30 pages • 1 hour read
Daniel DefoeA Journal Of The Plague Year
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1722A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Pages 186-238Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Pages 186-207 Summary
The narrator pushes back on the idea that the plague is spread through the air and insists that sick people who believe themselves to be well in fact mostly spread it: “[T]he best Physick against the Plague is to run away from it” (90). He shares two such cases that prove his point: fathers and mothers who killed their whole families, and people who felt only a lack of appetite until they found “Tokens” (90), or gangrenous flesh, on their bodies. The narrator does wonder how the disease spread so slowly at first, and notes that it must have an incubation period of longer than sixty days. Nonetheless, he once again blames carelessness—especially on the part of the poor—for spreading the disease. He returns to the cessation of trade, noting that other countries refused to receive shipments from London, and that rumors made the plague out to be even worse than it was. While London floundered, however, other English ports absorbed some trade in coal and corn until they were struck, too.
Pages 208-238 Summary
The narrator returns to several other rumors about the plague: one being that burning coal and keeping oneself continuously hot fought off the infection. He notes that he used this method himself. This kept the coal trade strong; however, the fire of 1666 would decimate the city’s economy even further. Despite this blow, the narrator begins to look for God’s mercy in the plague. He views the decreasing death toll in Western London as a sign of divine providence. However, he condemns the common people for appreciating this intervention too little and becoming even more careless in their behavior.
While there was a brief relapse of the plague, it was no longer as fatal in the final months of 1665. As the wealthy returned, the city resumed its old ways, including its old divisions. Several new burial grounds opened around the city. The narrator again decries those who fled the city, especially the clergy, and thinks with gratitude of those who stayed and sacrificed themselves for the good of others. He notes that many who tried to protect others died, but reiterates that the evil (frauds, astrologers, etc.) died in greater proportion. He ends his account by stating “nothing but the immediate Finger of God” (234) could have stopped the plague. While some ignored God’s blessing and acted against their own best interests—“purging” their houses with smokes and incense and in the process burning them down, or giving up all caution—the narrator is grateful for his own preservation.
Pages 187-238 Analysis
As the narrator narrates the end of the plague, he blames its spread on people and derides their superstition. He notes that the rampant spread of the plague is not a curse from God that infects the very air, nor a revelation of man’s wickedness, but rather his carelessness: by failing to take precautions, individuals unknowingly kill their families and themselves. He does not remark on his own incautiousness in visiting his brother’s house and conversing with others to receive news.
While the plague is a sign of God’s judgment, the narrator is also certain that God ended the plague as well. He has explained how quickly the plague spreads, and how difficult it is to detect; he surmises that God must have weakened the illness. Of course, in the narrator’s account, the people misunderstand this weakening—they abandon all caution and go back to their old lives, including their own immoral behavior, rather than thanking God with appropriate conduct. He is thus disappointed that the plague has not had a deeper impact on men’s character and treatment of one another.
While condemning the other people of the city, the narrator shares little detail about how the plague reshaped his relationship with his fellow man. Throughout the text, he shares few of his own interactions, and the conclusion is much the same. He thanks God for his own preservation and leaves his journal as a source for information about survival for future generations.
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By Daniel Defoe
