The house would be locked from the outside, and a red cross would be painted on the door. He muses on the causes of the plague and how it is spread, rejecting outlandish explanations but concluding that, while it must have some human causes, it is from God. Before the outbreak, religion in England was fractured; Presbyterians, Independents and Dissenters practiced separately from and, sometimes, in opposition to The Church of England. Here Defoe is able to articulate just how awful the plague is; he leaves off from the stories of heroism, charity, and endurance, and focuses on the sheer horror of this affliction. Defoe intended the book as a warning. But if Defoe had not spoken for H.F., we might not know as much about the plague as we do today. ( Log Out /  The Question and Answer section for A Journal of the Plague Year is a great Osborne, Kristen. H.F. may know the streets he walks upon, but each day brings fresh, new horrors in those familiar places. Many people had to live off of charity alone when their trades were suspended in the onset of the distemper; these included many types of domestic servants and men who worked on the waterfront and in trading. H.F. is generally against the shutting up of houses, commenting that it seemed to do more harm than good in most cases and could barely prevent the plague from spreading because Londoners found ways to escape or delude city officials. My main personal interest has long been to discover and read the most substantial literature available, for the purpose of expanding my awareness and developing my understanding. ...in short, the shutting up of Houses, was in no wise to be depended upon; neither did it answer the End at all; serving more to make the People desperate, and drive them to such Extremities, as that, they would break out at all Adventures. Any contact with an outside person threatened the sanctuary of health within the home. However, throughout the text H.F. grapples with this question and cannot seem to rest on one opinion on the matter. H.F. knows his London extremely well; one of the first pieces of information he gives about himself is where he lives. The following paragraph quoted from back cover of the New American Library version of A Journal of the Plague Year (Signet Classics, 1960.) Please provide the lines (type them out) as I do not have a copy with me. It is London and the year is 1665. He also admitted that he could not bear to remain indoors for days on end, and broke his resolutions often and went walking about the city. Another theme could be good versus evil. GradeSaver, 28 October 2012 Web. Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. The Journal is rife with stories of human suffering, both physical and psychological. It first returned to Holland, and Charles II would not allow any trading with the Dutch. The Negative Effects of Superstition. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. After some debate back and forth, he decides that God wants him to remain. A Journal of the Plague Year essays are academic essays for citation. For one, he questions the accuracy of the bills of mortality; he speculates that the actual number of dead is much greater than the figure released. "A Journal of the Plague Year Quotes and Analysis". Following my notes (presented in the previous post) on the book A Journal of the Plague Year, which were quite extensive; the following is a categorization of the most significant themes I have discerned from those notes, which are quite concise. The Journal is a tale of his experiences during the plague that afflicted London in 1665; the work is thus fiction but is peppered with statistics, data, charts, and government documents. credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level. Overview. As mentioned previously, Defoe wrote the book in the first person. H.F. observes many people leaving town, with horses and carts 'all hurrying away.' He was single, but he had employees and servants to think of, as well. Instead, as H.F. laments, they gave their money to quack doctors and fortunetellers and suppressed rational thought for a time. Sometimes the pain was so excruciating that people ran about the streets, crazed and screaming. However, the servant panicked and fled before H.F. was ready to leave. "A Journal of the Plague Year Summary". Please provide the lines (type them out) as I do not have a copy with me. - Types & Sources, Michigan's Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs), CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Pass Rates, Anti-Bullying Survey Finds Teachers Lack the Support They Need, Tech and Engineering - Questions & Answers, Health and Medicine - Questions & Answers. The explanations of its origins were mere rumors, and it was difficult to know exactly how it entered the city. The plague was perplexing in nearly all of its particulars to those who lived through it in 1665 London. You can test out of the A Journal of the Plague Year is Daniel Defoe’s novel of the Great Plague of London in 1665, published fifty-seven years after the event in 1722. He kept it on the 'down low' because if anyone complained of being sick, people assumed it was the plague. Historians feel the events portrayed are accurate for the most part, and Defoe obviously made great efforts to inject verisimilitude, or the resemblance to truth, in his narrative. H.F. begins by relating rumors that the plague had come to Holland, and closely follows the bills of mortality. Not affiliated with Harvard College. As for how to protect oneself from the plague, theories abounded. H.F. believed that if it was God's will for him to stay, God would protect him from the plague. just create an account. Create your account, Already registered? A Journal of the Plague Year study guide contains a biography of Daniel Defoe, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. In addition to discussing his own prayer and repentance, he happily reports an increased attendance in church. These set up rules and regulations for the appointment of searchers and examiners and watchmen to guard the houses, for the shutting up of infected houses, and for the shutting down of events in which large groups of people would congregate. However, in May and June the numbers of dead begin to swing upwards and H.F. starts to wonder whether or not he should leave the city. The people looked anxiously to the bills of mortality to confirm their suspicions, and also began to turn to alternative forms of divining whether or not the plague was imminent. All in all, London during the plague of 1665 is meant to be an example to cities worldwide of how to conduct itself during a time of immense tribulation. If reading Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year has made you want to hear more from the people who witnessed the events of 1665 and 1666, you’re in luck. Defoe endeavored to portray a resilient, enduring, and mostly rational London. H.F. tells many stories of how the people of London were affected by the plague. H.F. notes that people often lied about their family members and delayed telling officials when they died, and the city government itself had a vested interest in keeping the numbers somewhat low, both to encourage foreign trade and to keep citizens from becoming even more anxious and crazed. courses that prepare you to earn Lawrence Durrell: Biography, Books & Poems, Quiz & Worksheet - Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year, Over 79,000 lessons in all major subjects, {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}}, Pride and Prejudice: Plot and Character Analysis, Emily and Charlotte Bronte: Sisters and Authors, Wuthering Heights: Plot Overview and Character Analysis, Jane Eyre: Summary, Characters and Analysis, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Literature vs. Film, Introduction to Charles Dickens: Works, Style, and Influence, A Tale of Two Cities: Dickens' Novel of the French Revolution, Dickens' Great Expectations: Plot, Characters, and Social Class, David Copperfield: Dickens' Bildungsroman, Oliver Twist: Plot and Characters in Dickens' Social Novel, Introduction to George Eliot: Life and Major Works, Middlemarch: Eliot's Novel of Provincial Life, Introduction to Daniel Defoe: Biography and Major Works, Jonathan Swift and Satire: Examples and Analysis, Conrad's Heart of Darkness: Plot, Characters, and Style, Introduction to E.M. Forster: Overview of Life and Works, A Passage to India: Forster's Treatment of Colonialism, Charlotte Bronte's Shirley: Summary & Overview, The Lord of the Rings: Summary & Characters, The Life and Death of Cholmondeley Analysis, Biological and Biomedical And here's the link to the London Fictions, http://www.londonlives.org/static/StBotolphAldgate.jsp, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London. Which of the narrators observations moved you the most? The ceaseless Many were buried in mass graves. Throughout the Journal H.F. attempts to praise the citizens of London for their endurance and fortitude during one of the greatest disasters to befall the city in its long history. {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}} lessons Services. It was truly a horrifying disease. Osborne, Kristen. Many Consciences were awakened; many hard Hearts melted into Tears; many a penitent Confession was made of Crimes long concealed... One of the more positive results of the plague returning to London was that it made many people aware of their shortcomings and sins. H.F. observes that while many people are truly grateful for their deliverance and try to live their lives differently, most return to their old, sinful ways and appear to have learned nothing from their trials. In regards to physical suffering, Defoe concentrates on the terrible pain of the swellings on the afflicted person's body.

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