Change Year of Wonders

Change is an external component in people’s lives, which has the great power to transform us. When something unusual occurs or changes are introduced into our lives, we are affected and are forced to react to the unfamiliarity.

This will call on us to change certain aspects of our lives and as a result we will learn and grow as characters from the experience. In “Year of Wonders” the people of the town of Eyam are evicted from their comfort zones and are uncompromisingly placed into the gruelling catastrophe of a plague.The devastation of the plague is forced upon them. The people’s experience of facing the strangeness compels the people of Eyam to change and develop. The principle protagonists of the town, Michael Mompellion and Anna Frith both change due to their experiences of the plague and through their interaction during the year; however not all of the protagonists are positively transformed.

There are those who gain and those who lose in the face of adversity and these changes in the characters highlight the true effect, which the misfortune has on them.The narrator of the text, Anna Frith is an individual who is changed and transformed positively by the adversity. Being a widow, the closest people to her in her life are her two young sons, Jamie and Tom, “she draws comfort from loving her children” and they give her a “sense of purpose. ” This sense of duty is extended when she accepts George Viccars into her family and provides for him. Anna looses her entire family to infection however her struggle doesn’t take away her sense of duty.After she has already endured the death of her husband, Sam in a mining accident, Anna is not spared the wrath of the plague and George Viccars, the man whose touch her “body hungered” becomes the first victim of the plague.

Both of her sons collapse to the ‘vivid crimson welts rising in rings’ on their skin soon after, and she loses them both as well within a matter of days as they die “gently and without complaint”. This pressures Anna to feel at moments that there is nothing left to live for in her life and she asks “why I was not in the chamber of death? , however she finds an inner strength and resilience that not only propels her through the tragedy and benefits others, but also allows her to grow her character as a result. She discovers strength to continue in the hardship by adapting to the circumstances she is in and by the end of the text; she is quite a different person than at the beginning. She has transformed positively into a leader and hero through her interaction with the change and also through her interactions with others and the imprint they leave on her.Another character that is surrounded by change is Elinor.

Elinor’s relationship with Anna is highlighted as one filled with care and compassion. This is demonstrated through Elinor’s intuition that she provides to Anna. Anna benefits immensely from Elinor’s assistance, “Within a year of her coming” Elinor teaches Anna to read as well as providing her with lessons in all aspects of life. Elinor therefore provides the change for Anna and assists her to change.

Anna craves Elinor’s teaching as Elinor never let “a minute pass without trying to better me, and for the most part I was a willing pupil. ” She enjoyed learning as she thrives on this knowledge and she gains confidence from it. She then is able to apply this invaluable knowledge in practical terms, to the situations when the plague takes hold of her community. She finds strength to continue in the hardship by adapting to the circumstances she is in and by the end of the text; she is quite a different person than the “shy child” she was at the beginning.She has transformed positively into a leader and hero through her interaction with struggle and additionally through her constant guiding by Elinor to be the best she can be. Whilst Anna is an example of a character that is transformed for the better, Michael Mompellion is a case during the year of wonders that has been negatively transformed.

Michael Mompellion, The rector of Eyam, is the fundamental reason why the town takes the brave decision of going into quarantine with the exception of the Bradfords who flee.He ”naturally took charge” and does through his leadership role, he persuades the town that “here we are, and here we must stay” and makes it clear to “let none enter and none leave while this plague lasts. ” He is successful in his persuasion by ensuring his people that there is no alternative and that they must endure the ‘trial’ that has been sent by God as a “gift”. Whilst the town risks its well being by staying within the confines of the “wide green prison” it is enhancing the benefit for others as they attempt to halt the spread of the disease.

His thought of believing that god sent the “scourge” in goodwill displays his faith however as he realises the suffering of the community is his fault, he becomes traumatised by what he has brought upon the village. His faith and belief is slowly diminished as he concludes that it “seems that there is no God” and that what he had asked of himself and his wife, Elinor was “wrong. ” with this key facet of his life lost, he becomes a weaker character overall and continues on an emotional downfall, being negatively transformed by the change.As the town is forced into a situation of distress and fear, changes in the inhabitants of Eyam are made beyond their control. How they react to the change will determine the effect it has on them.

The protagonists in the text are transformed as a result of the change that they experience. The unfamiliarity either alters them positively as in the case of Anna Frith and evolves their character into something greater, or transforms them negatively and contaminates their character as in the way it does to Michael Mompellion.