A Journal Of The Plague Year

How does the narrator evaluate the practice of shutting up houses? How does his opinion change or evolve over the course of the plague, and of the novel? What would he recommend for future generations?

The narrator shares many anecdotes of misery and death, including those that focus on the relationships between children and parents. Choose two such anecdotes and consider what this reveals about parents’ responsibility to their child and about the spread of the plague.

How does charity help the city function during the plague? What charitable impulses or actions does the narrator demonstrate?

Why does the narrator follow a bereaved man back to Pye Tavern? What does he learn in his confrontation with that man’s neighbors? How does this experience change or confirm his view of human nature?

What is instructive about John the Biscuit Baker’s behavior during the plague? Why does the narrator elevate his tale as exemplary and narrate it at such great length? What are John’s strategies? What lies or exaggerations does he tell in order to survive?

The narrator acknowledges that many of the stories he relays may not be true. Why does he see it necessary to share them? How does he evaluate a story’s veracity?

What does the narrator think of human nature? What is his position on what causes human divisions and what allows people to unite?

The narrator compares the plague to the London fire of 1666. How are the events similar, and how are they different?