Specific Writing Assignment Description

Writing Prompt:

Based on the Trial Records of Bridget Bishop, create a description of a 17th century witch in New England.

You are encouraged to write more if this assignment is something you want to really dig into:

The following pictures show villagers rounding up a woman accused of witchcraft and witches out at night stirring a brew.

Specific writing advice for this assignment:

Here is my advice for tackling this writing assignment:

Be sure to base your description of a witch on the evidence in the primary source shared: The Trial Records of Bridget Bishop.

Think about:

• What does a witch do? For example, see John Alden's arrest warrant. It says, "is guilty of Witchcraft in cruelly tortureing & afflicting several of their Children."This is evidence of what those Puritans believed witches did: torture children.

Keep going:

• What does a witch look like?
• What does a witch say?
• Why did they search Bridget Bishop's house, what were they looking for? What might they believe about what they might find?
• Why did they search Bridget Bishop's body, what were they looking for? What might they believe about what they might find?

You are not being asked to answer the above questions specifically, they are provided to help you troubleshoot ways to think about how to describe a witch.

Let's do a small exercise together. This is one paragraph from the examination of Mary Barker, a woman who was also swept up in the witch craze:

"After severall questions propounded and negative answ'rs Returned she at last acknowledged that Goody Johnson made her a witch, And sometime last sumer she made a red mark in the devils book with the fore finger of her Left hand, And the Devil would have her hurt Martha Sprague, Rose Foster and Abigail martin which she did upon saturday and sabath Day last, she said she was not above a quarter of an hour in comeing down from Andover to Salem: to afflict, she sayes she afflicted the above three persons by squeezing her hands. She confesses she was at the witch meeting at Salem Village with her unkle, there was a great many there, and of her company there was only her unkle, Wm. Barker and Mary Marston. Martha Sprague said that Mary Barkers apparition told that she was Baptisied at five myle pond."

In this short testimony from Mary Barker, we find out that witches did the following things:

• Witches indoctrinated new members. Mary claimed, "Goody Johnson made her a witch."
• Witches signed a compact with the Devil. Mary signed the book of the Devil"with the fore finger of her left hand."
• Witches received orders from the Devil. The Devil told Mary to hurt "Martha Sprague, Rose Foster, and Abigail martin."
• Witches hurt other people. Mary did hurt them, "upon saturday and sabath Day last."
• Witches had special powers. Mary could hurt people by merely, "squeezing her hands."
• Witches held meetings. Mary attended a "witch meeting at Salem Village"
• Women were baptized into witchery, "Mary Barkers apparition told that she was Baptisied at five myle pond."
• Men participated in witch craft, "of her company there was only her unkle, Wm. Barker ...."

Now that you have the idea, do this for yourself using the trial records of Bridget Bishop provided in the module and find your own evidence.

After you have gathered all of your evidence, create groups of similar pieces of evidence. You could divide it up by: witches had special power or witches carried out harmful acts, etc. Base your groupings on the evidence you found. Use those groupings as the body paragraphs for your response.

Avoid long quotes. Go back and look at the list of what witches did based on Mary Barker's confession. See how short phrases from the primary source are woven into the analysis? This is how strong writers present evidence because it combines the writer's basis of reasoning with the most relevant phrase from the primary source. You can do this. You do this all day long, especially when listening to music lyrics or gossiping about other people.

A strong thesis statement will completely answer the question. For example, "Based on the selection of trial records of Bridget Bishop, witches in Salem Massachusetts in 1692, were (fill in here), they did (fill in here), and Puritans believed they could (fill in here).

A strong conclusion will tell us why knowing about this outbreak of deadly hysteria is important to understand today. Can you think of any current examples?

An engaging introduction will give the reader the setting for the events taking place. For example, "In 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, people were whipped into a frenzy of fear that led them to accuse their own neighbors of witchcraft and execute them."

Finally, do not stress out. No one can write well when stressed. I know it is challenging. But you will get there if you focus on one step at a time.