Unity (1918) and the Evolution of Disease Essay

mavin (1918) and the exploitation of Disease - Essay ExampleThe evolution of the affection itself (and, indeed, any malady) unfolds in much the same guidance as the action in Unity, with mass going through biological and psychological reactions to the illness, as the people in the town react to the disease itself. The purpose of this paper is to explore the standardizedities between the way a disease evolves and how the community evolved in reaction to Spanish Influenza. The community of Unity went through several changes from paranoia and charge to blame and devastation, as a disease would. The action in Unity relies on an infection metaphor in a number of ways. In the play, Kerr uses the small town itself as a representation of the Canadian national front with the influenza itself representing a German invader, as in the just-ended First World War. The worship of the disease is similar to the business organization of the enemy, an interesting topic considering the histori cal setting of the play. Biologically, most people shake up a fear of becoming ill, and a save fear of death. The Spanish Influenza was likely to knock down because of its virulent nature, and the fear of death here can be found in both the fear of invasion and the fear of disease. It is interesting that Kerr here combines the infection metaphor with the historical context to add further depth to the play. Infection and war have truly similar ways of manifesting themselves, usually becoming worsened without action. The war is a useful backdrop for an infection metaphor, because it highlights the similarities between the two. In Unity the inhabitants of the community fend for against the infection in very militaristic terms, using expressions such(prenominal) as take up weapons system. In the medical world, similar lexis is used when considering how to competitiveness disease we fight an infection, and kill a fever. As an illness manifests itself, medicine becomes more(prenom inal) useful to combat the disease, and as a war starts, it is necessary to combat the enemy. Kerr uses these similarities very wisely, particularly by bringing in a third concept of combat centred on the town of Unity and their attitudes towards the Spanish flu, intricately using all three concepts in a similar way. The town of Unity, before the disease hits, has a fear and a paranoia of the Spanish Influenza, even going to such lengths to ban trains from stopping in the town and going to extreme lengths to prevent the spread. This can be comp ard to the more modern paranoia about the AIDS epidemic. In this case, many people that have no connection to the disease have a fear of catching it, which is a similar reaction to many diseases. Before Unity has any direct contact with the Spanish flu, extreme measures are taken to prevent the disease. There are a number of actions by governments worldwide to instil fear about the AIDS epidemic, too, which is metaphorically very similar to t he actions taken by the town of Unity in reaction to the Spanish flu. It has been shown that fear of disease is one of the most common fears surrounding an epidemic (Mast, 1998), so Kerr uses this similarity wisely and accurately. The character Beatrice explains this surmount The town has been quarantined. Not because of illness but because of fear of illness. The first member of the community to giving up ill is Michael, a non-local. The treatment of Michael completely changes when Unity finds out he has the Spanish flu, he is toughened like