienced by the protagonist, as well as the continual dislocation through different affecttionate, discoursive, geographical, and identitary spaces, which lead to changes in Tituba’s subjectivity and makes her identity multiple and fragmented, which helps characterize her as a dislocated and up-rooted woman. For this analysis, I tried to base on the reflections of scholars of a varied range. Their texts, as well as the distinct theories used proved crucial to illumine the novel by Condé and better understand how colonialism, mobility, and the dislocations do mark the trajectory of the novel’s protagonist.