Facts behind the Traumatic Sexual Oppression in Maryce Conde’s I, Tituba Black Witch of Salem

Abstract

This paper analyses the effects of trauma on black female sexual agency and communal patriarchal norms controlling female eroticism to maintain male domination in Maryce Conde’s I, Tituba Black Witch of Salem. The research is qualitative and the nature of the research is explorative to investigate facts behind the traumatic sexual oppression in the selected novel of Conde. The researchers used close textual analysis as a research method exposing the historical factors behind the wretched plight of African women living in the United States who become the object of their white masters’ sexual desires. The paper also validates that the African women stand against this oppression and these women define themselves by fighting against the sexual assaults, and many of them are mentally tortured, physically hurt and some even lose their lives in the struggle against the will of their white Masters. The paper sets to prove that sexual exploitation of black women is due to the oppressive system designed by upper class white males that allows them to treat black women as their property.