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Carmen Flores and Xochitl Weiss

Mrs. Reed

American Lit., 2nd Hour

27 April 2017

Four Journal Entries Into the Life of Abigail Williams

December 17, 1691

Recently, I have been spending a lot of time with Reverend Parriss old slave, Tituba.

She comes from a faraway place named Barbados and talks about it often. We all have frequent

meetings with her, the other girls in the town I mean. She sits us down and shows us her

enchantments and skills at fortunetelling that she learned in Barbados. At one point, she dropped

an egg white into a glass of water, showing us the faces of the men we would marry. Some of the

other girls at first insisted they didn't see anything but I was so sure I did, they soon after agreed.

It scares us yet mystifies and intrigues us to see these powers which we are not familiar.

I realize that the punishments for actions similar to these are severe and I am terrified of

the consequences we could face. We have to hide our recent behavior the best we can in order to

avoid conflict and act like we are the children our society expects us to be. As young women, we

should stay in our houses, do our chores, go to church, and only speak when spoken to. I will do

my best to do everything I am told and to not draw attention to myself. I hope the other girls will

follow my example.

~Abigail Williams

January 28th, 1692

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I fear that God is punishing us for our sins. A while ago, Betty Parris, Reverend Parris's

daughter, became ill with a sickness that cannot be explained. She had a most terrifying violent

fit where she crawled underneath the furniture of the house and started barking like a dog! She

was screaming and crying out in pain, all the while complaining of a fever. This episode has been

scaring everyone, especially our group of young girls, and recently I myself have started showing

signs of this illness. I have found myself at some points thinking my skin is crawling, and have

had multiple seizure like fits.

The doctors and adults of this town have been whispering about witchcraft and

bewitching, something which scares me greatly. They say a witch living in our midst is trying to

use us for her work with the Devil.. I fear that we indeed are being bewitched but also I fear the

people of this town will soon discover our secret meetings with Tituba and punish us severely. If

this continues the girls and I will have to act.

~ Abigail Williams

March 3, 1962

Tituba has confessed to meeting with the Devil. After our symptoms became worse the

town became suspicious, and we were terrified. The only explanation for our sickness was that

the slave and other witches were bewitching us. The other girls and I have come to accept this as

the truth and have moved forward to help the people around us instead of succumbing to the

Devil, To our surprise, we appear to be supported in our actions and have been praised rather

than punished for our contributions.

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Despite living as bewitched children, we are doing the Lords work by preventing the

witches of our town from infecting or hurting the innocent. We are now able to save the people

of our town from the effects of those who have sinned such as Sarah Goode and Sarah Osbourn.

The two women were accused of afflicting us at the same time as Tituba because of their obvious

association with the Devil. Many of us girls have seen them appear outside of their bodies

tormenting others and believe they have tried to spread their unholy behavior to us. Several

individuals proved our claims by mentioning further unusual behavior during court after we told

the judge about our sightings. Many other followers of the church and citizens of Salem have

supported our justified accusations and are helping us to make sure they receive consequences.

For now, both women have been moved to the jail and are waiting for their sentences.

~ Abigail Williams

June 1, 1962

I and the other girls have been working tirelessly to do the Lord's work, We now sit in on

the trials and can determine of those accused are lying. If the witches feel threatened they send

their spirits down to torment us, causing us to scream in pain and our bodies to be bitten and

pinched by their unnatural powers. So far so many women have been accused for their sins, the

town is in a state of fear. If the witches confess they will not be sentenced to death so that God

can forgive them. Although many of them have admitted to their sins, several have insisted on

their innocence. The court officials have been forced to move towards more drastic measures to

force the confessions out of the guilty.

While this work is hard on our bodies and minds we feel honored to be serving God and

the people of Salem. Through our work in riding the streets of evil, we are important and

honored in town. Everyone knows of the way the Lord speaks through us and we are respected
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like no other women are. We will continue to serve on the behalf of God as long as those who

have sinned and given themselves to the Devil are present in Salem.

~ Abigail Williams