How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Why should the girls have all the sport? Can't young men be possessed by witches, too?"
"John!"
"These girls will be known throughout the colony before this is over. They will hold sway over learned men. Well, I'm bound to have some of that power, Susanna. I'm weary of working hard and being passed over as nothing." (9.84-86)
Back in the day women didn't have much institutional power, which means that they weren't allowed to hold political office or to lead a church. But the afflicted girls have found a way to be super powerful, and now John Dorich is jealous. It's pretty rare back in colonial times to have girls with so much power that a dude is jealous. What do you think about how these ladies flipped the tables? Is there anything good about their power or is it all bad?
Quote #8
"Aye. But I've cast my lot with them because I choose to live. And not swing from a tree. I have no man, and that means no power. I'm poor, an old hag. No one listens to my mumblings. I'm sensible of such. I've no fancy to be cried out on." (18.46)
Goody Bibber is in a tough spot—since she's a single gal, she doesn't have any real power at all. Just take a look at how she says no one listens to her. Back in the day women were considered weak and in need of a man for protection, and Goody Bibber knows that's exactly what Salem thinks about her. She figures that since she doesn't have a guy to keep her safe, she better hunker down with the next best thing: lying girls.
Quote #9
She took my hand. "D'ye think I was indeed the witch on the windlass of Sam Endicott's ship? Child, let me tell ye, 'twas always my secret fancy to go to sea. I wished myself on every ship that left Salem Harbor. How I longed to be a man and visit such far-off places as they spoke of! But I tell ye now, were I a witch, I wouldn't plant myself on some old windlass. I'd be up there in the crow's nest seeing the world from that lofty height!" (22.28)
Sometimes Mary Bradbury wishes she were a dude. You see, back in the day men were allowed to become sailors and set out on voyages. But sit tight ladies of Salem, you're stuck on land. Mary wants to experience something new, and for a gal like her that means wishing she could be a guy instead of a girl.