Apple-picking Time

"His hand is on the Bible, but he never opens it." p3"A servant has no right to stay, once she's dismissed." p4"even Puritans should recall that pagans, too, are children of God." p.5"It has taken less than a year to begin to reclaim [Nature's] place." p11

Ring of Roses

"I thought God had sent him. Later, there were those who would say it had been the Devil." p23"Different from all those men who look you over like beef at saleyard." p.23"She was a decent girl.. but Puritan in her ways, thinking that laughter and fun are ungodly." p24."looked to me for all his information of the tiny world for which he cared." p25"when he entered our cottage, he brought the wide world with him." p26"if you are drowning in a sewer, your first concern might be that you are drowning, not how vile you smell." p28"the fragile beauty of a child.... all pale and pearly." p35"sinewy mind, capable of violent enthusiasms and possessed of a driving energy to make and do." p35"never let a minute pass without trying to better me." p36"I was ready to take what she gave." p36"I had never had a word of praise from my father's lips." p37"as I loved to learn, she loved to teach." p37"I found much enjoyment in the tending of fine things." p40"so compelling....full of light and dark". p45

The Thunder of His Voice

"I think you like to go and ocme without a man's say-so." p54"I admired her for listening to her own heart rather than having her life ruled by others' conventions." p55"wealth and connection are no shield against Plague." p60"If God saw fit to send this scourge, I believe it would be His will that one face it where one was, with courage and thus contain its evil. ' p61"what needs add their small utterance to the thunder of His voice?" p63

Rat-fall

"I thought that she could teach me much about how to manage alone as a woman in the world." p73

Sign of a Witch

"the Devil has been here this night....Fools! Ignorant Wretches!" p95"at that time, you see, we all of us believed that God lisened to such prayers." p95

Venom in the Blood

"voluntary besiegement." p104

Wide Green Prison

"aware of the common grace our decision had brought upon us." p109"I did not raise my daughter to play wet-nurse to a rabble." p113"One does not have to be a priest to be a man." p113"it is not easy to surrender the safety of a roof and the certainty of bread to the perils of an open road." p115"i would stay because I had small will to live - and nowhere else to go." p115"those who have most give least, and those with less somehow make shrift to share." p117"A byword for goodness" p119

So Soon to be Dust

“the Plague will make heroes of us all, whether we will or no.” p130 “malt does more to justify God’s ways to man than the Bible.” P132 “Why, I wondered, was God so much more prodigal with his Creation?” p135

The Poppies of Lethe

Sin starts with “a single misstep, and suddenly we are hurling towards some uncertain stopping point.” P137 “the dark place of our new reality.” P140 “these times, they do make monsters of us all.” P141 “Our prayers in the church bring no relief.” P145 “lost in the fires of my own lusts” p152 ‘How little we know … of the people we live amongst.” P155 Elinor’s “unwillingness to judge the faults in others;” p155

Among Those that go down to the Pit

“his body is strong, but I fear that the strength of his will far exceeds it.” P160 “do not dwell any more on things in the past that you cannot change.” P162 “If we slip and fall, He understands our weakness.” P162 “the current times did seem to ask us all for every kind of sacrifice” p173

“I had the satisfaction of having done a thing that had come out right.” P188

The Body of the Mine

“out of our negligence and her loneliness came much rage…and some madness – and a surfeit of grief.” P205

The Press of their Ghosts

“the telling of all this rinsed my mind clean and left me able to think clearly once more.” P210 “perhaps the Plague was neither of God nor the Devil, but simply a thing in Nature.” P215 “It came to me that we, all of us, spent a very great deal of time pondering these questions that, in the end, we could not answer.” P215 “Fear took each of us differently.” P218 “Mompellion wavered between rage and self reproach.” P.227

A Great Burning

“the choice seemed random to us because it rested entirely with God.” P232 “ I wonder if you know how you have changed.” P235 “you covered your light as if you were afraid of what would happen if anybody saw it.” P235 “You were like a flame blown by the wind until it is almost extinguished. All I had to do was put the glass round you. And now, how you shine!” p235 “how much longer?” p236 “a reluctant agreement” p240 “we were all like wounded animals, our hurts so raw and our fear so great that we would lash out at anyone” P243 “a gibbering, broken thing.” P246

Deliverance

“the losses were too many and the damage to our spirits too profound.” P255 “some days even the effort of thought seemed burdensome.” P255 “life is not nothing, even to the grieving.” P255 “Not everyone is made as firm of purpose as you.” p256

Apple Picking Time

“Many people …..went so far as to whisper blame upon him for their great losses. p269 “the bitter emblem and embodiment of their darkest days.” P269 “Elinor had greater needs than those of her body. “ p280

“untrue in everything” p282 “I had tried to become her in every way that I could.” P283 “I… mounted unassisted” p294

The Waves, Like Ridges of Plough'd Land

“at that time I had no notion that a woman might do such a thing as making poems” P297 “I was not Elinor, after all, but Anna.’ P299 “one of his wives now, in name if not in flesh.” P301 “I cannot say I have faith anymore.” P301

Year of Wonders - Essay Topics

1. Michael Mompellion tells Anna that he was “most shockingly wrong, in what I asked of this village.” Do you agree?2. ‘Year of Wonders’ shows just how little real power individuals have? Discuss3. ‘This Plague will make heroes of us all, whether we will nor no.” How heroic are the people of Eyam?4. ‘Year of Wonders’ suggests that, in a time of crisis, it is more important than ever to hold on to traditional values.’ Discuss.5. “I wonder if you know how you have changed.” What has caused the changes in Anna?6. ‘Year of Wonders’ demonstrates the destructive power of love.’ Discuss.7. ‘Year of Wonders demonstrates the difficulties of holding on to faith in times of adversity.’ Discuss.8. ‘Michael Mompellion’s powerful need for control is behind many of his actions.’ Do you agree?9. ‘The women in Year of Wonders are stronger than the men.’ Do you agree?10. “… choices no longer had that same clear, bright edge to them.” Does Anna always choose wisely?11. ‘Despite her hopes to accomplish a “worthy life’s work”, Anna’s actions are sometimes misguided’. Which of her actions does Anna have cause to regret?12. ‘Here we will be for one another”. What effects does the plague have on the bonds within the community?13. ‘Ellinor Mompellion rises above her past to become a much more admirable person than her husband.’ Discuss.14. ‘The person Michael Mompellion hurts most is himself’. Discuss.15. ‘Year of Wonders’ reveals “how little we know…of the people we live amongst.” Discuss.16. “Fear was working a change in all of us”. What changes does fear bring about in Year of Wonders?”17. ‘The plague has effects not only the body but also on the mind’. Discuss.18. ‘The plague destroys one world and replaces it with another.’ Discuss.19. ‘The plague attacks not only individuals, but the very structure of society’. Discuss.20. ‘In times of crisis, the true nature of each person affected is exposed.’ Is this an accurate description of Year of Wonders?

Themes in 'Year of Wonders'

Life and Death Religion and Superstition Penance and Atonement Marriage and Motherhood Social Hierarchy: Class and Control Responses to Adversity: the individual and society God vs. Nature Fear The Human Condition The Role of Women

In ‘Year of Wonders’ all the characters who survived the ordeal of the bubonic plague emerge transformed in significant ways. Discuss.

In the novel ‘Year of Wonders’, written by Geraldine Brooks, the characters who survived the plague in the small English village, Eyam in 1665-1666 all transform in extensive ways. Those characters who survive the bubonic plague all experience dramatic changes in meaningful ways. These changes are displayed in the characters Anna Frith, Michael Mompellion and Elinor Mompellion. The plague has pushed Anna Frith to react in unexpected ways as she displays change, leading her to move overseas and attempt to start her life fresh. Michael Mompellion also shows that because of the plague, he has been brought to the point of where the one he loves most, Elinor Mompellion, is murdered. The murder makes Michael resign as a rector and start to doubt God. Elinor and Aphra also experience change in different ways as Elinor’s trust and compassion for others grows and Aphra turns to witchcraft, in which both impulses result in the death of each of them. This is all clear confirmation showing that through the book where characters such as those mentioned continue to exist through the tragedy that occurred in Eyam, 1665-1666 and evolve in significant ways.

Anna Frith, the main character in ‘Year of Wonders’ is one of the many that survived the plague. She was pushed to extreme lengths as a result of grief, faith and fear which influenced her to change. Anna’s faith and fear caused her to help others in need and put them before herself. Initially, Anna motivates herself to keep moving forward and not giving herself time to mourn, with the support of Elinor. Unlike other household servants, Anna learned to read and write. Her fears and faith have taught her to stick up for herself, doing things in which she thought was the right thing to do. Anna has learned to stick up for herself and has learned the practices of a mid-wife. This has led her to follow her passion and heart to places away from England, changing her life positively and for the benefit of herself and others. Anna has experienced deaths and the tragedy of the plague, it has woke her up in a sense that she now realizes even she can bring hope to those in need. Anna betters herself due to her overcoming the plague, and learns that even little signs of hope and faith are enough reason to make the most of her life.

Michael Mompellion is another character who shows a significant change due to the plague. Throughout the novel, Michael is the town’s rector. He is taught to preach about God to the community. However, due to the plague and the causes it has brought forward to his life, in this case the death Elinor, Michael breaks down and begins to question God, something he would never imagine doing had the plague never existed. Michael questions if the plague was truly “a test of faith sent by God, or evil working of the devil in the world?” As he lives life without Elinor he becomes depressed and miserable, causing him to resign his role as rector, and by the end of the novel, due to his terrors that he had suffered with, surviving the plague era has caused him to change himself negatively but walking away from the puritan practices all together.

Elinor and Aphra both survive the outbreak of the plague, although they are two characters that both die due to the plague but for different reasons. Aphra was a tough female who had coped with her husband’s abuse, had lost her husband and her daughter because of the plague, causing her to be alone and troubled, with her grief leading her to witchcraft. Towards the end of the novel, Aphra becomes disturbed and filled with evil. Elinor’s way of surviving the deadly disease was through her sympathy towards others. It didn’t matter who the person was, her “motherly concern” has brought her to feel compassionate for those how are in need of comfort. Surviving the plague and the occurrence that both women have dealt with throughout the novel, Aphra’s breakdown and Elinor’s affection and understanding concern, led them both to their tragic deaths.

In conclusion, the examples mentioned are all obvious demonstrations that characters within the novel have shown drastic transformation, whether it be for better or for worse. Characters such as Anna, Michael, Elinor and Aphra are all one of several characters that have survived the affliction and have experienced immense transformations in considerable ways.

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How Does the Narrator Of Year Of Wonders Effect The Reading Of The Novel

In “Year of Wonders”, Geraldine Brooks’ novel of devastation set in the village of Eyam in 1966, the narrator, Anna Frith, has a large impact on the reading of the historically fictitious novel. The tone which the narrator takes is both harsh and honest. The fact that the reader is exposed to a female’s outlook throughout this time of peril in Eyam allows for an unfair biased. Finally, Firth’s position in society also creates a distorted reading of the text.

Anna Firth’s acrid and candid tone and use of language throughout the narrative has an ample influence on the reader’s apprehension to Brooks’ novel. Anna’s tone and gruesome attention to detail as “George Viccars lay with his head pushed to the side by a lump the size of a new born piglet, a great, shiny, yellow-purple knob of pulsing flesh” Anna’s harsh and raw language makes the reader cringe and feel sympathetic towards Viccars untimely and painful demise. Anna’s descriptive anecdotes are once again seen in her telling of Josiah Bont’s excruciating death as “he begged in vain for mercy and howled like a trapped animal where the dagger cleft his skin” It may also be noted, from this quote, Brooks’ play on words as she describes Josiah “like a trapped animal” possibly in reference to his inhumane actions throughout the novel and being trapped into doing terrible things by the poverty the plague had caused in the village. As the protagonist of the tale Anna’s tone of voice and depiction of fellow characters are forced upon the reader, for example we feel distanced towards Josiah as Anna had “never heard a word of praise” from her father’s lips. Brooks’ intentions for this are quite clear; this subliminally causes the reader to take on Anna’s beliefs and convictions of each individual character and towards the tragic events of the plague. As Anna shows distance towards characters the reader will soon follow suit, as they similarly will with Anna’s emotions and ideas. As the protagonist describes the villagers as “wounded animals, our hurts so raw and our fear so great.” It is seen that the language Anna uses is very descriptive and dreary no matter the occasion her use of terms such as “voluntary besiegement” and a “gibbering, broken thing” when describing events allows for true feeling to sink into the readers mind; Brooks uses Anna’s words to draw very fine detail to the effects of the plague, and, in doing so, causes the reader to feel sympathy towards the inhabitants of Eyam. Although Anna’s language is twisted by Brooks to draw feeling towards the characters, not all of these feelings are of equal stature towards the separate genders of the village.

Brooks’ use of Anna as the narrator in the novel creates an unfair biased towards females in the text. Throughout the novel it is evident that the “Year of Wonders” is also a tale of the need and power of women in times of uncertainty. 17th century Eyam was a time of gender inequality where men possessed all the power in the village and women were almost seen as the glue that held family life together and kept the household intact, however, in the novel, the women are bought out of their shells and become the main source of courage during Eyam’s most catastrophic time. Brooks’ use of Anna as the protagonist and a heroine in the novel proves this. As Anna grows and comes out of the woodwork as a strong woman it is noted by others in the town and the derogatory view of women at the time is highlighted as men think that Anna likes to “come and go without a man’s say-so”. Men in Brooks’ novel are painted as two-dimensional characters with no real focus played on any of their grief or pain at the time of the plague; Brooks focuses on their negative actions, as seen with Josiah Bont and Michael Mompellion’s treatment of Elinor. Although most males in the text are seen

as poor human beings George Viccars is viewed as “different from all those men who look you over like beef at a saleyard”, as Anna describes Viccars in this light, the reader believes he is a genuinely good man, one of very few in this story of powerful women. In the novel we see Anna face her fears as she goes into the mine where her husband faced his death, it is evident from this that women in the text show the most growth as Mompellion states “I wonder if you know how much you have changed”. The reader sees women go from strength to strength and admire those in the town such as Anys Gowdie as “she was a rare creature and I had to own that I admired her for listening to her own heart rather than having her life ruled by others’ conventions”. The women took charge in healing and caring for those effected by the plague and “saw our work as having two natures: the one, to ease the suffering of the afflicted, and the other, more important but far less certain in its outcome, to bolster the defence of the well.” It is in this that the reader feels a strong sense of women leadership in the village.

Anna Frith’s position in society also creates a prejudice towards the rich. As Brooks’ novel is told from the eyes of a simple servant who has access to both the life of a poor woman and the life of the rich in the village of Eyam the reader is drawn to feel negatively towards the wealthy of the village. Brooks’ is quick to make her protagonist a servant and her antagonists the rich, as seen with the Bradfords as “All of us in the church that day gave their oath to God that we would stay, and not flee, whatever might befall us. All of us, that is, except the Bradfords.” Although “wealth and connection are no shield against the plague” those who are from the aristocracy believe they have the power to take flight from the plague and survive. The reader is made to feel sorry for the poor villagers of Eyam as they have no choice but to stay, which is outlined when Anna states “I would stay because I had small will to live – and nowhere else to go”. During the time of quarantine the impecunious village of Eyam and its inhabitants show their true will to survive and aid one another as “those who have the most give the least, and those with less somehow make shrift to share”. The plague, as negative as it was, bought out the good in the less fortunate villagers, Brooks may have done this to allow for a negative shadow to be cast over the rich in the village as they took flight from the plague, structurally the rich never stood a chance in the readers mind as Brooks sabotaged their virtues with carelessness and selfishness.

Anna Frith, The narrator of the novel, ‘Year of Wonders’ by Geraldine Brooks has an illustrious effect on the reading of the novel. Brooks uses the tone of the character to embed a harsh and honest emphasis in the readers mind creating both judgment and understanding of individual characters. The femininity carries through the novel to compose a strong female biased on the telling of the 1966 plague in Eyam. Anna Frith’s servant status in the village and her ability to gage with the aristocracy of the time also allows for prejudice in the reading of Brooks novel and judgment to be made on the social status of those in the village. Therefore, it can be said, that the narrator of Brooks’ novel has a substantial impact on the reading of the text.

Strength

It is during our times of greatest trials and hardships that we realise our own strength and power. Discuss

During The Year of Wonders we see a lot of different characters show strength and power because of many different situations that arise. Some characters show strength when they lose someone that they dearly loved from the plague and have to regain strength and power to keep living their lives, while others show will power as they overcome their past and start a new life. Other characters in the novel also get blamed for some things they did not do but take it on the chin to better the town, this shows great strength because the character is being criticised for something they didn’t do just to benefit the entire town.

During the entire novel of The Year of Wonders we see so many different people go through the trauma of losing a loved one, but Anna doesn’t lose one loved one, she loses many. During these hard times on Anna’s life is when she show’s her greatest asset which is strength and power. Anna Frith shows that she is able to bounce back from negative experiences such as when her husband Sam Frith passed away Anna showed courage in her ability to ‘tend to so many [other] people’ including her children in whom she gave all her love to. After Anna’s babies passed away Anna continued to show strength by showing her love to the people around her. Such as tending to others even though she was hurting on the inside, Anna had the physical strength to go to others and sit with them as they slowly passed, but she also had the mental strength to get through each day, to get herself out of bed each morning and to try to continue to live life as normal as she possibly could.

People’s past can play a major role on how they live their everyday life even if they have nothing to do with their past. Some people’s pasts are not as bright as others which is why it is hard for some people to overcome their past and start fresh. Elinor Mompellion shows will power by trying to forget about what happened to her in the past. No one in town except for Michael Mompellion knows what Elinor went through and the reason for her being in town. Elinor ‘believes it is natural to want to forget when everyday [of the plague] is a brimful of sadness. Regardless of her past Elinor still lives every day to the fullest and which also shows her ‘kindness and her unwillingness to judge the faults in others’. Because she was also once ‘lost in the fires of [her] own lust and did not greatly care’. But Elinor through her mental and physical strength managed to put all that behind her and with the support of her friends especially Michael, got through her horrors and torments and doesn’t a hint of anything to anyone.

Whenever something bad goes on life or in a novel the first thing to happen is people are wondering why it happened and who is to blame, because of this so many people get blamed for things they do not do and some argue that they did not do it while others will just say nothing and act like they did do it even though they didn’t to help others which shows great strength and courage. Anys Gowdie gets blamed for the plague in the town because people think she is a witch, but the truth is that Anys is not the reason why the plague swept through the small town. It was in fact no one’s fault but the town did not want to believe that which is why they had to blame someone and that person was Anys Gowdie. Anys Gowdie takes the blame of the plague even though she had nothing to do with it all because it would benefit the town in the end because hopefully it would disappear if Anys didn’t say anything about her not being the reason the plague killed so many people.

In conclusion it can be said that through the greatest trials and hardships that we realise our own strength and power through the claims I have explained above

The plague has come to a small English inland village in 1666. It wasn’t very common for plague to hit such a remote and tiny place, a village of only 380 people. But come it did, wreaking its havoc for a full year and leaving 2/3 the village dead.

Narrator Anna Frith comes to believe, probably rightly, that the “plague seeds” came along in the baggage of a young tailor who moved to the village from London, the disease being carried in the cloth he brought along as part of his trade.

The village is a simple place, lead mining and farming the center of the economy, the people primarily illiterate, startlingly superstitious, and habitually religious. Young minister, Michael Mompellion and his wife Elinor are exceptions, being highly literate, relatively non-superstitious for this pre-scientific period, and liberally reformist in religion.

The story itself is humble: village life and personalities, lead mining, the constant growing death and suffering, the struggle for existence as the plague, unstoppable, does its will.

However, author Geraldine Brooks elevates this simple tale to a high level of literature and human drama in five ways:

The incredibly authentic language, giving distinctness to the period, and the compellingness of her writing style in general.

In the development of the narrator, Anna Frith and her relationship with the Mompellions.

In her treatment of healing, both during the plague and in normal times.

In the exceptional decision of the village to voluntarily wall itself off from the outer world in order to protect the surrounding countryside from the ravages of the black death the village is already suffering.

And especially in the extraordinary sections of the village trying to make any sense of the plague and of the notion of a good, fair and just God in relation to this terrible event.

The central story which gives the novel its power and unity effectively ends when the plague ends. Unfortunately the novel does not end here and in the last pages the now liberated post-plague Anna goes on to other adventures which come out of the blue, radically breaking the unity of the novel and challenging credulity beyond measure.

No matter, even the last “adventure section” is fun to read (once I fought down my disappointment with the rupture of wholeness which it produced) and does point to a knowledge a particular history about which author Brooks would be exceptionally suited to write another novel. In respect to the integrity of the story of the village, the plague and the central relationships of the “year of wonders,” I won’t further comment on “the years after.”

While the “story,” especially in the other items I’ll discuss next, was riveting, this was a novel which offered great rewards in the writing itself. There is the illusion of authenticity of the language. Brooks writes about Elizabethan-Shakespearean England, but not really in Elizabethan language. Yet

the writing powerfully gives the illusion of being contemporary to the narrator, Anna. Brooks cleverly crafts the language to force our consciousness to be aware that Anna is not one of “us” telling this historical tale. It’s Brooks who does the telling and Anna’s is the voice and language of a woman of the village, with sensibilities and experiences of her time telling her tale in a language which by itself calls attention to antiquity, as though this were a discovered journal of Anna’s reminiscences. Yet, the cleverness is that it isn’t at all really Elizabethan language, it is just so different from our English it gives that illusion.

I was so fascinated by Brooks’s obsessive care to language that I began to record words which I didn’t know, and chose to look up in dictionaries, that this became a sort of game I was playing against the author. Anna’s sensibilities, even her values are more contemporary, but the language obscures that fact which I think Brooks wanted to obscure.

My notes show I was sent scurrying to the dictionary primarily for nouns, but not exclusively. Among the words I had to look up were:

Stowes – caul – bings – bavin – louring – riband – hirsel – croft – barmester – sennight – precisian – shippon – branks – pipkin – scrin – posset – raveling – bouse – sprags – malter

And that list is just a medium SAMPLE of strange words which appear.

Anna Frith is a very young widow with two small children. Her husband was a lead miner and died in the cave-in of his own small mine. She has a job at the rectory of the Mompellions and is befriended by Elinor, the minister’s wife. Elinor teaches Anna to read and little by little Anna is able to overcome her underclass status in her own mind and to become a true friend to Elinor who’s been open to such friendship from the beginning.

As the plague progresses and the local folks healers are killed as witches, Anna and Elinor take over the functions as local healers and begin to systematically learn folk healing.

Along the way Anna more slowly comes to know Michael Mompellion though she cannot break down the distance of their “status” until late in the novel.

The treatment of healing practices, especially herbal remedies, is fascinating. Early on, healing was in the hands of a radically independent and occult mother and daughter team, vaguely linked to a cult of healers over the centuries – suggesting links to ancient Celtic traditions. However, during the early part of the plague, the superstitious villagers decide these two women are witches and are causing the death; they are then murdered.

With Elinor’s leadership and scholarly ways and Anna’s touch with people, the two quickly become much sought after healers.

Elinor observes that healing is much called for in plague time. The dying can be made more comfortable, but few ever recover. However, the healthier one is the less likely it is one will succumb to plague. Thus they develop their two fold principles of triage.

-- Fortify the healthy, not cure the afflicted

-- Offer the balms of comfort to the dying.

As the death toll mounts it becomes clear this is plague and a major outbreak of it. People are preparing to flee. However, local minister, Michael Mompellion is the most respected voice to counsel the village. He realizes that by fleeing some might indeed save themselves and family, but in all likelihood the price of those few saved would be to spread the plague to neighbouring villages, bringing plague to the whole region while still likely dying themselves.

He convinces the villagers to voluntarily condemn themselves to stay and suffer the consequences of death in order to save the rest of the area. This much of the novel is based on an historical village in rural England which did exactly this.

They inform the next village of this (by long-distance shouting) and work out a system in which their own basis needs will be provided and food and other supplies left at a safe boundary region, and the village seals itself in. Periodically Michael Mompellion and the neighbouring priest meet in a rocky area some 30-40 yards apart and communicate news by shouting.

It was impossible for me to read this novel and not compare it with Albert Camus’s The Plague. There are some radical differences, especially in that Oran of Camus’s plague was walled off by international military powers, and the events took place in the 1940s. One of the central characters was constantly planning to escape, the others ready to leave if they could, but resolved to cave into the superior force of those surrounding them. But the English village of Brooks’s novel takes this on of its own free will.

Much of the discussion in both novels has to do with the relationship of God to the plague. In Camus’s novel there are ½ dozen characters whose primary purpose in the novel seems to be to develop and expound some such theory. The main character, the physician Dr. Rieux, comes to basically the same conclusion as Elinor and Anna on what to do, though he uses western medical balms, not herbal medicines. One such character is Father Paneloux, a Jesuit priest who has decided the plague is a punishment of God on the people of Oran for their sins. Thus, his message is, repent and the plague will go away.

Brooks’s village of 1666 is even more superstitious than Camus’s Oran of the 1940s, as first the village seeks someone to blame, leading to the murders of the mother/daughter healers, whose primary crime was that they were “different.”

But the strange outcome that the villagers surrender to the plague and voluntarily isolate themselves is rooted in the power of the sermon of Pastor Mompellion (just as in Camus’s novel it is the sermon of Father Paneloux). Mompellion advances two arguments, one very practical and one theological/abstract.

He first argues that little will be gained by leaving. Already many have died and the “plague seeds” which they all credited as being the mediate cause of plague, were already spread through the village. The second part was again practical, albeit heroic. The gains of leaving would be slim; the price would be the death of thousands more if the plague were to spread to the whole countryside. (The precise reason why, in Camus’s novel, the international community sealed Oran from the outside.)

But the argument hung on more religious grounds. What was God’s role in all this? Mompellion argued that the goal of human existence was salvation – everlasting life in heaven. But humans were sinners. God sent hardships – pain and suffering, death and tragedies, at times even things as horrible as the plague – to be tools of people’s purification. If even this disaster could be embraced in faith as coming from a loving and good God so that in accepting they could purify themselves, then they would be more likely to earn eternal life.

Together these two arguments sway the villagers and they self-impose their own quarantine.

Many other inquiries do arise concerning God’s role. The eternal question of evil – how does such an all-good God allow such evil to be suffered by the innocent? – dominates much of the world of human suffering.

The novel is a wonderful read. The writing is beautiful and sensitive despite the horrifying topic. In closing these comments I’ll share or comment on a few odds and ends which especially attracted me along the way.

Some marvellous passages of description:

I loved the description of living in this hilly area: “

We live all aslant here, on this steep flank of the great White Peak. We are always tilting forward to toil uphill, or bracing backward on our heels to slow a swift descent. Sometimes. I wonder what it would be like to live in a place where the land did not angle so, and people could walk upright with their eyes on a straight horizon. Even the main street of our town has a camber to it, so that the people on the uphill side stand higher than those on the downhill.

Anna’s boarder, the tailor who brought the plague, talks of London’s growth since he was a boy:

The city is like a corpulent man trying to fit himself into the jerkin he wore as a boy.

Anys, the younger of the two murdered healers, a very independent woman, explains to Anna why she has never married.

Why would I marry? I’m not made to be any man’s chattel. I have my work, which I love. I have my home—it is not much, I grant, yet sufficient for my shelter. But more than these, I have something very few women can claim: my freedom. I will not lightly surrender it. And besides,” she said, shooting me a sly sideways glance from under her long lashes, “sometimes a woman needs a draught of nettle beer to wake her up, and sometimes she needs a dish of valerian tea to calm her down. Why cultivate a garden with only one plant in it?

As they walked checking their sheep Anna created stories for her kids.

A line of fungus marching up a fallen branch might become, in our tale, the stairway to a faery’s bower, while an acorn cup might be the cup left behind by a party of feasting wood mice.

Lib Hancock, one of the villagers, having lost some of her children to the plague, counsels Anna that she shouldn’t be so attached to her own children. It is dangerous.

“Why do you let yourself love an infant so? I warned you, did I not, to school your heart against this?” It was true. Aphra had seen three of her own babies into the ground before their first year, one through fever, one through flux, and one, a lusty boy, who had just stopped breathing in his bed, with nary a mark upon him. I had stood with her through all these deaths, marvelling at her dry eyes.

“It is folly and ill fortune to love a child until it walks and is well grown.”

Intro to year of wonders

Year of Wonders, A Novel of the Plague is the story of one woman’s journey through

the year of the Plague, 1665-66. The novel addresses a number of complex issues

and perhaps raises more questions than it answers. Brooks explores a full range of

human experiences and qualities – including our frailties, folly, wickedness and our

boundless compassion and humanity. The most basic human emotion, fear, and our

response to trauma and the unknown, are also examined by Brooks. The novel looks

at aspects of rebirth, regeneration and renewal.

Seventeenth century Britain, the time of the Restoration, was an era of significant

gains in scientific knowledge, particularly in medicine. King Charles II was a patron of

the sciences and helped found the Royal Society, a scientific association. One

debate that transcends the novel concerns questions about the forces of Nature in

opposition to the will of God.

The story of Year of Wonders is a fictional tale based on an historical event. The

Derbyshire village of Eyam is known as the Plague Village. In August 1665, the

plague is thought to have arrived in Eyam in a sealed package of material. The

package had arrived from London, where plague had been ravaging the city since

April 1665. Ultimately, it would kill 100,000 people, or 20% of the population in

London. The rector of Eyam instituted a number of measures to contain and control

the spread of the disease. These included having families bury their own dead,

moving Church services outdoors, and quarantining the village. In sixteen months,

some 250 people died of the plague in Eyam. Only 83 people in the village survived.

In Brooks’ fictional account of this event, Anna Frith, an eighteen-year old widow is

an invaluable narrator in the context of the novel. Anna is the heroine and

protagonist of the story. Her integrity as narrator is established at the outset. Her

position as servant at the rectory and part-time helper at Bradford Hall along with the

fact that she is landlady for the village’s first plague victim, George Viccars, allows us

to be privy to observations and information that are crucial to advancing the plot.

Anna’s eighteen-month journey through the trauma and tragedy cut by the plague

becomes our journey. We obtain a first-hand point of view of the life-changing

decisions that are made which impact on all the inhabitants of the village: the

decision to quarantine the village; the choice made by the Bradfords to abandon the

village and to turn their servants out on to the street; the closing of the Church; the

‘Great Burning’; the Thanksgiving service; the decisions forced upon Anna to leave

the village, then to set sail from Liverpool. One of the only decisions she makes on

her own volition is to disembark from the ship in Oran.

Throughout the historical novel of ‘Year of wonders’ by Geraldine Brooks, human nature has shown to bringing out the best of people as well as bringing out the worst in people according to the tragic events which occur. Furthermore, some characters turn to superstition through catastrophic events while others turn towards science and nature of helping others in need.

Anna shows her best of human nature through the tragic time of the Plague. She carried on throughout her life even through an abusive childhood, an early widowhood and the tragic loss of her boys, ‘I disliked myself for giving way to that fear’. Anna drew on her physical and emotional resources to survive. Besides her personal tragedies and losses, Anna is still able to feel sorrow for others and helping those who are in need. Anna discovers her real courage when she turns ‘pale’ at the thought of delivering Mary Daniels baby, by still being haunted of memories of her own mothers brutal death in childbirth. Likewise, Mery Wick ford’s benefit fills Anna with terror to assist the child by risking her own life by going underground to the mine ‘My cowardice shamed me’. As a result of this, Anna was able to show her best of human nature, even through extremely tragic events of the Plague.

Elinor showed potential of showing her best throughout times of Human nature as well as showing the bad in human nature. Elinor was a proud character who never saw herself as above others through class. By this, Elinor saw Anna as her friend rather than her slave and a lower class; she did however see Anna as an uneducated and low confidence woman. Elinor showed her best of Human Nature through helping Anna to improve on her education which lead Anna to have a higher sense of power and more confidence which allowed Anna to do things she could have never been able to do before, ‘…as I loved to learn, she loved to teach’. However, Elinor still weighed herself heavily of the burden from her passed by destroying the life of her unborn child. This further explains the relationship between Elinor and her husband has been overshadowed by the tragedy of her girlhood; there still exists great respect and tenderness between them. Thus, Elinor Human Nature brought out bad in Elinor as she was younger which lead to bringing out the good in Elinor as she became older and wiser.

Josiah Bont was one of the main characters which showed the worst throughout Human nature. Throughout Anna's childhood, Josiah was an abusive and drunken father, ‘…my father, in a drunken rage, had flung me against the wall when I was about six years old’. Anna was glad she no longer shared a name with him for Josiah’s exploitation of the dying and their families were very deliberate. Anna lived in fear of his father as Josiah didn’t care about his children; this was because Josiah was abused as a child through being repeatedly raped, whipped and given rum to deaden the pain. By Anna being abused caused her many distresses throughout her coming lived as well as many nightmarish memories of her mother’s death, ‘taunting herm yanking hard on the chain so that the iron sliced her tongue’. A happier start of Anna's life endured only when she left to marry Sam Frith, which therefore shows how long these memories stuck with Anna through her father’s bad attitudes throughout Human Nature.

The villagers saw the Gowdies as Witches, making the villagers think that the Gowdies show a bad side of Human Nature, whereas the Gowdies were possessing good qualities of Human Nature. Mem and Anys Gowdie knew a great deal of knowledge about the benefits of herbal medicine’s which was the 1600’s form of medication. Because of their knowledge and willingness to help others with Herbal Medicine, the villagers were uneducated in the science of herbal medicine and were being

prejudice against the Gowdies and killed them. ‘She’s sinking! She’s sinking! She’s no witch! God forgive us, we’ve killed her!’ Unknowingly, Mem and Any Gowdies death leaves a terrible absence in Eyam just at the time when the village needed these women the most. Therefore, the fear and panic, the villagers looked for a scapegoat and turned on each other which show the bad side of Human Nature towards the village, yet if truth be told the Gowdies possessed positive qualities of Human Nature which the villagers did not understand.

Throughout the ‘historical novel’ of ‘Year of Wonders’, Anna and The Gowdies possess positive qualities of Human Nature, even throughout times of tragic events even if the villagers did not believe so. Whereas Elinor Mompellion possessed both positive and negative qualities in different stages of her life and Josiah Bont showed only negative qualities of Human Nature which had a big effect on Anna’s adult life.

topic: Jon Milston, the sexton, says, ‘… these times, they do make monsters of us all’. Is this a fair assessment of the townsfolk of Eyam living under quarantine?

Geraldine brooks depicts a community caught in extraordinary times in her historical novel Year of Wonders, which is set in the ‘plague town’ Eyam in 1666–1667. Weary of carting so many corpses, the town sexton, Jon Milston laments to the protagonist, Anna Frith, that ‘… these times, they do make monsters of us all’. Milston makes the comment as an explanation of his irritation about being called to the Maston household where Mr Maston is not quite dead yet. In this context, the comment suggests that in times of crisis people may act disrespectfully and immorally towards each other. Generally, when people are described as ‘monsters’ they are considered to be villainous, amoral and dangerous Whilst it is appropriate to consider some characters in the text as ‘monstrous’, other characters are quite heroic and decent as evident in the way they respond to these extraordinary circumstances.

The motivations and actions of Josiah Bont and Aphra mark them as truly ‘monstrous’. A man of violent, abusive and domineering disposition, Bont exploits the hardships of the villagers for his own profit. He sets himself up as a gravedigger and extorts excessive prices for his services by seizing money and goods of value from the families of the dead. His most heinous act is when he attempts to bury a man alive in order to appropriate his wealth. Bont’s depraved greed and disregard for the value of human life are condemned by the exploited villagers who bring him to the Barmote Court for punishment. He is denied mercy and perishes on the moors impaled to a stowe for his crimes against those who were already suffering. Like her husband, Aphra also exploits the community by preying on the widespread grief and fear. An uncouth, gossiping and superstitious person, she masquerades as the ghost of Anys Gowdie and dispenses spells to the desperate for money.

Aphra’s greed and disregard for the very real distress of others denotes her complete immorality. Aphra also maligns the name of Anys Gowdie who was essentially a healer who worked for the good of the villagers. Aphra is labelled ‘the devil’s creature and censured by the villagers, two of whom mete out their own punishment of her by holding her in a pit of manure. Aphra’s descent into madness leads to her final despicable acts of murder, then suicide. In difficult times, it is evident that some become ‘monsters’ and seize opportunities to exploit others.

On the surface, the villagers of Eyam appear to be an altruistic and peaceful people, but there are incidents where communal fear takes over their actions under the pressure of the plague. The village reactions at the onset of the plague are quite polarised. We learn that the villagers support each other in the scene where Maggie and Brand return, those with less somehow make shrift to share’. On the other hand, fear and hysteria cause a spontaneous mob mentality with devastating and horrific consequences. The frenzied scapegoating of the Gowdie women and the lynching of Anys Gowdie were atrocious mob acts. Mompellion denounces the villagers in moral terms: ‘…the Devil has been here this night … your own ugly thoughts and evil doubting of one another’. Mompellion’s outburst highlights the mob’s false sense of self-righteousness and he exposes the human capacity

for evil. The potential for mob violence continues to simmer just below the surface and Anna observes when Aphra is caught, ‘We were all of us like wounded animals, our hurts so raw and our fear so great that we would lash out at anyone, especially someone who had acted as evilly as Aphra’. The intense pressure and fear of living with the plague and its devastation cause the villagers to act in ‘monstrous’ ways.

Mompellion considers the Bradford’s abandonment of the village to be a scandalous act worthy of being punished by God’s wrath. Colonel Bradford’s blatant disregard for the villagers and his arrogant expressions of privilege raise Mompellion’s ire, who believes that the privileged have a ‘duty’ to others in difficult times. From this perspective, their betrayal of the village is ‘monstrous’ often give rise to the more honourable and heroic qualities in individuals as seen in the actions of Anna, Elinor and Michael

How does Anna’s attitude change in the year of the Plague?

Year of Wonders is a book about change. As the narrator and protagonist, Anna Frith moves between the present and the past who goes from being a “timid girl who had worked for the Bradfords in a state of dread” to “a woman who had faced more terrors than many warriors”. But it is not just the facing of horrors that Anna experiences in the Plague year. Her character drives her to become a self-determining and educated woman of the world, who finds purpose in serving her fellow humans to the best of her ability.

At the beginning of the novel when the Plague year has already ended, Anna is grief-stricken over the murder of her friend and mentor, Elinor Mompellion, and also exhausted from the demands of caring for the Plague victims that “long procession of dead” and their surviving relatives. Anna describes her depressed mental state thus, “I fear the line between myself and madness is as fine as these days as a cobweb”. The rector Michael Mompellion is morose, rude and selfish in his grief, to the point that Anna needs to remind herself that “I do it for her, I tell myself I do It for her” (Elinor Mompellion). This questions what has motivated Anna to this point through the plague.

When the Plague year, 1666, begins, Anna is presented as a simple miner’s widow and young mother employed at the Bradford Hall as a part-time maid; a country young woman who has a flock of sheep. Her care of her animals shows that she is motivated by compassion and duty, qualities which are quickly called on when George Viccars, her lodger, contracts the Plague. When her children in turn succumb, it is her work finding a lost sheep that brings her out of her numbing grief.

Anna is in awe of the rector (Mompellion) who is a graduate from Cambridge University. He employs Anna because of her reputation as a quick learner of “religious devotion” which she learnt because she liked “the language”, not really for its spiritual truth. She is thrilled to go to the rectory as a maid because “thus opened the door to the real learning i craved’. Anna is seen that naturally inquisitive and keen to learn. She eagerly learns her “letters” from Elinor, who “never let a minute go without trying to better me”. Together they work first in Elinor’s garden, her “little Eden”, and later in the Gowdies’ estate, learning about healing herbs. Anna even teaches herself Latin from some of the Gowdies botanical and medicinal books. However, the Plague demands that their knowledge is put to vital and practical use. Her motivation changes from that of a girlish amateur interest to that of a professional scientific approach to the world.

The death of the Gowdies also means that Anna becomes involved in midwifery as there is no one else than Elinor to help. This takes all her courage and self-discipline. As she says to Elinor ‘You do not know what you are asking me! Poor Mary Daniel deserves better than us!” But, guided by the dead Anys’s spirit, she uses her “mother’s hands” and her instincts bring the joy of a safe delivery. Thus she has learned to trust herself more, and her ability to make a difference is displayed through this act. This will be crucial to her in her new life at the end of the novel in Oran as she helps her doctor husband with the midwifery of those Muslim women whose husbands won’t allow a male doctor to attend.

When the superstition which springs up around the Plague rises to fever pitch, Anna’s education and natural intelligence make her reject not only that ‘nonsense’ but also question the prevailing religious arguments “Perhaps the Plague was neither God nor the devil, but simply a thing of Nature, as the stone on which we stub our toe”. She further thinks that if the cure for the disease were not

religious but scientific or natural, “we would free ourselves, no matter if we were a village full of sinners or a host of saints”. As this stage she has become a radical thinker in its true sense being free, as has all but broken from her faith. Just how far Anna has come from the start of the Plague is proven when she offers to read Michael his Bible as he mourns for his murdered Elinor. She also becomes a woman and she initiates sex; another sign of how emancipated she has become. However, emancipation is not perversion. Shocked at Michael’s confession about his treatment of Elinor she flees to the church but can no longer pray. With her faith in “tatters” she is none-the-less equipped with knowledge, skills, self-belief and most importantly reality. With these she leaves England for Oran, a Muslim country, and becomes a harem wife to the doctor, still being kind, clever and compassionate.

During the novel, Anna grew enormously, both emotionally and intellectually. Because of the catalyst of the Plague, she was educated in heart as well as mind. With this knowledge she defied the norm and become emancipated from the 17th notions of what a miner’s widow should and could assert herself as a model of self-determination

In ‘Year of Wonders’ all the characters who survived the ordeal of the bubonic plague emerge transformed in significant ways. Discuss.

In the novel ‘Year of Wonders’, written by Geraldine Brooks, the characters who survived the plague in the small English village, Eyam in 1665-1666 all transform in extensive ways. Those characters who survive the bubonic plague all experience dramatic changes in meaningful ways. These changes are displayed in the characters Anna Frith, Michael Mompellion and Elinor Mompellion. The plague has pushed Anna Frith to react in unexpected ways as she displays change, leading her to move overseas and attempt to start her life fresh. Michael Mompellion also shows that because of the plague, he has been brought to the point of where the one he loves most, Elinor Mompellion, is murdered. The murder makes Michael resign as a rector and start to doubt God. Elinor and Aphra also experience change in different ways as Elinor’s trust and compassion for others grows and Aphra turns to witchcraft, in which both impulses result in the death of each of them. This is all clear confirmation showing that through the book where characters such as those mentioned continue to exist through the tragedy that occurred in Eyam, 1665-1666 and evolve in significant ways.

Anna Frith, the main character in ‘Year of Wonders’ is one of the many that survived the plague. She was pushed to extreme lengths as a result of grief, faith and fear which influenced her to change. Anna’s faith and fear caused her to help others in need and put them before herself. Initially, Anna motivates herself to keep moving forward and not giving herself time to mourn, with the support of Elinor. Unlike other household servants, Anna learned to read and write. Her fears and faith have taught her to stick up for herself, doing things in which she thought was the right thing to do. Anna has learned to stick up for herself and has learned the practices of a mid-wife. This has led her to follow her passion and heart to places away from England, changing her life positively and for the benefit of herself and others. Anna has experienced deaths and the tragedy of the plague, it has woke her up in a sense that she now realizes even she can bring hope to those in need. Anna betters herself due to her overcoming the plague, and learns that even little signs of hope and faith are enough reason to make the most of her life.

Michael Mompellion is another character who shows a significant change due to the plague. Throughout the novel, Michael is the town’s rector. He is taught to preach about God to the community. However, due to the plague and the causes it has brought forward to his life, in this case the death Elinor, Michael breaks down and begins to question God, something he would never imagine doing had the plague never existed. Michael questions if the plague was truly “a test of faith sent by God, or evil working of the devil in the world?” As he lives life without Elinor he becomes depressed and miserable, causing him to resign his role as rector, and by the end of the novel, due to his terrors that he had suffered with, surviving the plague era has caused him to change himself negatively but walking away from the puritan practices all together.

Elinor and Aphra both survive the outbreak of the plague, although they are two characters that both die due to the plague but for different reasons. Aphra was a tough female who had coped with

her husband’s abuse, had lost her husband and her daughter because of the plague, causing her to be alone and troubled, with her grief leading her to witchcraft. Towards the end of the novel, Aphra becomes disturbed and filled with evil. Elinor’s way of surviving the deadly disease was through her sympathy towards others. It didn’t matter who the person was, her “motherly concern” has brought her to feel compassionate for those how are in need of comfort. Surviving the plague and the occurrence that both women have dealt with throughout the novel, Aphra’s breakdown and Elinor’s affection and understanding concern, led them both to their tragic deaths.

In conclusion, the examples mentioned are all obvious demonstrations that characters within the novel have shown drastic transformation, whether it be for better or for worse. Characters such as Anna, Michael, Elinor and Aphra are all one of several characters that have survived the affliction and have experienced immense transformations in considerable ways.

Change

In her novel ‘Year of Wonders’ Brooks has addressed the theme of change; the ways in which one can change and why. Brooks character Elinor Mompellion observes the changes in the character Anna with admiration stating “I wonder if you know how much you have changed, it is perhaps the one good to come out of this terrible year”, as she sees the changes take place within Anna that are crucial to the explanation of Brooks’ theme. The changes which take place in Anna include the loss of her belief in god and religion and her subsequent reliance on medicine and science, a total change in her personality and values, and a change in her status in the society; the way people regard and react to her as a figure within the community. Through Anna’s character we can understand how and why characters change.

The starkest change which can be observed in Anna’s character is the alteration which her beliefs undergo from the beginning of the novel to the end. The conflict within Anna between her understanding of the world and her belief in God is linked to Brooks’ exploration of the conflict between Science and Religion and the way Anna alters her beliefs Anna to emerge from the plague with a skew towards the effects of nature rather than those of God. At the beginning of the plague year, we are introduced to a young woman who states that she is of the puritan teachings, and indicates how she was taught to view the world in polarities of “light and dark”, expressed through imagery of shadow from trees flashing past. However as the novel progresses we can see an obvious transformation in her beliefs, from the young girl who memorized phrases of the bible and psalms and held the Mompellion’s in such high esteem, to a woman with a logical understanding of the world. Brooks explores religion through Anna and her philosophising throughout the novel and death acts as a particularly crucial theme here, because it elicits a change within Anna. With the death of her sons, Anna begins to question Gods design, seeing it as wasteful. Anna’s misgivings prevail as the casualties rise and she questions why the plague should be “either a test of faith sent by god, or the evil working of the devil in the world”, and comes to believe that the plague “is neither of god nor of the devil, simply a thing in nature”. Anna’s belief of whether the plague is of god or of nature is explained by a clever simile used by Brooks “we could simply work upon it as a farmer might toil to rid his field of unwanted tare, knowing that when he found the tools and the method and the resolve, we would free ourselves” The conclusion of the question of how Anna’s faith has changed can be found in her own words in the epilogue when she speaks of her conversations with Ahmed Bey; “We have spoken much since then about faith: the adamantine one by which the doctor measures every moment of his day, and that flimsy tattered thing that is the remnant of my own belief”. Anna’s almost entirely loses her belief over the course of the plague year.

Anna undergoes many very clear changes as a person, changing her personality and becoming much more empowered as a woman. These changes are central to Brooks’ theme; exploring the way people change in crisis and how people react to changes in their circumstances. Anna changes on many personal levels, becoming more confident and proactive and forging extreme courage in the face of adversity. Brooks uses language tools such as imagery to communicate Anna’s worst fears, as she “turned pale” at the thought of delivering Mary Daniels baby, with the nightmare of a barber surgeon tearing the leg from a babe with a thatchers hook. Brooks also uses personification to communicate Anna’s fear when she goes down into the Wickfords mine in order to help Merry, “the dread began to seep through her body” as she did so. These fears are embedded in Anna’s

personality and yet she faces them in order to help others, changing for the better as a person. Anna changes in that she becomes a proactive character, making her own decisions and directing her life in the ways which she wants it. She makes the decision to free Anteros, symbolic of her own newfound freedom, and having an actual effect on events, and makes the decision to take the Bradfords newborn and leave Eyam. Anna sums up the reasons behind her changes stating “it was if there were two of me walking down those stairs. One the timid girl who had worked for the Bradfords….. And the other was Anna Frith, a woman who had faced more fears than most warriors”. Anna no longer cares about the opinions of the other villagers at the end of the novel, which Brooks exemplifies with the symbol of her sheep flock, which she neglects under stress and this is linked to the way in which she comes into her personal power as a woman, no longer caring about the power of men in society and taking her life into her own hands. Anys’ statement that “Anna likes to come and go without a man’s say so” is far more true of Anna at the end of the text to the beginning when she, without any male companionship, travels across England, then across the sea to another nation. Anna personality undergoes some great changes in ‘Year of Wonders’ and she becomes a far more proactive, confident and courageous character, taking life into her own hands and moving outside the values of the time in regards to women.

Whilst progressing through the novel, a very obvious change in regard to Anna’s position and circumstances within the village can be perceived. This includes the way the villagers view her, the way she acts and behaves toward others and how she reacts to the treatment of other villagers. Anna is initially an almost downtrodden character, a timid girl working for the Bradfords “expected to pass through the kitchen garth”, and the Mompellion’s with no level of social standing or status.

She fears Josiah’s wrath and treads lightly around all of the males in the village, keeping to herself and not inciting any troubles or moving into fields which could incriminate her in any way in the eyes of the other villagers, for example medicine. As the novel progresses, a perceptible change takes place in the way Anna I perceived. Her continued close relationship with the Mompellion’s and her assumption of the Gowdies mantel gives her new standing, as an important figure in the village. Anna becomes indispensable to the villagers, being their source of remedies and medicine, delivering babes and helping where she could. The change in her position is obvious in the first chapter when she stays in Mompellion’s room despite the fact that “a servant has no right to stay once she’s dismissed”, and her position in the society has clearly become blurred. She manages to convince Josiah Bont to take on the task of the sexton and she even stands up to Elizabeth Bradford, threatening her with physical violence.