![]() ![]() Unfortunately, Bethia’s father dies during a sea voyage, leaving his children without sufficient resources. Bethia, meanwhile, is denied a formal education and assigned laborious domestic duties. ![]() They exchange knowledge, and even give one another names: she calls him Caleb, one of the followers of Moses and he calls her Storm Eyes, for the light in her eyes.Ĭaleb eventually converts to Christianity due to his father’s wishes and actually comes to live in Bethia’s home to study under her father alongside Bethia’s brother, Makepeace, and another Native student, Joel. Bethia, somewhat disobedient of the rigidly constrained gender roles of her settlement, roams alone in the nearby reaches of the island. ![]() ![]() They have come from England along with other Puritans to escape religious persecution. This guide uses the 2012 Penguin Publishing edition of the novel.īethia is the daughter of two English settlers in what is now Martha’s Vineyard. Bethia’s perspective adds to this story by comparing multiple excluded groups in 17th century New England, including women, Native Americans, and some sects of Puritans. In her novel, Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks tells a fictionalized version of Caleb’s story in the form of a bildungsroman (or a coming of age narrative) told through the perspective of Bethia Mayfield, a minister’s daughter in a series of informal journal entries. ![]()
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