Apple-Picking Time & Epilogue: The Waves, Like Ridges of Plow'd Land
The novel picks back up to the beginning of the novel, year 1666. Mr. Mompellion is saddened by the loss of his wife. He doesn't shave, so Anna shaves his face. She is trying to fulfill Elinor's wish of her becoming Mr. Mompellion's friend. After Elizabeth Bradford shows up (this scene is at the beginning of the novel) and Mr. Mompellion proclaims he has no faith in God, Anna leaves to ride on Mr. Mompellion's horse. When she comes back, Mr. Mompellion tries to scold her for leaving so abruptly, but he falls in self-pity and Anna and him kiss. The next day Mr. Mompellion stays over at Anna's house. Anna asks him if he thinks of Elinor when he's with her, and he responds that he never consummated his marriage with his wife as a way to atone for her sins in doing an abortion. Mr. Mompellion tells Anna that although he was tempted, he convinced himself that Elinor was not worthy of him. He takes on a sardonic tone, as he says his efforts in making Elinor suffer for her sins was in vain because he realizes now that "there is no God, and [he] was wrong". He goes on to claim that he was also wrong in "what [he] asked of [himself]. For of course [he] did love her and desired her, no matter how hard [he] turned the press down up [his] own feelings. Wrong in doing that, and wrong, most shockingly wrong, in what [he] asked of this village"...he exclaims, "Who was I to lead them to their doom?" (Brooks, 280).
I was so surprised by the fact that Mr. Mompellion, the only rector in the village who convinced everybody to believe in God's acts, stops believing in God. In my history classes from the past, I've learned that people usually adopt a religion to combat times of crisis. That's how the first religions appeared among the first river valley civilizations, where it flooded a lot. So, in this severe time of crisis, why did Mr. Mompellion give up religion? Back to the plot...
Anna, shocked by Mr. Mompellion's state, leaves immediately and goes to the church, where she finds Elizabeth Bradford who tells her her mother is close to death in childbirth. Despite the Bradford's obvious lack of respect for Anna, she hastily agrees to go help since she has some experience with midwifing. When she arrives at the Bradford's, she finds Mrs. Bradford in labor and on the brink of death. Anna gets to work immediately and delivers the child. She entrusts Elizabeth to take care of the baby while she goes to get medicine for Mrs. Bradford. However, she catches Elizabeth in the act of attempting to drown the baby. She admits that the child is illegitimate, and that her father, Colonel Bradford, wants it dead. So, Anna, thinking on her feet, suggests taking the child and raising it as her own. Elizabeth rejects this -- how can a child grow up knowing that they could have lived in the Bradford mansion? So Anna suggests moving to a different location. At this, Elizabeth accepts and gives Anna money to go away. She goes to her cottage to pack her belongings, and when she's about to leave to runs into Mr. Mompellion who apologizes for what he did, and is in deep shame of himself. He gives Anna his horse so that she can leave the village quicker.
In the epilogue, Anna's narration picks up years later. She and the newly born child traveled across England to get away from Colonel Bradford. They ended up on the North African Coast where the famous medical doctor of the time, Ahmed Bey, takes Anna as one of his wives (only by name) so that she can stay at the harem and study medicine. She establishes herself as a successful midwife there. She describes how different the culture is there: the women now know her as "Umm Jam-ee", of "Mother of Jamie" after her son that died from the plague. She reveals that she named the Bradford's child Aisha, the word meaning "life", which was suggested by Ahmed Bey. She also had a child (belonging to Mr. Mompellion) who she named Elinor.
The ending of this book was not at all what I expected. Anna goes from living in the same small village of Eyam her entire life to living on a different continent with a whole different type of lifestyle. I like it. It's a fresh start. She leaves the past behind, and now focuses on what she's always has a nick at. The two girls she has, I like to think, take on the roles of Jamie and Tom, her two sons that died. Anna was too advanced for the society in which she lived in. Thus, the most scietifically advanced society during the time, that of the Arabs, suits her.
I was so surprised by the fact that Mr. Mompellion, the only rector in the village who convinced everybody to believe in God's acts, stops believing in God. In my history classes from the past, I've learned that people usually adopt a religion to combat times of crisis. That's how the first religions appeared among the first river valley civilizations, where it flooded a lot. So, in this severe time of crisis, why did Mr. Mompellion give up religion? Back to the plot...
Anna, shocked by Mr. Mompellion's state, leaves immediately and goes to the church, where she finds Elizabeth Bradford who tells her her mother is close to death in childbirth. Despite the Bradford's obvious lack of respect for Anna, she hastily agrees to go help since she has some experience with midwifing. When she arrives at the Bradford's, she finds Mrs. Bradford in labor and on the brink of death. Anna gets to work immediately and delivers the child. She entrusts Elizabeth to take care of the baby while she goes to get medicine for Mrs. Bradford. However, she catches Elizabeth in the act of attempting to drown the baby. She admits that the child is illegitimate, and that her father, Colonel Bradford, wants it dead. So, Anna, thinking on her feet, suggests taking the child and raising it as her own. Elizabeth rejects this -- how can a child grow up knowing that they could have lived in the Bradford mansion? So Anna suggests moving to a different location. At this, Elizabeth accepts and gives Anna money to go away. She goes to her cottage to pack her belongings, and when she's about to leave to runs into Mr. Mompellion who apologizes for what he did, and is in deep shame of himself. He gives Anna his horse so that she can leave the village quicker.
In the epilogue, Anna's narration picks up years later. She and the newly born child traveled across England to get away from Colonel Bradford. They ended up on the North African Coast where the famous medical doctor of the time, Ahmed Bey, takes Anna as one of his wives (only by name) so that she can stay at the harem and study medicine. She establishes herself as a successful midwife there. She describes how different the culture is there: the women now know her as "Umm Jam-ee", of "Mother of Jamie" after her son that died from the plague. She reveals that she named the Bradford's child Aisha, the word meaning "life", which was suggested by Ahmed Bey. She also had a child (belonging to Mr. Mompellion) who she named Elinor.
The ending of this book was not at all what I expected. Anna goes from living in the same small village of Eyam her entire life to living on a different continent with a whole different type of lifestyle. I like it. It's a fresh start. She leaves the past behind, and now focuses on what she's always has a nick at. The two girls she has, I like to think, take on the roles of Jamie and Tom, her two sons that died. Anna was too advanced for the society in which she lived in. Thus, the most scietifically advanced society during the time, that of the Arabs, suits her.
No comments:
Post a Comment