12/26/2019 0 Comments New York Better Protected From Influenza Epidemic :: Journalism History Media EssaysNew York Better Protected From Influenza Epidemic NEW YORK--These past few warring years have left the nations of the world in various stages of devastation and destruction, and the world population has been decimated by battles and disease. Here, in New York, we definitely see the outcomes of the war on the economy and industry, and unfortunately, the citizens of New York are also not safe from the deadly Spanish influenza epidemic that has been sweeping the globe. Even though the New York Times reported on August 15, 1918, that there is "no quarantine here against influenza," that was an overly optimistic report. Now the Great War is coming to an end and the Allies are getting closer and closer to victory against the Germans. Even though war casualties hit many Europeans countries hard, something else is spreading around the globe that is leaving behind a much greater trail of casualties. The influenza of the season is a much stronger strain than the one that usually feels like a common cold, and it shows a strange pattern of morbidity. Usually influenza kills infected people who are elderly or young children. The influenza strain of 1918, however, is making victims of people between 20 and 40 years old. As The New York Times reported early in the year German troops fell sick with influenza. This Spanish influenza that affected the troops is called so because it originally affected millions in Spain. Many articles in The New York Times discussed the possibility of the influenza spreading to American and Allied troops through contact with other troops through No Man's Land, but hopes were high that the Americans would not be affected because they were strong and not undernourished. These proved to be false hopes, and now Americans, British and French alike are affected by the Spanish influenza. Here at home in New York, in September of 1918, the Health Commissioner of New York City announced that there was no danger of an epidemic in New York City and people should not worry. Only a few days later in October 1918, more than 800 New Yorkers died in a single day. The Spanish influenza first reached epidemic proportions in Boston earlier this year and then it affected our great New York. What is truly frightening about this horrible epidemic is that people are dying very quickly from the flu.
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The most important aesthetic and philosophical style was developed in the eighteenth century, yet this style did not reach its apex until the nineteenth. With Christian elements and strong moral the movement appealed to the newly wealthy middle classes. The notable increase in prosperity that accompanied the Industrial Revolution was largely based on the accumulative benefits of inexpensive imports for the colonies. This new found affluence and status for the middle-class, has naturally revealed in the types of homes they lived in and the style in which they decorated and ornamented them. Unsure how to begin this new style of living, they chose architecture and furnishings that had previously been only for the aristocracy and the upper class. The critics of high Victorian style, known as the Aesthetic Movement, objected not only to the style and quality of machine-made furnishings but also to the manner in which they were used in the home. The typical middle-class drawing room was crammed full of furniture, fabrics were used in abundance and every available surface was overflowing with knickknacks. Such displays were a means of showing off their new-found cultural interests, prosperity and status. They were also in accord with the fashionable notion that bareness in a room was in poor taste. Victorian Gothic style was zenithed in the mid-nineteenth century by those who yearned to return to the complexity of the skilled craftsmanship and design that prevailed in the Middle Ages.
Architecture in the Middle Ages in northern Europe was based on arches, such as the gable, buttress, and ribbed vault. These houses had roofs that were high and sloping, which were imperative in wetter climates of the north, and inspired the used of decorative elements such as stonework and brick, oriel and lancet windows, or weathervanes. Colonettes rose to these ceilings and eliminated the used of masonry walls, now leaving enough interior room and wall space for windows. Large windows were made of stained glass, in later years portraying religious figures, and the glow of light was said to symbolize “heavenly spiritual light.†These subjects soon passed as the sixteenth century approached with a more classical form of architecture. This style, full of symmetry, rounded arches, and columns, and lacking culture, branded medieval design “barbaricâ€. Now collectively called Victorian the architecture was made up of several main styles. These include Italianate, Second Empire, Stick-Eastlake, and Queen Anne. Facades of Victorian Gothic homes were asymmetrical with steeply pitched roofs. Ethan Frome as A Psychological Novel
     Many authors have tried to convey truths about human behavior and explain the human psyche, often unsuccessfully. Edith Wharton's novel, Ethan Frome, is an example of a novel that succeeds in revealing truths. She fills her characters with nuances that reflect the subconscious and her setting is alive with reflected symbolism. She is able to interpret the characters actions in a way that can relate to all humans. Each word and phrase seems to be chosen so that it reflects a part of the subconscious in the characters. Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is an examination of the human mind, based on her use of setting to reflect emotion, characterization to show human tendencies towards chaos and other psychological aspects of the human mind. In Ethan Frome, Wharton uses the setting to show the feelings and psychology of the characters. Because the tone of the novel is somber and the characters suffer greatly, Wharton used the gothic technique of matching the scenery to the characters emotions. The principal setting of the novel is Starkfield, which is a small farming based community. The houses are mostly several miles from the "center" of town. Richard Worth, a literary critic, says of Starkville, "...even the name suggests utter desolation" (64). The name of the town gives the initial impression of the mindset of the characters: hopelessness. "The New England winter... the physical landscape can reinforce psychic tensions oppressing the people in the community" (McDowell 85). The narrator, Harmon Gow, describes the setting and says, "...the winter set down on Starkfield, and the village lay under a sheet of snow, perpetually renewed from the pale skies"(7). During the entirety of the... ...me is a timeless classic that subtly and creatively lets readers understand the hidden depths of the human mind through psychological aspects present in the novel.  Bibliography Bell, Millicent. The Cambridge Companion to Edith Wharton. New York: Cambridge .....University Press, 1995. Fedorko, Kathy. Gender and the Gothic in the Fiction of Edith Wharton. Tuscaloosa: .....University of Alabama Press, 1995. Goodwyn, Janet Patricia. Edith Wharton: Traveler in the Land of Letters. New York: .....St. Martin's Press, 1990. McDowell, Margaret. Edith Wharton: Revised Edition. Boston: G.K. Hall and .....Company, 1991 Springer, Marlene. Ethan Frome: A Nightmare of Need. New York: Twayne .....Publishers, 1993. Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Penguin Group, 1993. Worth, Richard. Edith Wharton. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. |