Historical/Cultural Background & Values
The Restoration
General info – see the pdf file on wiki page
Religion
The novel depicts a time of great change and upheaval.
Puritanism was out and more liberal times were unfolding, although old ideas and prejudices are hard to let go of.
Revolution: against Puritanism (Cromwell)
- Stanley’s church in Eyam
- Clothing worn in the past
- Focus changing – from God to Man
Q: Find evidence that times/people are changing in Eyam and wider society at the time the novel is set. Look to Anna’s observations in the beginning.
The Plague
· Brought to Eyam by flea-infested cloth
· First victim: tailor George Viccars
· Viccars cries ‘burn it all’ – villagers refuse so the disease is spread outwardly from Anna’s cottage
· Cooper children played with dead rats in the woodheap
· Symptoms of the plague are true to historical account
· Eyam village was a real place where the townsfolk quarantined themselves
Q: What are the different views that the townsfolk have about the reason for the plague striking?
Medicine
· Treatment of Edward Cooper – leeches, purging
· Barber surgeons were common due to lack of medical knowledge/trained doctors
· Physicians used toads and other ‘strange’ remedies – Anna eventually rejects these, even though Elinor suggested them.
Q: Does Elinor/the Rev. Mompellion’s suggestions of the physician’s remedies fit with your interpretation of their characters? Why might this fit, and why might it not?
Q: How do the author’s and reader’s perspectives offer a ‘clouded’ view of a real historical time/event? For example, how does what we know of modern medical theory make us judge the different character’s knowledge/views/attitudes towards the prevention and treatment of the illness?
Women
Q: Who are the ‘strong’ or ‘heroic’ women that the novel depicts? How are these strong women also weak in ways?
Witches
Remember ‘The Crucible’? In a Puritanical society, women (especially widows, those marginalised from society, those with herbal knowledge or ideas beyond those that were popular)
Anys Gowdie’s hanging, attacks on Mem Gowdie – townsfolk looking for a scapegoat
Supernatural element still prevalent in the minds of people.
Themes
Dual nature of humanity/Good vs. Evil
Q: Find examples of how the plague brought out the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ of human nature throughout the novel.
Q: How can this novel serve as an allegory? Geraldine Brooks likens the plague of 1665 to the September 11 attacks in 2001, where both this good and bad were shown. What other examples from the real world can this story be linked to?
God vs. Nature
Best exemplified through Anna’s journey:
· Beginning with a belief in God and Rev. Mompellion…
· Evidenced through her devotion to the Mompellions, her knowledge of the Bible and her obedience to the ‘laws’ of the Church…
· Challenged by the loss of her children, the plague outbreak, her observations of the actions of the townsfolk against one another, her friendship with Anys Gowdie, her growing knowledge of herbal medicine and its effects, the revelation of Michael Mompellion…
· Realised fully in her vocation as a healer, her rejection of the Church, rejection of the ideas of the past.