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

this grieving process start to fade.
The first few pages of the novel really emphasises the grieving that Anna is undergoing throughout the novel, due to it being set at the end of the plague that swept through the small town of Eyam, “I used to love this season” (pg1).

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

feeling.
Sam is somewhat of a precursor for the events that occur throughout the remainder of the novel. The very first line in the second part of the novel reinforces this: “The winter that followed Sam’s death was the hardest season I had ever known” (pg23). This part of the novel is when things momentarily improve, before spiralling down into a pit of misery and loss. Anna starts to recover when George Viccars, a young tailor, comes to board at Anna’s house. She enjoys the companionship and joy that Mr Viccars brings to the household and appreciates the kindness that he shows to her child, Jamie. Finally during the last part of his say, he confesses his attraction for Anna. This evokes a wide variety of positive emotions in Anna. These emotions however are short lived as Mr Viccars get the plague and dies within 24 hours. This starts the grieving process again for Anna. The love that she had started to learn again after the loss of her husband, had been ripped from her, only to be replaced by the cold, bitter, depressing feeling of hopelessness and regret. This, once again really effects the reader and makes the read feel for her and appreciate all the grieving she is going through.
This sense of hopelessness is further enhanced with the deaths of both her sons and a majority of the population of the town.

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

epilogue.
Year of Wonders is primarily a study of grief and loss. Anna loses everything she cared about in the novel and has little optimistic or uplifting messages within it.