Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year: Images of Philanthropy in Times of Crisis

Abstract

Daniel Defoe’s “A Journal of the Plague Year” has challenged readers who want to categorize the work. It is written as a journal of a plague survivor and has appeared to some as a factual account of what the narrator saw and to others who see it as a work of fiction, the consensus of most readers. But for both kinds of readers, the narrator is central to their experience of the novel. Although representing himself as a simple recorder of events with an occasional reflection included, the narrator becomes for readers a complex and compelling character. Some of his most fascinating facets emerge as responses to the plague and the conflicts he addresses as he encounters situations that require his help. His reactions to these opportunities for philanthropic acts constitute a pattern of moments for the narrator, and for his readers, to reflect on how to help in a time of crisis.