The Black Death PAPER

Purpose: To sustain Renaissance/Florentine culture by writing (he is a humanitarian) and documenting the spread, symptoms, and societal effects which the Black Death had on society and culture. The writer was incredibly passionate about having his current living style maintain its prevalence, order, and stability throughout the times following the Black Death, but throughout the passage, he makes it become clear how devastating, changing, and potent this disease was, and that his loved culture was destroyed into pieces as death, devastation, and chaos swept the population.

Argument: To point out the devastation in Florence caused by this disease, in an effort to make people feel sympathetic for his wants and needs, and to improve society as humanity is degrading. He makes his case clearly and powerfully as he describes the several difference approaches which citizens of Florence took to escape, accept, and fight the deadly disease. He also states how there was minimal support that people could use and seek when in need, as society was extremely developed in humanitarian areas of life, yet there was not much medical knowledge and advancements, so people were left with instinct, something which lead many down a poor path.

Presupposition: The writer, writing with a cultural edge, presumes that the readers understand the significance of culture in Florentine society, as well as how all the advancements which were made during the time period allowed humanity to reach new levels, but fall short medically (implying for extensive medical knowledge to be implemented in society following this pandemic). He also did not realize the extreme contrast in Florentine society during the 1300‘s which would develop (somewhat) as a result of this pandemic; not expecting such a drastic change in medical understandings and implications in society over time, the author did not realize how readers, perhaps in Florence today, would view this differently than if it were read a few years after it was written. As the difference presents difficulty to fully understand the importance and relevance of what is being said, the contrast between today and then was not presumed by the author, allowing us today to miss significant points and values which he expresses.

Epistemology: In comparison to the secondary source we read (textbook) about the Black Death, this source provides a much more vivid, emotional, and passionate response, providing more detail, perspective, but also more biased/room for interpretation according to the reader-author relationship. Although, this text does support the drastic effects, changes, and consequences which the disease had on humanity as described in the textbook, but this source focuses in on a specific area geographically and culturally speaking, detailing about the effects as seen by Florentines and humanitarians. From this text, one thing that we learn that is indisputable and cannot be interpreted as different, is the prevalent effect that this disease had on humanity, and how it forced humanity to question its very own humanity, assessing the situation off of a non-human point of view, as something of this proportion had never been thought of our death with before in human history.

Relate: Repeated pattens in both the textbook and this primary source include the progression of how humanity approached, dealt with, and viewed the entire spectrum of the pandemic. But more historically speaking, patterns of the corruptness of mankind, the environment, and culture emerge from both sources, as one can clearly understand that the Black Death was a result of the imbalance and interfered relationship which humans held with the environment as well as one which humans held with themselves and aspects of their lives (such as culture). These patterns of relationships have appeared several times in both readings, emphasizing the significance of the consequence which the disease made on human history and the way mankind moved forward from the first symptom which showed up.