Year of Wonders Reader's Response #3

The Thunder of His Voice
        I am very frustrated at the people in this book. Even though Mr. Viccars warns Anna to burn all of his work with the fabric from London, she still gives in to his customers who come and claim their dresses. Obviously Mr. Viccars knew about the plague because he had been in London and had seen the disease consume people and knew of the consequences, so why didn't Anna enforce his dying wish?? Even Anys Gowdie, the medicine woman of the village, exclaims "You shall do no such thing!" when Anna passed on Mr. Viccar's message (Brooks, 49). In the end, Anna only burns Mr. Viccar's clothes and the dress he had made for her. This is a very clever strategy by the author to advance the plot. What better way to spread a disease than by the resistance of the people to acknowledge the disease? What's more, not even Anna knows how Mr. Viccars got the disease.
        A few other important things are revealed in this chapter. Anna finds out that Anys had a sexual relationship with Mr. Viccars. I'm starting to like Anys' character. When Anna asks why she didn't want to marry Mr. Viccars, she insists, "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" (Brooks, 54). YES PREACH IT. Women during this time period had very strict social restrictions, so it makes me happy when there are women, like Anna and Anys, that go against what is typically accepted from a woman.
        During that night, Anna goes to work at the Bradford Hall, where a Londoner named Robert tells the stories of the plague spreading through London. "You have never seen anything like it on the roads. Innumerable men on horseback, wagons, and carts bulging with baggage. I tell you, everyone capable of leaving the city is doing so or plans to do it...One walks, if one must walk, in the very center of the roadway to avoid the contagion seeping from dwellings. Those who must move through the poorer parishes cover their faces in herb-stuffed masks contrived like the beaks of great birds. People go through the streets like drunkards, weaving from this side to that so as to avoid passing too close to any other pedestrian. And yet one cannot take a hackney, for the last person inside may have breathed contagion" (Brooks, 60).

*Historical connection: Plague doctors, which were medical physicians who were hired by towns infested in the plague to cure the ill, wore a special costume. The garments were invented by Charles de L'Orme in 1619 and were first used in Paris, later to be used throughout Europe. The protective suit consisted of a heavy, waxed fabric overcoat, a mask with glass eye openings and a beak shaped nose, typically stuffed with herbs, straw, and spices. These doctors would also carry a cane to examine and direct patients without the need to make direct contact with the patient.*
        Colonel Bradford says that if the plague were to strike the village in which they are in, he would leave immediately with his family. However, Mr. Mompellion argues, saying that it would be more noble to stay behind and tend to the poor and sick because "If God saw fit to send this scourge [the plague]...it would be His will that one face it where one was, with courage, and thus contain its evil" (Brooks, 62). Anna is frightened that her own sons have the plague from being around Mr. Viccars after hearing the horror stories and the discussion at the Bradfords'. She goes home to find that her children are not sick.