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cinemissy (1)
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The island is a leper colony, as mentioned by Aunt Belle, and that is why everyone is horrified that Preston and others were being sent there. It was the only place for quarantine. Leprosy was incurable and miserable, and could be a death sentence during that time (the antebellum period from 1783-1861), more specifically the year “1852, dumplin’, 1852” (as said by Julie to Aunt Belle), especially if someone is already sick. An effective treatment/cure didn’t come along until the 1940s. Before that time lepers were cast out, forced to live in remote/isolated areas to slow the spread of that bacterial disease. Julie and Preston would have had to survive both grim diseases.
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