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 88-144Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Pages 88-108 Summary
The narrator elaborates on the city’s unpreparedness. He explains that, with the advent of the plague, most of the city’s non-essential business ceases, from manufacturing to shipping to construction. Deprived of their work by the exit of the upper class and the cessation of trade, the poor are as likely to die by starvation as by the plague. He notes that the poor might have turned to riot and looting if not for the charity of the wealthy; the lack of provisions even in the home of the wealthy; and public measures to employ them as watchmen for shut-up houses.
By September, 30,000 to 40,000 of the poor died, relieving the city from the “unsufferable Burden” (95) of supporting them. The narrator goes on to talk about the progress of the plague more generally, speculating that, while official estimates named less than 70,000 dead, he believes more than 100,000 had died. He notes that many of the ill went out into the country and died in the fields. As the plague increased in intensity, people became so cautious as to even refuse to pick up a wallet in the street. Supporting this point, he tells the tale of a poor man who lives on his boat, delivering provisions to several families that have taken to living on ships. His ill wife and children depend on his trade, and he regularly leaves them money and supplies. The narrator himself gives the man his money, noting that he “parted with no Money all that Year, that [he] thought better bestow’d” (106). He convinces the man to take him aboard his boat, and they go to Greenwich together, observing several hundred boats sheltering families.
Page 109-144 Summary
The narrator suggests that even those on the boats may be infected, noting that as the death toll rose in the west of the city, many believed they would be insulated to the plague and failed to take precautions when the plagued reached its height in September and October. At this time, horrors increased: mothers killed their children while raving and passed the plague to their infants. He begins to narrate a story about a group of three men—John the Biscuit Baker, Thomas the Sail-maker, and a Joiner—who went to great lengths to escape the plague. In July, John and Tom, who were brothers, were both concerned about being turned out of their lodging-houses; John compares them to the “Lepers of Samaria” (120) as they own no land and would be accepted nowhere in the country due to the threat of illness. They joined with the Joiner to venture off into the countryside, planning to combine their skills to make a tent and camp out every night.
As they camped one night in a barn, they met another group of Londoners fleeing the city and decided to join forces. Together, they arrived at Walthamstow, where the people refused to admit them. When the Constable called out to John, John negotiated that they would leave if they were given provisions. He implied that their group was much larger than it was to receive additional bread. After departing, the group split and tried to camp near several villages. All had heard rumors of a group of 200 threatening to storm Waltham and spread the plague. The group reunited in the woods, and this time was given charity by some townspeople and a wealthy Justice of the Peace. However, as time went on, they realized the countryside was becoming just as infected as the city. They camped out in an abandoned barn, combining their talents at construction, and survived until December, when they returned to the city.
Pages 88-144 Analysis
The narrator thinks at length about individual responsibility in the face of the plague. He presents the poor as somewhat of a burden on society during the best of times, and an outright threat during the worst of times. Although he expresses sympathy for poor Londoner’s lack of access to supplies and work, he states that without charity and the poor preparedness of the rich, they would undoubtedly loot, steal, and even murder to survive. He thus implies that their deaths by the plague are somewhat of a relief. While the narrator admonishes the careless, he continues to narrate his own experiences going out and conversing with others.
However, the narrator tells the stories of two poor families that find a way to survive the plague. In a book filled with overheard anecdotes, the length of these two suggests their exemplarity and importance in the narrator’s view. The first anecdote is of the boatman who provides for his family by sailing to and from country towns, delivering their wares to other families who have anchored on ships to escape the plague. The man’s dedication, as well as his self-quarantine from his sick wife and children, moves the narrator.
The second is the anecdote of the three men John, Tom, and the Joiner who band together with other escaped Londoners to camp in the woods. He views their behavior as unimpeachable and instructive, even though part of their strategy is to mislead the residents of towns as to the size and danger of their party in order to extort supplies. Their self-sufficiency at any cost impresses the narrator. While he is a Christian who believes that men should treat each other well, he seems to think that, in this case, the townspeople who refuse charity deserve to be deceived into giving supplies.
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By Daniel Defoe
