"PAPER" (responses to the Black Death reading"
Purpose:
Author- Giovanni
Giovanni is evidently educated yet in this article he does not reference himself as a royal, how much money he has, or his personal place in society. I think Giovanni wrote this article because it was something that he experienced and witnessed with his own eyes. The purpose of writing this was to record an epoch disease and how it made an impact in the world. This article was written in order to state the causes and why this disease broke out, the events that took place, and the aftermath and how it affected future societies. The author is at stake because of his bias opinion, however any author and any piece of history has a bias, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The author does have a thesis, which I think is, "In the mid-fourteenth century, an outbreak of bunion plague spread rapidly across Europe from east to west. The Black Death was a social catastrophe that tore communities apart. The tearing of communities was referenced a lot in this article and how groups of people were isolated and destroyed.
Argument:
This text is trying to factually and fairly express what happened in Europe many years ago. In this article it talks about what the bubonic plague is and how the disease works, how it affected people and their placed in society, and how those people reacted and responded to such an epidemic. The text makes its case by showing and not telling that when chaos breaks out people are significantly more frantic and less able to make important decisions. Also, the negative responses from this disease only made things worse. I get a good sense that Giovanni executed his goal in trying to explain that because of all the details and knowledge that Giovanni expressed. The intended audience for this piece of writing is most likely anyone who did not experience the Bubonic Plague first hand. People who did know what happened and who were living in those moments either physically felt the pain and affects, or know what happened and have their own set of opinions. It was intended for that sort of audience because people who did not experience it should can learn what to do and what not to do in a situation like that, which is something anyone can take away from reading this article. The author made one point that was not clearly stated which was how some people lived "neutrally" while all of this was happening, meaning they were not super worried and didn't hide in their houses, but they didn't smile through life and remain joyful at every second either. I think this idea is unclear and very vague. If this thought were to be in detail the author would tell us how those "neutral" people interacted with others, if they lived separately from those with different approaches on life, and how and why they were not as affected as others. This author is reliable and credible because he described how he legitamently saw a dead man in the street, and watched two pigs go over to that dead man and take the rags and clothes off of that man, and only a few minutes later those pigs dropped dead on the floor. This specific scene shows how fast the plague spread and how severe it was. Obviously there are opinions in this article, but the amount of facts dominates the amount of opinion which is why I know this is reliable and truthful.
Presuppositions:
The ideas and values in this source differ from those values in our age. The way they treated those got sick back then is very different than the majority of people would treat and interact with sick people today. During the outbreak of the plague people avoided the sick, did not visit them, plus there was minimal decent medicine. On the other hand, today we have quality medicine and way more technology and we do not avoid people when they are sick we help them and visit them as much as possible. Additionally, during the Black Death in Europe people isolated themselves and decided to free their worries in their lives and simply "drink and laugh" constantly. This differs from society today because it is not that easy, meaning at this point in time there are too many distractions and things to worry about that that would not realistically happen. I assumed and interpreted that everyone in Europe and near there was completely and utterly aware of what was happening. A lot of times when something like this happens we don't realized how important and how horrifying it was until we stop and look back on it. This false assumption probably changed the way I read things in this article. There are things in America, even in Chicago, that happen which I do not always know about, so I can't assume that everyone knew what was happening and how serious it truly was.
Epistemology:
One interpretation and opinion that Giovanni expressed was how most of the lower class and big portion of the middle class were "pathetic" because they chose to stay in their homes hoping to stay safe. First of all, placing the title on the lower class and middle class is not fair because "the lower class" is not one person or one type of people and within the "lower class" live many different people with many different opinions and choices. Also, to place an adjective like pathetic on someone clearly shows it is an opinion. One fact that was presented in this article is that the disease spread through touching, talking, and simply interacting with people. I know that this is true because of the results of the disease- how many people ended up getting it, and how many people died. I don't think people would exaggerate a fact like this and it makes sense with all of the other context and facts throughout the article.
Relate:
(no other article to relate to)
No comments:
Post a Comment