Witches in Aunt Maria

  “Aunt Maria” (also known as “Black Mariah”) is a novel by Diana Wynne Jones about two siblings named Chris and Mig, who visits their old aunt. They later find out that she is a witch and has the whole village around her finger through powerful spells. At first, Aunt Maria is not a stereotypical witch character, she’s actually pretty sweet. She has tea parties, goes on walks and is pretty nice to our main characters. This is until they find out the real truth where the dull, zombie like villagers are under her spell and her butler was turned into a cat, now she’s your typical evil witch. The two emotions are so distinctly different but somehow manage to to wrap up perfectly within one character. Sweet old ladies can sometimes be insanely creepy, that’s why most witches fall under this category.

  When it comes to the topic of women in power, this book makes it an obvious message. The character of Chris is there to constantly question Aunt Maria with an incredibly rude attitude. With this conflict I believe Diana fully knew what she was trying to come across, most women can’t just have higher power without men constantly questioning their every move, even if the woman is evil such as this one. It might also stem on the power a woman can have on men. With men becoming “zombie like” towards her and the butler becoming her slave, it’s clear that sex appeal and a reputation can turn the strongest men into mindless freaks. Girls truly run the world in these sort of situations and more power to them for it. She’s eventually taken down in the climax and all is restored but hey the overwhelming power she had almost destroyed a whole village!

   Overall, Aunt Maria turns stereotypes on their heads and brings up some powerful points on the way women can rule the world and men’s reaction to it. Witches are pretty much a metaphor for women with power and it was neat to hear the subtle way those still attach in modern stories such as this.