A plague prominently alters people’s way of living on account of sociocultural, economic, and political structures. Daniel Defoe was a journalist, writer, and trader during the advent of the plague in 1665. Defoe authored the Journal of the Plague as a warning and enlightenment quotient to other countries concerning the consequences of the pandemic. Ideally, Defoe (1911) steers the scripting of the book based on journalistic skills to create awareness across the human populace on strategies to exploit during an outbreak fostering a convincing argument. The author’s main point entails the impact of the pandemic on the role of religious beliefs in justifying human behavior and the importance of effective information dissemination.
Daniel Defoe’s main viewpoint of the book involved narrating the devastation caused by the plague to the human population. Defoe writes the book in the form of a memoir to recount the order of events since the death of the first infected person in London based on his journalistic career to render information to the public. At the onset of the infections, the government secretly handled the situations based on medical research activities and investigations. However, in December of 1665, the citizens attained rumors regarding the deaths of individuals from the illness leading to panic and the promptness of the national administration announcing the devastation of the epidemic (Defoe, 1911). The core foundational outlier involved incorporating measures to reduce the spread of the disease while managing the symptoms. At the end of the second year, the majority of the victims recovered from the contagion leading to divergent reactions across the human populace.
The author’s significantly important piece of evidence entails the government statistic reports on a number of infections and deaths. Defoe (1911) articulates the devastation from the plague based on the illustrations of the findings from the analysts and the medical practitioners. Ideally, the author attains an apt objective outlier due to the association of the contagious intensity with the frequency of burials, leading to elevated panic among personnel. Fundamentally, the book renders an adept trickle-down effect based on the occurrence of the events. The author establishes that since the first case of two French men moving to the neighborhood and dying of the sickness, the frequency elevated, as corroborated by statistics provided by the government. The book fosters an impartial overview of the memoirs based on the intersection of core statistical analyses and reports.
A significant interdependent relationship exists between human behavior and the sociocultural, economic, and political environment. Defoe (1911) stipulates that surviving the plague provides an opportunity to show gratitude to God and enlighten society concerning His grace. The author profoundly integrates the proficient journey during the plague with the religious belief construct on the powers of supernatural beings (Defoe, 1911). Transcendentally, Defoe (1911) asserts the thesis under the spectrum of sociological and individual conduct, mainly after victims’ recovery from the illness. The vital insight demonstrates a distinctive, interdependent relationship between social control and the religious practices forming the foundation of a functional civic platform. Therefore, the author’s key purpose is enshrined in demonstrating God’s manifestation based on the relative moral and ethical practice among persons globally.
The book’s argument is convincing due to the apt application of counterevidence demonstrating the effects of the plague. Despite the medical reports used by Defoe (1911) regarding the spread of the disease, the author further utilizes dynamic religious beliefs. Therefore, the writer establishes that the devastation regards two-dimensional contrasts. On the one hand, the rise in infection rates causes a health crisis. On the other hand, Defoe (1911) argues that the plague is a punishment from God due to mankind’s sinful nature. The integration of state reports, the alteration of individual interactions, and the intensity of religious practices contribute to the compelling narrative construct.
Plagues significantly impact the global population on account of the imminent health crisis. Defoe (1911) and Aberth (2011) focus on a similar topical issue concerning the consequences of a pandemic. However, Defoe’s (1911) argumentative construct demonstrates optimal objectivity due to the utilization of government reports to elaborate the level of devastation in contrast to Aberth’s (2011) narrative foundation. Aberth (2011), however, analyses the effect of the various outbreaks based on the dynamic sociocultural, economic, and political environment. Therefore, Aberth (2011) offers divergent insights concerning the different pandemics while Defoe (1911) intensely exploits the events during the plague in 1665 on human behavioral quotient.
There is a profound similarity between Horrox’s (2013) script on the black death with Defoe’s (1911) memoir on the plague. Horrox (2013) keenly associates the effects of the contagion with human agency and, as a consequence, the sinful nature of mankind. In a different continuum, Mosli-Lynch et al. (2022) compare the repercussions of the plague of 1665 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The researchers indicate that one of the crucial advantages of the modern age enshrines the amplified technological advancement. The core distinction between Mosli-Lynch et al. (2022) and Defoe’s (1911) narration entails the comparative mainframe on connectivity among people and informational dissemination. Ideally, the dynamic insights render a critical insight that the extremity of the contagion optimally depends on the level of awareness among individuals.
In conclusion, the book offers in-depth gist that influences human behavior and the sociocultural, economic, and political environment. During an outbreak, the major factor entails information sharing to enlighten the populace concerning the disease. The initiative attributes to adopting effective preventive mechanisms across society while medical practitioners investigate the remedies. Therefore, the core pattern from the dynamic explorations involves appreciating the essence of the supernatural being while upholding transparency during the crisis to improve societal well-being.
References
Aberth, J. (2011). Plagues in world history. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Defoe, D. (1911). A Journal of the plague year: Written by a citizen who continued all the while in London. Dent.
Horrox, R. (2013). The black death. In The black death. Manchester University Press.
Mosli-Lynch, C., & O’Shaughnessy, N. (2022). Pepys’s Plague: How the reaction of the individual, society and the medical profession to the Great Plague of 1665 is similar to our experience of Covid-19. Journal of Medical Biography, 30(2), 95-101.