First Book Summary: "Wicked Girls"

      This book has been one of my favorite books for a good period of time. I've read it thrice and could still read it another time without losing interest. This novel by Stephanie Hemphill is a fictional account of the Salem Witch Trials through prose. The simple formatting makes it easy and quick to read, while still being a lengthy and interesting book. The book seems to follow the normal timeline of the trials and even mentions the trials occurring in other Massachusetts towns, something books on this period seldom do. In this novel, Mercy Lewis is the Putnam's servant and her parents were killed by Native Americans, she is described as beautiful. Anne Putnam is the leader of the group, though she eventually loses control and looks up to Mercy. Margaret Walcott is Anne's cousin. She is in love with a boy named Isaac and dislikes Mercy, mainly because of jealousy. Her stepmother is very harsh with her, as a result, she sees the trials as an opportunity to end her stepmother's abuse. The next character is what got me thinking about writing this paper. In "Wicked Girls," Abigail Williams is a young girl around 11 or 12 who is not a main girl in the trials. However, in Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible," Miller portrays Abigail as a grown, adolescent girl. He was certain she had an affair with John Proctor and that she persecuted his wife in order to be with him, though that obviously backfired. In any case, there are many incongruities between the fictional works. Why and how would an author change fact in favor of fiction? How does this apply to the Salem Witch Trials and pieces written on that period in history? From my previous knowledge, "Wicked Girls" seems to be more historically accurate. That connection to fact vs. fictional inserts is the point of this research.

The Salem Witch Trials in Literature

                      I've always loved historical fiction because I can use what I already know about a subject and apply it to a story, understanding it on a deeper level. However, two stories of the same period of history will often have different takes on how history really went around, at least in their story. The most noticeable case of this is fictional literature concerning the Salem Witch Trials.  There is a monumental difference between even two pieces on the Salem Trials. Stephanie Hemphill's "Wicked Girls" and Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" could not be more different. Though both about the trials, the two stories share little more. Miller insists Abigail was actually having an affair with John Proctor. Hemphill classifies Abigail as a twelve year old child. Hemphill also believes Anne looked up to her servant, beautiful Mercy. Miller described Mercy Lewis as fat and sly. How and why do these two stories differ so much? Over the next month or so, I'm going to try my best to answer that question.