Chapter Two: Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens on a Sabbath morning as Mary Deerfield dresses for church, relieved to find that the bruise Thomas left on her face the previous night can be hidden beneath her coif if she ties it snugly. She reflects on her own beauty and worries that her vanity might be a spiritual failing. The summer has been prosperous—three cuttings of hay, unusually large crops—and Mary hopes the busy season at Thomas's mill will keep him in good spirits and sober. She recalls that earlier in the summer she had to explain away a black-and-blue mark by claiming she walked into a cloak peg; her mother, she fears, suspected the truth.

Downstairs, Catherine, the servant girl, has prepared breakfast. Mary observes that Catherine clearly fancies Thomas—her cheeks flush around him and she hangs on his words. The house itself is impressive by Boston standards: six rooms, three fireplaces, and a proper staircase rather than a ladder. Mary thinks about the second chamber that might have held children, but after more than five years of marriage she has accepted that she will likely remain childless.

Thomas wakes and, to Mary's relief, his first sounds suggest good spirits. He comes downstairs, apologizes for his foul temper the night before, asks her forgiveness, and kisses her forehead. He even jokes with Catherine about having been a monster and a ghoul. He reads a psalm and prays aloud, including a prayer for Catherine's ailing brother, William.

At the First Church, the congregation separates by gender at the door. Mary sits with her mother, Catherine, and two servant girls. The Reverend John Norton delivers an intellectual sermon about merit-mongers—outwardly just and temperate people who delude themselves into thinking good works can atone for sin. Mary struggles to concentrate, her mind drifting to the children in the congregation and to the mothers her own age cradling infants. She checks her coif repeatedly to ensure her bruise stays hidden.

Between services, Thomas's daughter Peregrine and her husband Jonathan Cooke arrive for dinner with their two children. Jonathan, a carpenter six months older than Mary, is handsome with corn-colored hair and smallpox scars. Mary likes him and laughs at his jokes. During the meal, Jonathan notices Mary's bruise and asks about it. Peregrine reaches over and pushes the coif back, exposing the mark. Thomas quickly explains that he accidentally struck Mary with the leg of the heavy iron frying pan—the spider—while trying to help with supper. Mary goes along with the lie, insisting she was unaware she even had a bruise.

That night, Thomas and Mary make love, but as usual Mary feels nothing like the sensations she experiences when she touches herself. After Thomas falls asleep, she masturbates, thinking of a boy from England who went to Cambridge and became an architect, and sometimes of Jonathan. She wonders whether her self-pleasure is a small gift from God because she has no child, or a vice offered by the Devil that will keep her from ever conceiving. She fears it may be a sign she is damned, yet she convinces herself that her otherwise exemplary life is a favorable indication. She recalls accidental brushes with Jonathan—a cheek against hers, fingers grazing her lower back—and feels self-loathing. She thinks of Anne Bradstreet's love poem to her husband and is saddened that she would never miss Thomas the way the poet missed hers. She imagines herself as a raft of secrets, adrift on an endless sea.

Key Events

Mary conceals Thomas's bruise beneath her coif and reflects on hiding a previous injury as a cloak-peg accident.
Thomas wakes in good spirits, apologizes for his violence, and asks Mary's forgiveness.
The family attends the First Church, where Reverend Norton preaches on the futility of relying on good works for salvation.
Peregrine and Jonathan Cooke arrive for dinner; Jonathan notices Mary's bruise, and Thomas claims he struck her accidentally with the frying pan.
That night, after sex with Thomas, Mary masturbates, thinking of an English boy and sometimes of Jonathan.
Mary reflects on her secrets, her fear of damnation, and her certainty that she will never miss Thomas the way Anne Bradstreet missed her husband.

Character Development

Mary Deerfield emerges here as a woman caught between public performance and private truth. She is practiced at concealment—hiding bruises, managing her husband's moods, and performing deference in front of servants. Her interior life, however, is rich and conflicted: she takes pleasure in her own body, fantasizes about other men, and wrestles with whether these desires mark her as damned. Her childlessness weighs on her, and her observation that she would never miss Thomas if he traveled reveals the emotional distance in their marriage.

Thomas Deerfield shows the pattern of an abuser: he apologizes, asks forgiveness, and presents himself as contrite before witnesses, even joking about his behavior. His quick lie about the frying pan demonstrates his skill at managing appearances. His prayer for William suggests he can be genuinely generous, complicating the portrait of him as simply cruel.

Catherine is a minor but telling presence. Her admiration for Thomas and her obliviousness to the abuse show how effectively the Deerfields maintain their facade.

Jonathan Cooke is introduced as handsome, warm, and slightly irreverent—a contrast to Thomas. His noticing the bruise and his concern create a flicker of possibility that Mary's fantasies will have real-world consequences.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Domestic violence and concealment. The bruise is the chapter's central symbol—hidden, exposed, and then explained away with a lie. Mary's practiced deception and Thomas's plausible cover story show how abuse is normalized and silenced within the community.

Religious hypocrisy. Thomas asks God's forgiveness for his violence while continuing to present himself as a pious patriarch. The sermon on merit-mongers—people who think outward decency can atone for sin—resonates ironically with both Thomas's performance of repentance and Mary's fear that her private pleasures condemn her.

Female sexuality and guilt. Mary's masturbation is described without shame in her own mind, yet she cannot decide whether it is a gift from God or a Devil's vice. Her fear that it might prevent conception ties her sexuality to her childlessness and her sense of worth.

Secrecy and the raft of secrets. Mary's image of herself as a raft of secrets on an endless sea captures her isolation. Every part of her life—the bruise, her desires, her doubts about salvation—must be kept hidden.

Works vs. faith. The sermon's warning that good works cannot buy salvation echoes Mary's attempt to reassure herself that her exemplary life outweighs her private sins.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter establishes the central tension of the novel: the gap between Mary's public life as a dutiful Puritan wife and her private self, full of desire, doubt, and secrets. It introduces the pattern of violence and apology that defines her marriage, and it plants the seeds of her attraction to Jonathan, which will likely have consequences. The sermon on merit-mongers foreshadows the community's scrutiny of outward behavior, and Mary's fear of damnation—and of being seen as a witch—begins to take shape here. The chapter also establishes the historical setting's superstitions about witchcraft, even as Mary dismisses such talk as hysteria.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the chapter use the bruise to explore the theme of appearance versus reality?

The bruise is hidden, exposed, and then explained away with a lie. Mary's careful management of her coif, Thomas's quick fabrication about the frying pan, and the family's collective performance of normalcy show how the Deerfields maintain a facade of domestic harmony. The bruise becomes a symbol of everything the community cannot see—the violence, the fear, and the secrets that define Mary's marriage.

2. What does Mary's reaction to the sermon on merit-mongers reveal about her spiritual anxieties?

The sermon warns that outward decency cannot atone for sin, which directly challenges Mary's attempt to reassure herself that her exemplary life outweighs her private pleasures. Her inability to focus on the sermon suggests she is already wrestling with this question. Her later reasoning—that her desire to behave well is a favorable indication of salvation—shows her trying to reconcile her fears with her hope.

3. How does the chapter portray the power dynamics in Mary and Thomas's marriage?

Thomas holds nearly all the power: he controls the household, the servants, and the narrative of what happened to Mary's face. He apologizes and asks forgiveness, but the apology is part of the cycle of abuse rather than a genuine change. Mary's power is limited to concealment and private resistance—hiding her bruise, managing his moods, and finding pleasure in her own body. Her fantasy life, including thoughts of Jonathan, is a small rebellion against a marriage in which she has little agency.