My Grammar Challenges Sarper Sümer

-Being too colloquial ssumer@students.uni-mainz.de

-Past tenses
-Punctuation

Loss of Faith in “Year of Wonders”

Geraldine Brooks’ “Year of Wonders” tells the fictional story of the real-life town of
Eyam in 1666 when the bubonic plague hits the town. Considering its time period and
the location of a small rural British town, religion is an important motif and a theme for
the story, so is the loss of it. Many characters are affected by religion and also are
disappointed in it in the end. The townsfolk, Anna, and the Mompellions, all embody
different sides of faith and loss of it.

1st Paragraph
- In my opinion it would be important to explain the importance of the situation
of religion in England in this time period the, the 17 th century.
- Touching on how people depended on religion during hard times such as the
plague.

2nd Paragraph
- The town’s role in religion and how they lose their faith.
- The townsfolk are depended on religion as there is no professional doctor in
town, excluding the herbalists. The plague’s deadliness, plus doctor’s not even
wanting to deal with plague patients strengthens their dependance.
- As time goes on and as more people die, the less people attend church. Of
course, as there are less people in town less people overall would come to
church but in my opinion, this also signals the townsfolk losing their faith, as
they realize religion and prayers cannot save them alone.
- In the aftermath of the plague as Mompellion, the town’s priest falls into a
heavy depression and loses himself, this results in the townsfolk, especially
abandoning church, and him.

3rd Paragraph
- Anna, as the narrator, is another important figure in the story.
- Despite working for the priest, and appearing somewhat religious, she does
not seem that interested in it, and even her attempts at saving people seem to
be more influenced by her own characteristics rather than her religious beliefs.
- At the end of the story when Anna leaves the town and “starts anew”, she
settles in Algeria, and chooses being a “doctor” over religion, both
Protestantism and Islam.
4th Paragraph (this paragraph could probably be split in two, one being about Michael
and the other being about Elinor, at which point I would probably get rid of the first
one)
- The Mompellions. Naturally the town’s priest and his wife are important to the
themes of faith and religion. Michael, as the priest, strictly acts by his religion.
This is made even more apparent when he confesses to Anna about his and
Elinor’s relationship. And Elinor is an effective middle ground between Anna
and Michael. She does not let religion dictate her life, but in defining moments
of her life, her abortion etc., she has abided by religion.
- Even in grief, and possibly due to how heavy it is on him, even Michael starts
losing his faith. He stops going to church, and his bible simply becomes a
normal book to him, rather than guidance in life.
- His confession also reveals some “rotten” ideologies in his life which link back
to Anna

In conclusion, the town of Eyam, and the many people that lived in it, all had some
form of connection to religion, with Michael as a sort of middle point where everyone
connected through church, and their beliefs. However, whether it was strong belief or
indifference formed by living in close proximity to it, all of these connections were
challenged in some way due to the plague, some losing faith due to the immense
grief, some losing it due to a disconnect from the priest, or some losing it as a way of
moving forward from their lives.