Erm, i'm not doing this text for the exam but, here's a piece i wrote at the start of the year :s (timed 1 hr)
Gllll....
The women in ‘Year of Wonders’ are more resourceful and resilient than the men. Do you agree?
In Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks, the women in the novel, mainly being Anna and Elinor, take full advantage of their wellbeing at the time of the plague and become resourceful creatures that are willing to help out their town when in need. The women also remain flexible and cope with the plague while unfortunately the male gender fails in their lack-lustre attempt to help out the community.
The women in Eyam experiencing the plague in 1666 use their abilities to benefit the health of the community, and understand to keep the townspeople “above the ground” they must take action, while the men take a back seat through the plague and hope for the best. Instances like these are demonstrated a number of times through the two central women in the novel, Elinor and Anna, such as when they use herbal medicine resources in attempt to fight the effects of the plague to help the townspeople. Although at first Anna only came to the Gowdies for herself, “I came here not seeking herbs to help others. Only myself”, her admiration for Elinor and her willingness to learn causes her to cascade into the depths of finding a way to help others. Both Elinor and Annas ingenuity of thinking about helping the whole community to become stronger only reassures the audience of their dependability and kindness in such times when others need help. “The key to defeating this Plague...must lie here, in the virtue of such plants”. This quote shows that Elinor truly understands the meaning of the plague, while others around her continue to think that it is caused by Gods sin or a religious meaning. While Anna and Elinor as women better the community by using the valuable herbs and resources to help others, the men in Year Of Wonders aren’t shown in the same positive light, an example of this being Anna’s father Josiah Bondt. When referring to her father while visiting the tavern, Anna says, “It appeared that he had been at the pot for some time”. Descriptions of Josiah throughout the novel, including this one make it apparent that he isn’t interested in helping the community, only himself and his wellbeing. Even when Josiah does help by digging graves at the end of the novel, ultimately it is to benefit himself, not the townspeople. Thus, in these cases women are more resourceful than men during the plague and are actually willing to help out the community.
To further prove that women are overall more capable than men during the plague, these women show a large amount of resilience, remaining flexible, surviving and coping, while many men find it harder to deal with the plague that has been inflicted on them. Both Anna and Elinor, the central characters in the novel, show that they are capable of dealing with such stress and hardship during such a difficult time. Without Elinor however, audiences are somewhat lead to believe that Anna would have had a hard time coping with the plague, as the loved ones around her are disappearing rapidly. Saying this, we can conclude that Elinor is the major reason that Anna finds the strength to go on after the tragedies that occur in her life. Both Elinor and Anna as a team combat many tasks that may seem unthinkable to others in the town of Eyam, examples being using herbal medicine and treating the sick, Elinor encouraging Anna to midwife women who need help, helping Mary Wickford and the mines and Anna alone adopting Mrs Bradfords son. Without their ability to move forward in life, past the plague and events, Anna and Elinor simply wouldn’t be able to help others or have the motivation to do so. “I would help this child, Elinor, not bury her!” Anna could have easily shut herself off from the outside world but alas continues to strive in her hopes to survive and help others. On the other hand, some men during this time clearly find it more difficult to cope with the plague inflicted upon them. Michael Mompellion for example, found it harder to deal with the plague, constantly withdrawing himself from others around him and being alone in his room. It is obvious here that he finds the pressure from the church combined with the towns disease too much, and therefore his source of depression shows somewhat a lack of being flexible and resilient. Therefore, these cases show that the women in Eyam have an ability to move forward from the plague, while the men struggle in finding motives to do so.
However, it somewhat unfair to put a generalisation on men in the novel Year of Wonders, as throughout the novel some men have also shown they are capable of surviving through the plague while other women show through their actions they are incompetent and lack skill to persevere. A leading character, Michael Mompellion for example shows that he can demonstrate leader qualities that unite people in the town of Eyam and provide them with some hope. Mompellion also possesses the trait of resilience by driving himself to exhaustion, promising to the town that ‘none should die alone’. “Looking at Mr Mompellion, i worried that he,too, might drop. He looked warn to a nub. It seemed he had not slept the previous night” This shows that Michael too is capable of keeping promises, providing graves for people that needed them for their family. Although Michael spends some time dwelling in the misery of the town, his actions this time show that he’s able to help the community and therefore to an extent move forward from the plague. In the meantime, women, such as Aphra, show a clear lack of resilience and resourcefulness, such as when she pretends to be a ghost of Anys Gowdie, and charging money for spells. Aphra shows that this act of crime was to benefit her only, and although she may have been creative with pretending to act as the dead, the selfishness of her actions could not be justified. Therefore, Michael who is indeed a male figure, is able to portray characteristics that allow him to be resilient and resourceful through the plague, while some women are clearly incapable of doing so.
In conclusion, it is obvious from actions alone that the women in the novel Year of Wonders are more capable of conducting such tasks and remaining resilient throughout, while the men show a clear lack of understanding for what is going on around them. Anna and Elinor especially are two characters that illustrate these two admirable traits to the best of their advantage, bettering not only themselves but sufferers around them.
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