Bethia Character Analysis

The author chose to jump to the year 1715 because it enabled her to change the perspective of the narrator. This decision by the author also enables her to portray Bethia in a more knowledgeable way because of her amassed education over the years. Bethia becomes well versed in topics such as Greek while she worked at Harvard, “Through those thin walls drifted every kind of knowledge. I learned with freshmen and with seniors, imbibing the work of their four years in one, as Chauncy stood and gave his morning lectures to each successive class.”(215). By going ahead in time it also allows Bethia to change her views on certain things. Bethia changes mentally because she matures as a woman. When Bethia was a child she always found the idea of being

Bethia is the same because she had always represented and defended anyone who was unique. In the end of the book Bethia says this as a conclusion, “I am not a hero. Life has not required it of me. But neither will I go to my grave a coward, silent about what I did, and what it cost.”(249). Bethia felt the urge to finish writing the story of Caleb and Joel because she knew that if she didn 't write about them, and acknowledge their greatness then nobody would. Bethia was at a disadvantage most of her young life; she was a girl who wasn 't allowed to receive the education that she wanted. That is why she felt an affinity towards Caleb and Joel. They were two young people disadvantaged because the color of their skin. They were treated unfairly and never truly got the respect that they deserved. By telling the tale of the two boys she was able to leave a legacy for them. Bethia had matured over the years and eventually had a child. Through all of this she was still able to retain the passion she had as a child to learn as much as much as she could, and defend the