Year of Wonders Reader's Response #13

A Great Burning & Deliverance
        Elinor begins coughing and comes down with a fever. Mr. Mompellion and Anna immediately become concerned because they all, including Elinor, think that Elinor is going to die from the plague. She tells Anna, "I hope you will find it in your heart to be a friend to Mr. Mompellion, Anna..." (Brooks, 235). However, it turns out to be just a regular fever and Elinor recovers quickly.
        Mr. Mompellion has a revelation from God to get rid of the plague. On Sunday, he tells the villagers, "'To save our lives, my friends, I believe we must undertake here a great burning'" (Brooks, 238). He convinces the villagers to burn all of their belongings, which was extremely hard when they have all lost so much. At the bonfire, Brand Rigney and the Merills' neighbor, Robert Snee, drag in Aphra, who is in a black cloth and veil. She is the "ghost" of Anys that has been demanding money from people for her "spells" to cure the plague! Mr. Mompellion decides not to make a big deal of it right then and there and tells Brand and Robert to keep her in captivity for the night. However, Brand and Robert put her in Robert's pig pen where Aphra suffers. When she gets out, so many people pity her that the punishment for her bad deeds that Mr. Mompellion just tells her to repay the money she took. Aphra goes crazy. She doesn't accept anybody's help, not even Anna. One day, Anna passes by her house and sees that Aphra is dancing wildly with a snake in front of a fire. Anna barges in and finds that Aphra has hanged the plague-stricken corpse of her only child left, Faith, on the ceiling.
        Two weeks after the Great Burning, Anna and Elinor notice that there hasn't been a new case of the plague, and less people had died. Elinor tells Mr. Mompellion that they should hold a Thanksgiving celebration for the ending of the plague. At the celebration, Aphra appears with a knife in one hand (the one she took from Josiah's death site) and the corpse of Faith in another. Mr. Mompellion tries to stop her, and then Elinor goes toward the two. The head of Faith falls off and rolls on the ground. This makes Aphra lunge at Elinor and slice her throat before stabbing herself.
     
        This section of the book is very controversial. The plague ends, yet the death of a most dear friend to Elinor dies. It is foreshadowed by the author of Elinor's death with the introduction to the book (set in 1666 after Elinor died) and how Elinor appears as a bridal presence in a formal white gown and garland of flowers to symbolize her chastity.