How we cite our quotes:
Quote #1
“Justice! What do you young men know about rights and justice? A soft life is all you have ever known. Have you felled trees in a wilderness and built a home with your bare hands? Have you fought off the wolves and the Indians? Have you frozen and starved through a single winter? The men who made this town understand justice. They knew better than to look for it in the King’s favor. The only rights worth all that toil and sacrifice are the rights of free men, free and equal under God to decide their own justice. You’ll learn. Mark my words, some day you’ll learn to your sorrow!” (7.23)
Uncle Matthew quarrels with William Ashby and John Holbrook over the subject of Connecticut’s charter. The hardworking Matthew scoffs at the younger men’s submission to the king. Matthew argues for freedom, equality, and justice for all men.
Quote #2
Kit looked back at the gray figure bent over a kettle, stirring something with a long stick. Her spine prickled. It might be only soap, of course. She’d stirred a kettle herself just yesterday; goodness knows her arms still ached from it. But that lonely figure in the ragged flapping shawl – it was easy enough to imagine any sort of mysterious brew in that pot! She quickened her step to catch up with Judith. (8.18)
The Widow Tupper is completely isolated from Puritan society, living alone by Blackbird Pond. Notice how her isolation makes her an easy target. From a distance, Kit finds it easy to imagine that the woman is indeed a witch.
Quote #3
“Quakers cause trouble wherever they go. They speak out against our faith. Of course, we don’t torment them here in Connecticut. In Boston I’ve heard they even hanged some Quakers. This Hannah Tupper and her husband was branded and driven out of Massachusetts. They were thankful enough just to be let alone here in Wethersfield.” (10.18)
Quakers become social outcasts and are isolated.