While reading chapters 20 through 27 I found it interesting how Martine was so quick to throw Sophie out and it took her two years to even reach out to her own daughter she worked hard to get to New York. So, now Martine has reached out and is worried about Sophie. Also, I find it interesting how Sophie doesn’t look like any of her family members but the result of her mothers rape & Grandme Ife feels as though Bridgette looks like generations of ancestors. In Chapter 21 you find out that Martine attempted suicide many times and Sophie unable to forget about her mother testing her every time she sleeps with her husband. Both of them have tried to forget by fleeing the place of hurt. Skipping to chapters 24-27 Martine has now shown up. She kind of brings closure to a lot of things happening. Sophie’s trip from Haiti to Martine at 12 years old has come back now by Martine’s own trip to Sophie in Haiti eight years later. Haiti is important because Martine must go home to make peace with her past. Martine and Tante Atie’s conversation is sensing betrayal.

While reading into part 3 I was confused but then realized as we enter into a new part , it’s a new part I Sophie’s life as well. So while reading you see Sophie has had a child and the some of the secrets are starting to come alive. Sophie’s actions are kind of catching up to her. What interest me was that it has been only two years and she is married, has a child and her mother is still holding onto that grudge and not speaking to her. Also, some of the family’s past doings affect Sophie. The testing has effected her long term because her and her mother don’t speak they don’t have that mother-daughter relationship they were trying to build. Also, it has affected Sophie’s marriage she feels like she is fat and is embarrassed by her body and can’t perform her wifely duties. I’m starting to think was the testing worth it? what did it prove? because look at her now she has left her husband. Maybe she should have let nature run its course and let it play out. But, then I understand why she did it because she was tired of it.

What stood out to me while reading chapters 9-12 in part two was when Martine started testing Sophie, because she came home late. I couldn’t believe what I was reading, it was so nasty. But, in chapter 11 Sophie and Martine’s relationship is crumbling down to where it was before. Martine is frightened of her girl growing up so, she falls back on her mother’s practice of “testing” or attempt to put her finger inside of Sophie to make sure she is still “whole”. But, didn’t she say she can have a boyfriend at 18? Between Martine and Sophie’s loss of virginity there are many differences. Martine was forcibly raped by a man she didn’t know. Whereas Sophie takes her own with an object. Sophie did it because she was dreaded from all of the “testing” just as her grandmothers testing  came to an end with Martine’s rape.

Reading Chapters 5 though 8 what stuck out to me was in chapter 6 when Sophie  arrives to New York. Sophie says that when she gets to the lobby there are tons o people there holding balloons and flowers. it was awkward for Sophie because she wants to hug her mother but she doesn’t really know her & she sort of didn’t know what she looked like. she feels like its the right thing to do because she sees other children doing it. Sophie’s mother Martine comes up to her and grabs her up and sins her so she can look at her (that’s how she knew it was her mother). Also, what stood out to me was when Sophie talked about how her mother looked. she said she was scrawny, wobbled holding her suitcase and she had dark circles under her eyes. That stood out because later we find out she works two jobs and hardly gets sleep. Later, you can see that there is a mother daughter relationship growing here because, Sophie sees how hard Martine works and even says I wish I can help you work one of your jobs for you. Sophie is giving her a chance.

In the beginning there is a little girl named Sophie who lives with her aunt Tante Atie in Croix-des-Rosets, Haiti because her mother Martine lives in New York. Sophie is disappointed by Atie refusal to come read with her in school. Atie never learned to read and she thinks she’s too old to learn to read. So, mothers day is coming up and Sophie wants to give Atie a card that she make with a daffodil on it and a poem inside. But, Atie refuses to read the card or even open it because she feels that it should be given to her real mother Martine. She said she will only accept cards on Aunt’s day. Later on, Atie gets a package from Martine and it is a plane ticket and a cassette with instructions on to send Sophie to New York. Now, what stuck out to me is the bond between Sophie and her aunt Atie. Sophie doesn’t even know her mother she has only seen her in photographs. You can tell how hurt Atie was because she was crying and you can also tell that Sophie doesn’t want to go. I feel like you can’t just take a child out of their comfort zone and just expect them to be okay or the same they were with the other person, It’s kind of selfish. Also, you can obviously see that Atie doesn’t want Sophie to go

Samuel Parris’ doesn’t want to pay to get Tituba so she is sold. Tituba is sold to a Jewish man named Benjamin Cohen d’Azevedo. He is a widower of nine children, none of his children speak English. She observes (and narrates) his obsession with the centuries of ill treatment experienced by Jews the world over, gratefully accepts gifts of his late wife’s clothing, and becomes painfully aware of his longing for his wife. She recalls the rituals of bringing the dead to speak with the living and, with the encouragement of the spirit form of Hester, brings Cohen’s wife to him and, eventually, to their oldest daughter. She also writes of how their emotional intimacy became sexual intimacy, commenting that she often longed for the sexier, more muscular John Indian, but nevertheless found sexual pleasure with Cohen. I feel like Tituba seen him as a way back home to Barbados.

Even though Tituba was free she went into slavery because of love. She keep doing things for love and they keep failing her. She went into slavery for John Indian because she loved him. John soon showed disloyalty. Just like what Mama Yaya an Abena said “she was going to pay for it ; He’s no good for you.” Tituba continues to bring up what her mother says also about why women can’t live without men. Tituba meets Hester while in prison. All of the people arrested with Tituba are either being released or have died. Tituba tells Hester her story about leaving the free world for love and I realized that she is still defending John Indian. Later on she finds out that Hester has hung herself and is in disbelief. Tituba says “Hester, Hester, why didn’t you wait for me?“. I feel bad for Tituba being that she sacrificed her freedom for someone that she thought could rescue her through everything and comfort her is not here now.

What stuck out to me while reading these chapters was in Ch.11 on pg. 77 when Tituba is being accused of witch craft and asked Betsey “Betsey, who has turned you against me?” and Betsey bite Tituba until she bled. I felt bad for Tituba because she really cared and treated/confided in Betsey. Also, throughout the book Tituba has shown to be protective of Betsey and Goodwife Parris’. Tituba is shocked that Betsey would question her intentions. Tituba eventually cried. I felt like someone said something to Betsey for her to do all of this. “You, do good? You’re a Negress, Tituba! You can only do evil. You are evil itself.” Tituba and Betsey were close and for Betsey to talk to her like that was unexpected and for her to have everyone to turn against her so suddenly.

During reading these chapters Tituba develops a good relationship with Goodwife Parris’ and Betsey. She doesn’t really get along with Abigail (Parris’ niece) because she constantly demands Information and details about Tituba’s stories of the invisible world and who Tituba comes to believe is a liar. Tituba takes Betsey for various activities including walks to the wharf along with Abigail. One afternoon their was a crowd in the street near the courthouse because there was going to be an execution. Their was an old woman with a rope around her neck because she was going to be hung. Tituba witnessed the hanging. It hurt her because she started screaming and I’m sure it brought her back to her witnessing her mothers death because it did for me. She was in shock because it was a moment she didn’t want to relieve again. When she was screaming she probably seen her mother not the old lady.

When the novel first starts Tituba describes the circumstances of her early birth & life. She talks about her mother having her at 16 because her mother being Abena was raped. When Abena arrived at Barbados from Africa her owner found out she was pregnant with Tituba. So, the owner gave Tituba’s mother to a slave named Yao. Yao took care of Tituba as if she was his own. I also found it interesting when Tituba talks about her mother (Abena) was distant towards her growing up because of the way she was conceived. Yao had to force Abena to comfort Tituba. ” Sit her on your lap. Kiss her ! Fondle her ! “. I found it hard to read that part because Tituba loved her mother regardless. Yao promised to love Tituba as his own and he gave Tituba enough love for the both of them. Relationships were important to Tituba. Later on Abena’s former owner tried to rape her and she ended up injuring him. Abena was hung and Yao killed himself by swallowing his tongue. This was hard because even though Abena found it hard to love Tituba she loved her mother and had to watch them hang her.