SOME PASSAGES FROM THE BOOK
Passage 1: page 247
"It came very warmly into Mind, one Morning, as I was musing on this particular thing, that as nothing attended us without the Direction or Permission of Divine Power, so these Disappointments must have something in them extraordinary; and I ought to consider whether it did not evidently point out, or intimate to me, that it was the Will of Heaven I should not go. It immediately follow'd in my Thoughts, that if it really was from God, that I should stay, he was able effectually to preserve me in the midst of all the Death and Danger that would surround me; and that if I attempted to secure my self by fleeing from my Habitation, and acted contrary to these Intimations, which I believed to be Divine, it was a kind of flying from God, and that he could cause his Justice to overtake me when and where he thought fit."
To justify the occurrence of such tragic events, like the Plague, the people of the time turned to God and nature. They believed that it was something in nature, like a comet, that caused the Plague and also that God had an important role in the Plague's progress.
In the excerpt above, the protagonist, H. F., is deciding to stay in London, even though the Plague has made its way there. He says that it was cause by a divine power and so God must want them to stay, and that if he didn't stay, he'd anger God and would be struck down sometime anyway. In effect, he says that God can force His power and wrath on anyone at anytime He wants; running away from it is useless and, perhaps, is even detrimental.
I thought this passage was particularly interesting because it shows how much of a role God played in the people's lives in the 18th century. Today, God is prevalent in a lot of people's lives, but I think the role He plays is different. Where God in the 18th century was the Supreme Being and was the decider of everything in His follower's lives, today He is still a divine entity, but his followers have more choice as to what is going to happen to them.
This passage also shows the fear of the thought of angering God provoked. H. F. decides to stay in London amidst the dying masses because he is afraid of being punished worse. He'd rather take his chances with getting the Plague than take his chances with angering God. If that isn't power and reverence, I don't know what is.Passage 2: page 253
"This was a mournful Scene indeed, and affected me almost as much as the rest; but the other was awful and full of Terror, the Cart had in it sixteen or seventeen Bodies, some were wrapt up in Linen Sheets, some in Rugs, some little other than naked, or so loose, that what Covering they had, fell from them, in the shooting out of the Cart, and they fell quite naked among the rest; but the Matter was not much to them, or the Indecency much to anyone else, seeing they were all dead, and were to be huddled together into the common Grave of Mankind, as we Poor and Rich went together; there was no other way of Burials, neither was it possible there should, for Coffins were not to be had for the prodigious Numbers that fell in such a Calamity as this."
The "mournful Scene" that this passage eludes to is when a man went to the graveyard following the dead cart and seemed to be ill or mentally disturbed. Actually the man was following the dead cart that held his wife and several of his children. He wanted to spend as much time with them as he could and that included escorting them to their final resting place. The man was not infected or mentally ill, he was just extremely distraught over the loss of his loved ones. After the bodies were casually dumped into the pit, the man cried aloud and fell to the ground. The cart drivers covered the bodies with earth quickly and walked the man to a nearby tavern where the man was known.
I liked this story because it shows real human experience and reaction. I particularly liked this passage because Defoe turns it into a sermon with an imbedded moral. He refers to the scene as mournful, awful and "full of Terror," describing fully the number of dead on the cart and the condition of the 16 or 17 bodies. He speaks as though the dead still had feelings when he said, "but the Matter was not much to them [the dead], or the Indecency much to anyone else, seeing they were all dead. . . ." He talks about the dead bodies personally in that line and he connects everyone else with them. This makes it seem like a sermon.
The part that contains the moral is the last part. I loved how the pit used for a mass grave was called "the common Grave of Mankind." Also, Defoe writes, "for here was no Difference made, but Poor and Rich went together." These are perhaps the most powerful lines in the whole journal. The Plague knows no racial, gender, or ethnic boundaries. It kills anyone and everyone and passes no discrimination on anyone. Here Defoe takes a stab at the class system observed in London; If something as inhuman and "ignorant" as the plague can ignore ones social class, why can't rational, intellectual humans?Passage 3: page 256
"That there were a great many Robberies and wicked Practises commited even in this dreadful Time I do not deny; the Power of Avarice was so strong in some, that they would run any Hazard to steal and to plunder, and particularly in Houses where all the Families, or Inhabitants have been dead, and carried out, they would break in at all Hazards, and without Regard to the Danger of Infection, take even the Cloths off, of the dead Bodies, and the Bed-cloaths from others where they lay dead.
"This, I suppose, must be the Case of a Family in Houndsditch, where a Man and his Daughter, the rest of the Family being, as I suppose, carried away before by the Dead-Cart, were found stark naked, one in one Chamber, and one in another, lying Dead on the Floor; and the Cloths of the Beds, from whence, tis supposed they were roll'd off by Thieves, stoln, and carried quite away."
During the time of the Plague, women who worked as nurses had a bad reputation of abusing the sick they looked after. The nurses were accused of "using them [the ill] barbarously, staving them, or by other Means, hastening their End, that is to say, murthering them." Who's to say whether this is entirely true, but even today we have reports of health care providers abusing their patients, so I believe it could have happened. Then one wonders why they would do such a thing to the people they were supposed to be caring for. During the Plague one could speculate that a major factor that influenced the murdering of patients was that the nurses didn't want to be around the illness for very long. Probably another excuse used is that they were just helping the infected person to escape the pain and humility of an awful and terribly painful death.
I used this excerpt because I think it shows a huge similarity between the culture of the 18th century and ours of the 20th century and the natural behavior if humans. During this time of great suffering and death, people were out seeking their own personal gain. This reminded me of the looting that went on during the Los Angeles riots, or when a large city, like New York, loses power; it's a rare occurrence, but when it happens, looting is rampant. I think Defoe unknowingly stated the impulses of the human condition and every generation's greed and quest for "stuff," and especially their ability to steal it in the midst of a tragedy.
Articles
"Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year "
This article discussed why Daniel Defoe wrote his Journal. The author of the article states that Defoe wrote the piece for monetary gain. The author of the article also examines the use of repetition in the Defoe piece. He actually counts how many times Defoe uses phrases like: as above, I mentioned before, I have spoken of it already, I say, as I may say, that is to say, of which in its Place, of which I shall say more hereafter, I may speak of that again, as I shall take notice of in its proper Place.
Also talked about in the article was what kind of plague struck London in 1665. It was found that the 1665 plague was both pneumonic and bubonic.
The author also touched upon the idea that Defoe had to make some of the information up in his journal. Defoe's Journal was NOT an eye witness account of actual events; it was a fiction piece inspired by stories he had heard from his family and his uncle, Henry Foe. During the plague year of 1665, Daniel Defoe was only about 5 years old.MAIN IDEA OF THIS ARTICLE:
Defoe uses a lot of repetition when explaining/talking about things. This could make the reading audience think he was hedging the issue, fishing for something to say, or not telling the whole truth---which he wasn't.WHY THIS ARTICLE IS IMPORTANT:
Personally, I'm not really sure why this article is important. I don't know why someone would go through a 200+ page piece looking for repetitive phrases like, "I say." This seems foolish to me. What does it prove? That Defoe wasn't telling the truth? That's what his goal was, to tell a story. This piece wasn't meant to be read as non-fiction."Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year Reconsidered"
This article talked about the "trueness" of Defoe's Journal and about the references he used in writing it. The article states that many people at the time didn't know who wrote the Journal and later found out that the main character,
H. F., wasn't the author, Daniel Defoe was, but that H. F. was Defoe's uncle who really had lived through the plague of 1665.
Many people believed that this Journal was fact based and a true story, but that wasn't so. This piece by Defoe is fiction. This article also examined a bit of Defoe's ancestry and their fairing through the Plague.MAIN IDEA OF THE ARTICLE:
Defoe didn't have the first hand knowledge to write this piece and he used other sources for help. This story is totally fictitious and not to be taken as truth.WHY THIS ARTICLE IS IMPORTANT:
People really believed this was an autobiography of someone who had survived the plague of 1665. This article proves it is not nonfiction and also tells about the protagonist Defoe used and where this main character came from. This Journal is a story grounded in truth, but not totally filled with truth.
"Doing the Right Thing With Moll Flanders: A "Reasonable" Difference Between the Picara and the Penitent"
This article talked about Defoe's novel, Moll Flanders. In the article the author calls Moll Flanders a female rogue and because of that, this book is a picara novel, but it is also a conversion story. The author talks about the contrary directions the novel moves in through the application of two forces: 1) Reason 2) Transportation.
The author gets into talking about the religious aspects of the novel and how these aspects lend to the understanding of this to be a conversion piece. Moll uses reason in understanding things and in doing things. At the end, Moll is penitent--this is her conversion from rogue to penitent. Moll repents because she is afraid of death. The author talks a lot about Moll's religious actions, even though she didn't realize they would be interpreted that way--nor did she do them thinking they were religious in nature.
The transportation aspect the author talks about has to do with Moll's transportation to the new world. She's moved from the city of London to the country of Virginia. A parallel to this is that she is moved from poor to rich as she moves to the different places.THE MAIN IDEA OF THE ARTICLE:
Moll Flanders is a Picara novel steeped in religious context. Unknowingly the protagonist is both atheist and devout. Her thoughts speak of religion while her actions voice greed. In the end she's true to herself and penitent.WHY IS THIS ARTICLE IMPORTANT:
This article article gives Moll more dimension and helps her fit into society; It makes her more human and on the people's level; It even makes her more likable.How Does Daniel Defoe Contribute to Understanding 18th Century Literature
- He talks about the Plague and other events that happened during the 18th Century time frame:
- The plague is something that effected the people of Europe. This is sort of a testimony that not everyone succumbs to the evils of the Plague, although the majority do.
- This is a sort of How-To-Live-Out-The-Plague Handbook
- Defoe's style is very readable and very human oriented. He wrote about average people like H. F. and Moll Flanders
- Defoe was a pioneer in the field of novel writing. he was one of the first novelists of the time.
- Defoe's work is very "fact" based, or so it seems
- Defoe uses facts to prove/feign verisimilitude;
- real names of people, streets, places, churches
- uses tables and the true dead bills from the churchesExamples of the tables/dead bills from the text:
The usual Number of Burials within the Bills of Mortality for a Week, was from about 240 or thereabouts, to 300. The last was esteem'd a pretty high Bill; but after this we found the Bills successively encreasing, as follows.Increased
Dec. the 20. to the 27th, Buried 291. ------
27. to the 3 Jan. ------- 349. 58
January 3. to the 10. ------- 394. 49
10. to the 17. ------- 415. 21
17. to the 24. ------- 474. 59(Tillotson 244)
But to return to my particular Observations, during this dreadful part of the Visitation; I am now come, as I have said, to the Month of September, which was the most dreadful of its kind, I believe, that ever London saw; for by all the accounts which I have seen of the preceding Visitations which have been in London, nothing has been like it; the Number in the 22nd of August, to the 26th of September, being but five Weeks, the particulars of the Bills are as follows,
(viz.)From August the 22nd to the 29th 7496
To the 7th of September ------------------ 8252
To the 12th ----------------------------- 7690
To the 19th ----------------------------- 8297
To the 26th ----------------------------- 6460
-------
38195
(Tillotson 259)
Works Cited
Bastian, F. "Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year Reconsidered." Review of
English Studies 16 (1965): 151-173.Caton, Lou. "Doing the Right Thing With Moll Flanders: A 'Reasonable'
Difference Between the Picara and the Penitent." College Language
Association Journal 40 (1997): 508-516.Defoe, Daniel. "A Journal of the Plague Year." Eighteenth Century English
Literature. Ed. G. Tillotson. 1st ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
College Publishers, 1969. 242-261.Ellis, Frank, H. "Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year." Review of English Studies
45 (1994): 76-82.
Academic Year 00-01
07/02/2001
©a.r.e.a. Dr. Vicente Forés López
©Ana Aroa Alba Cuesta
Universitat de València Press