"They called her the Witch, the same as her mother; the Young Witch when she first started trading in curses and cures, and then, when she wound up alone, the year of the landslide, simply the Witch."
This quote helps to portray the Witch in her elusive, mysterious nature. The fact that no one knows her name only adds to the allure of her tale and life when she was alive. It also conveys a sense of being treated as an outcast – nobody perhaps cared to learn her name until after she died, thus implying that, to society as a whole, she was unwelcome.
“they’d dry the tears from their faces, which they covered in any case the moment they left the Witch’s kitchen, because they weren’t about to give those bigmouths in town the satisfaction of going around saying how they’d been to see the Witch to plot their revenge against so-and-so, how they’d put a curse on the slut leading their husband astray”
It is clear that though the Witch was presumed to be ostracized, a portion of society believed in her so-called abilities and sought help from her. Namely, these young married women would often come to her for help in getting revenge against their husbands. It is funny that they consider her to be the “devil” when indeed, she is simply a vessel through which they intend to carry out these harmful acts, therefore begging the question: who is the truly evil one?
