Year of Wonders Reader's Response #2

Ring of Roses
        This time, Anna recounts her story through a flashback to the spring of 1665, when Anna is eighteen years old, newly widowed (from the last winter when Sam died), and looking for a means of income for her and her two sons to survive. We are introduced to Geroge Viccars, a journeymen tailor sent by the rectory to lodge in Anna's spare room in the attic. Anna immediately takes an interest in Mr. Viccars: he is clean, modest, quiet-spoken, and brought laughter back into the house. It didn't even matter to her that he was going to pay her sixpence a week for the room he was staying in (although that was a nice addition). Mr. Viccars had traveled a lot throughout his career, so he would tell Anna stories of the places he'd been and the people he'd met. The new Mr. Viccars contrasts greatly with the deceased husband Sam, as Anna described. Sam's life was confined by Anna and the little that occurred in the village where he had always remained. His world was a "dark, damp maze of rakes and scrins thirty feet under the ground", possibly referring to the mine wherein he worked (Brooks, 26). On the other hand, Mr. Viccars was never confined. To Anna, it seemed like he "brought the wide world" with him when he entered her cottage (Brooks, 26). He had seen everything there was to see, from Barbary seamen in turbans to a Masalman merchant who kept four veiled wives. He had even gone to London at the end of his apprenticeship because the return and restoration of King Charles II had created prosperity in trade. In London, he worked sewing liveries for courtier's servants, but the city tired him.
*Historical Connection: Charles II was the eldest surviving son of Charles I. He was appointed nominal commander-in-chief in western England after the Civil War began. In 1650, after his father's execution, Charles made a deal with the Scots and was proclaimed king. He invaded England with a Scottish army but was defeated by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. He again escaped into exile and it wasn't until 1660 when he was invited back to England to reclaim his throne. This restoration to the throne marked the end of republican rule in England. He tried many times to formalize toleration of Catholics and Non-conformists but was rejected by the strongly hostile parliament. The early years of his reign saw a terrible plague (1665 -- the one concurrent in the novel) and the Great Fire in 1666 which led to the significant rebuilding of the city of London.
Also, in the novel, Mr. Viccars states "You cannot believe that what men breathe in London really is air at all, for the coal fires send soot and sulphur everywhere, fouling the water and turning even the palaces into grimy, black hulks...So many have moved there looking for work that souls are heaped up to live ten and twelve to a room no larger than the one we sit in", which gives us a look into the congested conditions and possibly the poor hygiene standards that brought about the spread of the bubonic plague in London (Brooks, 26-27). London at this time was a focus world history in which people began to urbanize; one of the key reasons why England became the first to industrialize in the 18th century.*
        The relationship between Anna and Mr. Viccars grows. One day in the summer, Mr. Viccars receives a box of cloth from London ordered by Anna's neighbor, Mr. Hadfield. Mr. Viccars makes a dress for Anna out of the fabric, and Anna is beyond pleased because she's never had such a fine dress. At the urging of Mr. Viccars, Anna tries on the dress and the two share a kiss when Anna notices Mr. Viccar's fever. Oh my god. Two things are going on in my mind at this: First, why must such a moment of romantic gesture be ruined?? And the second, Mr. Viccars has the plague. Anna, like the rest of the village, does not understand the disease and she tells him to get some rest and that he will be better the next day.
        The next morning, Anna goes to the rectory, where she finds Elinor Mompellion. We learn a little bit more about Mrs. Mompellion, such as she's twenty-six years old, has the "fragile beauty of a child". she owns a garden which she calls her "little Eden", and she teaches Anna how to read, among other things. She arrived to the village when she was newly wedded to the rector, Michael Mompellion, and despite the village's hopes for the couple to have a child, they never did. Elinor was rich in her knowledge of herbs, but Anna doesn't want to know about it because she is a widow, and during that time it wasn't uncommon for a widow to be accused of a witch. With this thought in mind, Anna contemplates Anys Gowdie, the niece of Mem Gowdie who suffered accusations of being a witch for her herb remedies. Anna believes that her stepmother, Aphra, makes claims that Anys is a witch because she is jealous of Any's beauty.
        Anna goes back home, where she finds Mr. Viccars in an unruly state. He was in bed "with his head pushed to the side by a lump the size of a newborn piglet, a great, shiny, yellow-purple knob of pulsing flesh. His face...was flushed scarlet, or rather, botched, with shapes like rings of rose petals blooming under his skin" (Brooks, 42). Ew!! I want to gag at Anna's description of the disease that took over Mr. Viccars. He warns, "Burn it all! Burn it all! For the love of God, burn it!" before dying two days later by the side of Mr. Mompellion and Anna (Brooks, 44).

        So, my thoughts thus far are this: Anna is a strong, observant, forward-thinking woman. In a conversation with Mr. Viccars, Anna claims that women who become prostitutes shouldn't be blamed for their actionis because something happened to them that made them turn to prostitution in the first place. She says this, which I think is so profound and true: "If you are drowning in a sewer, your first concern might be that you are drowning, not how vile you smell" (Brooks, 28). Anna herself had to enter the workforce because of the death of her husband and the demands of her two young sons.
Why did the plague have to come up and take away the source of happiness in Anna's life after she so long mourned? How contagious is the plague? Mr. Viccars had been around Anna's sons Jamie and Tom as well as Anna and Mr. Mompellion after the box of fabrics arrived. Who else will be taken away from Anna's life?