A Journal Of The Year By David Defoe Analysis

There are many stories about the terrible and horrific plague. A Journal of the Plague of the Year is a story that reflects it. Daniel Defoe was the writer of the story. Also, he experience the plague. Luckily, he didn't get infected with it and therefore was able to write about the incidents caused by it. The story takes place in London, England. The setting itself is very dark and gloomy, and from the story one gets a feeling of creepiness and spookiness. With this story Defoe wanted to create a moving, realistic portrayal of the suffering caused by the plague. Defoe's portrayal of the suffering is seen throughout the entire piece. One part of the story that demonstrates this is the section that talks about a man watching the bodies being thrown into the ditch. This man has lost his wife and children because of the plague and as described by Defoe's writing it has a horrific sight as one could see the masses of bodies being dumped one on top of the other from a cart. Due to Defoe's curiosity, as stated in various occasions on the story, he went to the ditches because he was curious to see what the plague could do to people. Defoe wanted to show the horrific things that people were facing in their everyday life. The character in the story is also fazed with deciding if he should stay …show more content…
This is shown through the story in various occasion. Some occasions are the ditches, parishes, and watchmen. The author used a character that had to chose between leaving or staying. The character decided to stay and help people. He tended to go to the ditches to see the burials and had the occasion to see a man react to their family being buried. This was rare because people weren't allowed near the ditches. This occasion was one of the key elements in this story that made it clear that this was a portrayal of the suffering people were facing because of the