Year of Wonders: An Introduction by Geraldine Brooks
Setting and How: Allegory and Purpose
Brooks uses the historical context of the bubonic plague which struck Eyam in the 1600s to explore the impact of a crisis on a close-knit community.
Historical setting: The conflict/crisis functions as an allegory of the intersection of the Age of Enlightenment, with an emphasis on individual freedom and enlightened thought, and Oliver Cromwell’s brand of Puritanism, with its emphasis on sin and punishment.
Brooks also exploits both the literal and the metaphoric meanings of the plague which, she states, has “taken the town hostage both literally and figuratively”.
The physical setting also becomes symbolic: The villagers quarantine themselves in their “wide green prison”; its limits are marked by the physical and the symbolic “boundary stone”, which also becomes a symbol of the way in which people act during times of change and the ways they push against restrictions and the limits of their horizons and of their world.
Such a crisis, Brooks believes, brings out the best and the worst in human nature.
Upon the departure of the Bradfords, Anna reflects upon the “wide green prison of our own election”. (117)
Many of the Eyam villagers seek to beg forgiveness from their God and seek to assuage God’s ire in radical ways.
Contrastingly, Brooks charts the personal growth of her main heroine, Anna Frith, who pushes against the restrictions of the symbolic “boundary stone” and uncovers rare and sensitive talents. From a humanist and an enlightened perspective, Anna represents a more enlightened and rational attitude to religion than many of her fellow villagers. She challenges the notion of the plague as part of a “grand celestial design”. She reflects upon the role of human agency in dealing with the worst aspects of the plague and tries to maintain her own individual integrity and dignity. Eventually, and as a true sceptic, during this time of flux, Anna cannot say that “I have faith anymore”. Anna searches for hope and inspiration among the Musalman doctors and Imams. (301) She seeks a future life in knowledge and reading. This former illiterate maid reads Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine in Arabic (300). Her “craft” becomes her “vocation”.
Anna also reflects Brook’s view that such a crisis offers women such as Anna and Elinor the opportunity to explore their talents, and nurture their knowledge in different ways. (As she challenges the limits of the”boundary stone”, Anna discovers hidden talents and, from a feminist perspective, Anna discovers hidden talents and grows in strength. She realizes that “MM had been broken by our shared ordeal, in equal measure I had been tempered and made strong”.
- Please see Brooks’ characterisation of the Reverend Mompellion
- Please see Summary notes for Language Analysis
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