Annas relationships are always flawed. This is because she is a flawed person.

In Geraldine Brooks Year of Wonders, every character has flaws that influence their relationship with other each other. However this does not mean that they are flawed as a person or that all their relationships are flawed. Although the main protagonist Anna carries some faults, not all her relationships are affected. Every character exhibits some flaws, not just Anna, and therefore they too will influence what kind of relationship is evolved. Every relationship in the novel carried flawed aspects and it will ultimately depend on the people involved as to how well the relationship functions. Even though readers are positioned to view Anna as a positive character, she is not without flaws. Throughout the novel, Anna has experienced a great amount of loss. After losing her husband Sam in a mining accident, then her boarder George Viccars, who may have been a potential lover, she was left with just her babes. Although she was bereaved and lonely, she drew comfort from the love of her two children. When the plague struck and took them from her, Anna was left with no one, as well as a huger to love and to feel loved once again. At one stage in the novel when Elinor became sick, this brought out one of Annas flaws, a flame of jealousy flared up in Anna. She was jealous of the bond Michael and Elinor shared and the connection between them. This is clearly illustrated when she smashed the delicate dishes after feeling a pang of jealousy. Not only Anna, but others contain flaws which influence their relationships with others. Elizabeth Bradford is portrayed as a negative character. Although she cares dearly for her mother and appears to have a positive relationship with her, Elizabeths flaws limit her ability to relate to the rest of the village. Her supercilious personality and her belief that she is above the village people is the reason she has little or no successful relationships with anyone throughout the novel. It is her flaws rather than Annas that are the cause of their faulty relationship. Similarly, Annas father Josiah is riddled with flaws. Though these are to past experiences, being buggered as a boy. None the less, Josiah does not have the ability to feel compassion for others or to care for others, because no one cared for him. His greediness is displayed when he took on the role as the villages grave digger, charging people an arm and a leg for digging a grave, taking whatever they had. Aphra too had flaws, she showed no

compassion, chiding Anna for letting herself love an infant so. She stood by and allowed it to happen when he used to beat Anna senseless as a child. In this case, it is both people in the relationship that carried flaws, and was the cause of a faulty partnership. Yet despite her flaws, Anna is still able to maintain a positive and healthy friendship with Elinor. The bond that the two characters shared was of benefit to them both. Elinor entrusted her secret to Anna about her lustful younger self and this allowed their friendship to grow, I tell it to you because I want you to know me. Anna had known the warmth of motherly concern thanks to Elinor. She viewed Elinor as a motherly figure, who never let a minute pass without trying to better her (me). They gained much knowledge together, but without Elinor, Anna would not have been able to read, she would not have gained knowledge about herb lore, nor would she have gained confidence and self-assurance in herself to help villagers give birth. Even though Anna became jealous of Elinor and Michaels relationship, this did not affect interactions between Elinor and herself. Every character carries flaws; its what makes them human. Even characters that seemed to be heroic and flawless on the surface have some undesirable qualities. Throughout most of the novel, we are positioned to view Michael Mompellion as heroic. Because of Brooks first person viewpoint, we admire him because Anna puts him on a pedestal. Brooks paints Michael as a flawed character which is reinforced when he reveals he never lay with Elinor. Seeing the suffering of the village that he had brought upon them weakened Mompellion. This lead to some errors in judgement, particularly after he errs grievously about Aphras judgement. Not dealing with it then and there at the Delf lead to the spiralling of tragic events. Not only this, after Elinor died, grief had undone him. He lost his faith in god, why else would he laugh when I advised him to accept gods will? Some people might view this loss in faith as unadmirable. So quick to lose faith and the way in which he uses Anna to release his repressed sexual energy that he denied himself and his wife. In this case, it is Mompellions own faults that influence their relationship and the reason it ultimately ended, his whole person was repulsive to her (me). This not only had an effect between him and Anna but also Michaels and Elinor as well. The fact that Michael

refrained from any intimacy between them had a major impact on their interactions. Michael, how much longer? asked Elinor when she was delirious. This highlighted just how much she was affected by this. He deemed that she should atone by living some part of her life with her lusts unrequited. This flaw of arrogance, taking it upon himself to deliver what he believes would be Gods judgement, was the cause of the flaws in his relationships. In the end, whether a relationship is faulty or not will depend on many things including both people involved. In the case of Anna, although flawed in few ways, she is still able to maintain a healthy friendship with Elinor that is of much benefit to them both. She also has some relationships that are not so faultless, but this is not necessarily due to Annas faults. Brooks has purposely made no character without flaws, which makes them human. Depicted by Aphra and Josiahs relationship, it can be both people who contribute flaws to a relationship. Year of Wonders highlights the intricacy of relationships and people involved. What constitutes a flawed person or relationship? One thing that can be said with confidence is that just because someone is flawed, does not mean it will result in all their relationships being defective. Anna Frith is a prime example of this.