I love how the beginning of this last reading starts. If anyone ever traveled to a third world country, or somewhere not as developed as New York. The first thing you notice as soon as you get here is all the traffic and all the bright lights and big stores. I notice it everytime when i comeback from the Dominican Republic. When i am over there i enjoy the peace of the country side no lights at night nor traffic. But as soon as i get here and see all that, that is when i know im back home. Another part that stuck out to me in the final part was when Sophie looks at her daughter and sees how peacefully she sleeps. She has peace in mind knowing that the reason her daughter can sleep is because she doesnt have nightmares like her and her mother. It shows you how innocent children are and as we grow up so do our fears and nightmares.

I kind of found humor in the story of the rich man and the poor girl. Even though it was a sad ending what made it humorous was that he was so concerned with what people thought of him that he seeked for a woman that was untouched and then improvised when he found out she wasnt. His self centeredness and ego led to the death of his wife just because of his desire to have her blood. Thinking about it, its just nasty and gross the extent at which he went to just to show off that he was the first one. I guess he got what he deserved and thats what i find funny that she didnt give him what he wanted but sad that her death had to occur because of it.

The scene where the old lady was trying to kill a rooster and had it running around headless brought back some memories. I remember when I was in my uncles house in the Dominican Republic and they did the same thing to a chicken. They cut the neck halfway and the chicken ran around the yard, blood gushing everywhere until it finally died. They did the same with what I think was a duck and that one was even worse. Since it was all white I saw the blood quickly cover its feathers and it ran faster then the chicken until eventually it suffered the same fate. At the time I didn’t really care much because I knew that we were going to eat the animal and the way they killed it didn’t seem to matter, but reading about this now and remembering that day, makes me kind of feel bad for the poor animals.

Sophie is all grown up and headed to college now. When she was younger her mother told her when she was 18 she would be allowed to have a boyfriend which kept lingering in the back of my mind whether or not she would get one right away. When Sophie’s mother began testing her I got disturbed because she’s basically an adult and to have that happening is embarrassing. I don’t even like my own mother seeing me naked now so touching would just be traumatizing in a way. When Sophie decides to put a stop to the testing by doing what she does I was kind of happy for her because she wouldn’t have to be embarrassed any longer and I feel like that’s more important than having her mother mad at her for the wrong reasons. Her mother may believe it was done by the hands of a man but at least she knows it wasn’t.

Tante Antie and Sophie’s mom pretended to live a life they really didn’t, often doing very risky stuff. Even though they had ambitions to be doctors and do good for their village they pretended to already live that life to impress others. Going back to my last post about how the last reading reminded me of the Dominican Republic, when Sophie’s mother tells her you will work hard because you can raise our heads, its similar to life in the Dominican Republic how parents sacrifice for their children so that they can take care of them and themself in the future. I was also starting to get a weird vibe as to why Sophie kept hinting at the fact that she shared no resemblance with her mother. We find out that Sophie’s mother was raped and thats how she was born. I wonder if this will be brought up again or if Sophie would sheer away from guys knowing what happened to her mother.

A lot reminded me of life in the Dominican Republic how the aunt is playing numbers just like the lottery system in the Dominican Republic. When she wins she even attributes it to Sophie’s mother bringing luck just like the people in D.R who say certain people bring them luck. She also talks about how people are poor and cant afford to live alone that they have to live with a lot of family members. Sometimes they have to even build their own house’s just like the Dominican Republic. Tanta Atie tells her everything Sophie owns is yellow like flowers that were rare that grew where they weren’t supposed to grow. I wonder if the color yellow symbolizes happiness for them? Yellow in her dreams symbolized something else as seen by when her mother was taking her away while wearing a yellow dress.

After reading the ending I found it to be exactly what I thought would happen just because of how much the spirits of mama yaya, her mother and Yao alluded too it. Once Tituba hears of Iphigene’s plan and as the day grows closer, she asks the spirits if it will work or what would happen and they respond by saying it is not yet their time for freedom and that soon they will meet. When I read this I knew Tituba was soon going to die and that the agreement they had come too with Christopher on not ratting out the rioters would come back to hurt them. In a way I was happy for Tituba because she finally gets to reunite with her family and her cruel world would come to an end but I felt bad because she finally came to accept and embrace the fact she was having a baby. Tituba wanted to go through with bringing this human being to life this time but unfortunately she wasnt able too even after all the changed she made for herself and the baby, such as eating better and taking care of her body more.

Tituba gets bought by the jewish man who soon becomes her lover. Even though Benjamin is very religious and aware of his sins they carry on with this deed at night in Titubas bed. For a moment Tituba is feeling loved and relaxed until she meets Mary who was also a slave in Salem. Tituba dared to ask her about John Indian and finds out he lives in Topsfield with Sarah Porter. Hester’s words of men have it easy come back to Titubas head and it makes me wonder if this is her final straw has she finally cut John Indian completely off from her life. That got answered once she reached Barbados and talks to herself saying what wouldnt she give to go back and relive those memories of her sleeping in his arms. Despite all that has happend to her Tituba still feels the need to be with men and even flirts with Christopher who is like the leader of the new place she is staying at.

The part I really took interest too was when Hester asked Tituba for a story, and Tituba ends up telling her, her own life story how she left the free world for a man. Constantly repeating Mama Yaya’s message of why cant women live without men. This is interesting because we always talked and debated whether it was really worth it for her to leave her freedom for a man and now she seems to regret that decision as well. Hester brings up an interesting point when Tituba says she cant say saitan has a black disguise because they will think of John Indian. Hester responds by saying no matter the color men have it easy and how come he isnt there with her sharing her sorrows. Which again reiterates what we talked about in class how John is a coward and not a real man. Sadly tituba discovers Hester hangs herself just like Tituba’s mother, which she ends up shouting too upon hearing this news. Tituba ends up saying Hester should have waited for her so they can both have hanged themselves but would Tituba have really done it?

Tituba is seen in the beginning often thinking of evil things and thinking about using her powers to get out of her horrible situation. This is a side of her we have yet to see she seems more malicious. When Sarah, the other slave, begged of her to use her power to get rid of her master, Tituba refuses but for a moment she hears Sarahs voice as her own echos and thinks about the benefits of using her powers for evil. An ironic scene was when sarah hutchinson ask tituba to use her evil power to punish the person who stole from her by killing their first born child. This was ironic because Tituba was the one that comitted the crime and she already did kill her first child. In this part of the reading we see alot more people asking Tituba for these mischievous favors and soon turn on her once she says no. I wonder if those same people that ask of these favors would turn on her/snitch if she were to carry out on these favors that they ask for.