What does each diary contribute to our historical understanding of their respective plague event? What do plague diaries allow us to see that other kinds of historical sources do not?

Historical analysis of excerpts

For the Midterm Essay you will read and complete a historical analysis of excerpts from three plague diaries of eyewitnesses to the Plague of Athens (Thucydides), Black Death in 17th century England (Samuel Pepys) and Covid-19 in 21st century Wuhan, China (Fang Fang). These diaries will be made available to you.

The paper must address the following questions:

Which elements – in terms of narrative story-telling devices and themes – do they have in common? What does each diary contribute to our historical understanding of their respective plague event? What do plague diaries allow us to see that other kinds of historical sources do not?