Nat receives several punishments for his "crime" (stealing pumpkins from a field, carving them in jack-o-lanterns, and lighting them up in William Ashby's house). He is sent to the stocks, fined forty shillings, and banned from stepping foot in Wethersfield ever again on pains of receiving thirty lashes at the whipping post. Discovering this news after visiting Nat in the stocks and reading the public notice on the meeting house sends Kit fleeing into the arms of the only person who could understand the depth of her conflicted feelings about Nat: Hannah Tupper, the Quaker who is rumored to be a witch and has, thus, been cast out of the town.
Hannah is able to offer Kit a great deal of comfort, telling her not to worry and informing her that she had once been placed in the stocks herself. Even Kit's fears that she will never see Nat again are put to rest by Hannah's calm nature and the remembrance that "ever since he was eight years old Nat had been finding his way to Blackbird Pond through devious meadow routes..." Hannah's house seems to serve as a sanctuary and a meeting place for all those in need of one. Kit is reassured that, "[a]s always, here in this house, things seemed to look much desperate."
No comments:
Post a Comment