Summary Of The Plague Barbara Tuchman

Topic/Thesis: The main idea of this essay is to recall the events and horrors of the Black Death. This is the plague that ravaged the world from 1347 to 1352 (History.com Staff). Tuchman describes the journey of the pestilence and how it affects each country and their individual cities. Tuchman also specifically gives the death tolls of major cities and different groups that were affected. She demonstrates how the plague that struck Europe and other parts of the world resulted in filth, fear and chaos. This essay discusses and reports various personal accounts to the disaster of the Black Death. Tuchman clearly defines what forms the plague came in and how it affected different areas. She also describes the emotional and social consequences. She lays out the facts about the plague and the effects it had on the world as well as individual families and people. Tuchman also points out victims that belonged to the upper class during that time such as Queen Jeanne and historian Giovanni Villanni (296-297). In this she shows how the plague killed people of all kinds to distress the brutality of the plague.

Author: Barbara Tuchman was a writer and historian during the 1960s (Barbara Tuchman).

She won the Pulitzer Prize twice during her lifetime (Barbara Tuchman). Se described her writing motives as "the object is--or should be--to hold the reader's attention” (Nordquist). She “vividly illustrates the terrifying symptoms of the plague that came to be known as the Black Death” (Nordquist). Her role as a historian and writer in this instance is to allow the reader to understand the Black Plague and personally feel what it was like to live during that tragedy. Tuchman reinforces her credibility when doing so as she cites specific statistics and anecdotes of that

time.
Intended Audience: Tuchman is recalling the terrifying facts and feelings of the plague. She had to gather information before writing this article due to the fact that she has no firsthand accounts herself since she lived during the 20th century. Due to the fact that she is writing about this tragedy centuries later suggests that she is intending for an audience that has perhaps forgotten about the Black Death, or is ignorant to the matter. Her audience is extensive due to the fact that this was written centuries after the Black Death and no one alive has a first hand account. More specifically, her audience was most likely students or historians who are studying or researching the Black Death.

Purpose(s): Tuchman’s purpose is to clearly lay out all of the facts about death tolls and individual experiences during the plague. She is bringing awareness to this tragedy that happened centuries ago. Due to the plague’s effects becoming outdated, she is bringing the personal horrifying accounts of how devastating the Black Death was. She is spelling out the important points of how this plague ravaged the world to remember all the facts and effects. She not only gives the facts but also remembers the mentality during the time. She also points out how society responded to the plague that helps the reader understand how devastating the plague was.
Appeal(s): Tuchman’s method of appealing to the reader was by ethos, or emotional means. She appeals to the readers fear and chaotic emotions of massive widespread death and sickness. She gives personal accounts of families turning on each other and mothers burying all their children (Tuchman 294-295). This puts the reader in the place of these victims and they start to wonder how they would handle a situation like that. Tuchman describes the morality of society during that time by noting “A father did not visit his son; nor the son his father. Charity was dead” (295). This appeals to the readers humanity and it shocks the reader that society could become that distant and devastated. This is the main appeal and purpose of Tuchman’s essay. This is to recount the devastation of the Black Death so that the reader feels the effects of that time.