Theme Of Grief In Year Of Wonders

Year of Wonders is primarily a study of grief and loss. Throughout the entirety of the novel this in demonstrated in a number of examples. This is shown very early on in the novel as Anna is going through grieving process of losing most of the individuals that she knew and cared about. This is shown also when the book jumps back a year earlier, where Anna is still grieving over Sam, her dead husband. This grieving fades away briefing during a visit from a young tailor from London by the name of George Viccars. They develop an attraction for each other, before falling ill and dying. She then proceeds to lose most of the people close to her, including her sons, before moving to a different continent. Only during the very end of the novel does

It is evident that the plague has killed many of the individuals of the town. This is made clear when Anna is feeding Mr Mompellion’s horse. “There’s no one strong or skilled enough to handle him now”. It is made clear than Mr Mompellion is also suffering, not only from the loss of his own wife, but also the loss of his community and his loss of his faith in a higher power. This makes the reader sympathise for Anna and Mr Mompellion and make them feel the grief that she is

The death of her youngest son, Tom, really deeply affects her. He provided a lot of happiness to Anna so losing him hit her hard. This really highlights the polarity between the happiness and joy of having a child and sadness and grief that is suffered when losing them. “Fear of losing him had marched beside that love, every moment of the short time I had him with me”. Jamie dies soon after Tom in a similar fashion. In the space of this short amount time Anna loses all of what she cares about most in her life. She does not have time to grieve however as she has to assist in looking after the dead or dying townsfolk. She also loses her friend, Anys, however she loses her to a hanging after being proclaimed a witch. She becomes friend with the local vicar’s wife, Elinor Monpellion, as continues to look after the dying community. Elinor is eventually killed by a crazy townsperson. At this point she has lost all her friends and family. This grief does not start to fade until the end of the