Reflection & Discussion Questions

• Were you left with any questions stemming from Barry’s remarks?
• One of the things we saw in the Decameron, is that Boccaccio describes the lockdown in a very clinical way. Can you describe what lockdown looks like for you in your location?
• Comment on a specific detail from the lockdown that is reflected from the lectures
• Now that the lockdown has started to ease, what are some observations that you’ve had about yourself? About the world?
• Plague literature reveals incongruities between class and social stratification, what is it about pandemics that unveil societal construct that up until the affliction we are willing to ignore?
• History has much to teach us about the spread of this invisible enemy. Scientists and writers have predicted that another epidemic was bound to come, and yet lawmakers, politicians and the general public seem to be caught unawares to the extent to which a pandemic can affect us. Why are we so quick to ignore the past lessons from history and literature. 
•  Surviving a plague gives us a heightened sense of being mortal. But the way in which people deal with the lock down are quite different. From living in isolation and austerity (stocking up on toilet paper etc) to living to all sorts of excess and overindulgence. What can literature reveal about the polarity of human response?
• Please share a specific detail from Boccaccio’s description of the plague that corresponds to your experience of COVID-19.
• What was the emotional experience like when you moved from the Introduction to the First Story of the reading?
• Was there anything cooked up by the young people in the reading that is helpful to you in managing the psychological experience of COVID-19?