Year of Wonders Reader's Response #4

Rat-fall
        In this chapter, both good and tragic things happen. On the positive end of the spectrum, Anna learns that Mr. Mompellion takes pleasure in the most natural things such as the beauty in that day of September and is playful with her children. This surprises her because the rector was known to not make conversations with her nor talk about anything other than "lofty words spoken from high pulpits" (Brooks, 69). He is kind and good to Anna in ways she never imagined. Anna observes that it is a great thing that such a "lofty thinker" could have "so close a communion with the ordinary things of the soil and of the seasons" (Brooks, 70).
        The mood of this passage takes a toll for devastation when Anna's neighbor Mary Hadfield loses her husband and her two sons (one of which was Jamie's age) during a flea infestation. Edward, the young son, and Jamie, Anna's three-year-old, had been found playing with dead rats (ew!) earlier. The Hadfield family call in a barber-surgeon (to Mem Gowdie's disappointment) who places leeches on Edward to cure him. He, of course, dies later in the night. As the surgeon was leaving, Anna approaches him and asks him if Edward's illness could be the plague. He is angered that a woman would try to undermine his diagnosis. Anna persists, reciting the symptoms Mr. Viccars experienced when he was dying. He replies, "God save you and this village, and tell your neighbors to call upon me no more" (Brooks, 76). Anna's youngest son, Tom, dies soon after.
       This is very dark. I'm starting to understand the situation that people lived in before there was effective medicine. How can an entire family die so quickly? Why does the surgeon leave without offering any help? My hatred for Anna's stepmother, Aphra, grows even more when she tells Anna she is a fool for crying over her dead son. If I were in Anna's shoes, I would have a difficult time choosing between securing the safety of my only son left (Jamie) by leaving the village or staying behind. Maybe Anna does not care so much as the disease that takes her sons and the lives of those around her, but rather their actual death. What's next for Anna?