Introduction-+Dear+Reader


 * Dear Reader, **

 The topic of this project is the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918-1919. I chose this topic because of my love for science, especially topics involving biology or medicine. Immediately after the criterion of this project was explained, I set my sights on a medicine related topic. I browsed through endless lists of grotesque disease before finally deciding on a top three. At one point, my choices were between smallpox, the Bubonic Plague, or Spanish Flu. What made Spanish Flu stand out to me was the fact that the other diseases were compared to Spanish Flu, as if this disease was the benchmark for an ideal pandemic. The number of lives taken by this flu left a significant impact on the world of medicine and on the course of history. The fact that this flu killed the most people in a year really drew me in, and made this my research topic.

As an avid science fiction reader, I am always interested in what science has to offer. Throughout the journey of conducting research, I was constantly reminded of references in movies. In certain website articles, I thought back to science fiction movies I watched and recalled the mentioning of Spanish Flu. In a way, I was motivated by the fact that I wanted to know about the plots involving Spanish Flu. This motivation made it easier for me begin crafting this project together. During the prerequisite research, I was fascinated and struck by what this disease was capable of. Often, this pandemic, or world-wide disease, was described of being capable to kill millions more.

This project begins with a journal entry by a retired doctor who writes about what he reads in newspapers concerning the disease. He resides in the countryside, at low risk of exposure to the disease. I initially thought to have a medical journal as a repeated element, though sometimes, they can be hard to read and interpret. A journal entry, I decided, would fit the message of this project better instead, and with it, there were more opportunities to add creative thought. The death toll is given at the end of each entry, in which there are three in the project. A timeline is the first genre that shows you, the reader, where and when the disease progressed from and to. With a sense of how the outbreak played out, a narrative proceeds telling the story of Ester Florence, a young nurse who works in the flu ward of a hospital. You will learn more about work conditions in the narrative. A poster follows as the third genre to inform you about the symptoms of the disease as if you were a person in the 1910’s seeing the poster on the deserted streets. Another journal entry will be written by the doctor and progresses the disease along to the end of 1919. An almanac entry gives details about the disease and what caused it. This genre contains the miscellaneous, yet important facts about the disease, and it is in this genre where I hope the reader thinks back to the introduction and the message of this project. The final genre is a dialogue between a grandfather and his two grandchildren. It offers retrospective view of life during the disease. I was inspired by an interview with a man who actually lived through the outbreak. This genre was inspired by that research. The final journal entry was written years after the end of the disease and offers the doctor’s final thoughts. In his entry, there are certain elements that express some of my opinions, and can be traced back this introduction. The last lines of the project are a total death toll. Though somber, I felt this would leave the reader feeling the emotions felt by people during the outbreaks. There is uncontrollable darkness in the world, and knowing the death toll is only a taste of it. A bibliography then gives credit to the research links I used.

After many weeks of working on this project, I have come to realize how fragile humanity is. With a single pandemic or world war, uncontrollable repercussions can end up with the deaths of fractions of the world population. Certain genres within this project are meant to inform about what happened with the virus between 1918 to 1919. Others are meant to show what it may have been like to live during that time period, offering a personal side to something so scientific and straightforward. One genre in particular has the purpose of showing what I took most from this project, which was humanity’s weakness. Our most fatal flaw proves to be the evolutionary weak link. Often times, humans think they are the most evolved. But everyone once in a while, nature must keeps us of our place. Events such as the Spanish Flu show that we, humans, are not invincible. When the savage presence of illness takes over, it leads us down a dangerous path, where uncertainty lies with ever step taken along the uncharted path.

__The Road Not Taken__ by Robert Frost is a poem that conveys a similar message to what I took from this project. The poem describes Frost as he makes the decisions between two roads, and reveals that he took the road less traveled by. Despite the element of the unknown, he trusted himself, and led him down the road that made all the difference. What I learned from Spanish Influenza and this project relates well with this poem. The outcome of an uncontrollable disease such as Spanish Flu cannot be predicted: random events dictate resulting outcomes. As seen in the poem, uncertainty causes decision making to be difficult. However, the paths we take in times of crisis determine who we are as people. Knowledge and resources can offer a nation great advantages, the upper hand. Great choices then arises: to help those who are defensiveness, or to sustain one’s existence as is. Ultimately, from what I learned, humans are weak when it comes to pandemics and there is little we can do escape certain demise. However, it is what we do in times of distress that dictate who we are. One could chose the path of self-defense, mankind’s most primitive state where we are fueled by the hope of survival. The alternative is the path less traveled by, in which we could chose to be altruistic and save each other while risking our own lives. Doctors risked their own lives to help flu victims a hundred years ago. This compassion makes us human, which sets us as a species apart. I find this to be a compelling idea and choice, a thought of deep thinking. I hope that you find this thesis to be as absorbing as I do, and hope that you keep it in mind as you learn more about Spanish Influenza. Please interpret the following project in whichever way you please.


 * Sincerely, **
 * Allison Law **