The outbreak of Covid-19 brings the fantastic into the non-fiction. In this class, we discuss the fantastic and scary aspects of stories, not our current state. According to the CDC, the number of cases was 4,226 on March 16th for the United States. Today, March 18th, the number is 9,345. World wide the virus has infected 219,228. If this was from a story read in class, it would be seen as fantastic because of the numbers and how infectious it is. In our class discussion on “Smack,” we discussed the number of jellyfish that would have to be stranded on a beach before that number became fantastic; this virus is, in a way, an extension of that conversation, just in our world and not on the page. Life as we know it has stopped. Church services have been canceled, schools closed, and families separated and isolated. Human lives have become devalued in a way.
Another aspect that leans towards the fantastic is that everyone is saying, “It only kills the elderly and people with underlying health issues,” as if those people don’t matter and that outcome is, therefore, acceptable. We have discussed in class how it seems impossible to us that the people in the society would accept the fantastic as if it wasn’t odd. The idea that some people will die and others don’t seem to care reminded me of Farquaad in Shrek. “Some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to take.” Others go out into the world carrying this virus with the mentality that the majority who catch it will live; this view is inconsiderate, and it’s unfortunate that it is widely accepted. It is not words of comfort as it dehumanizes and devalues anyone with even a minor health issue.
Covid-19 seems pulled from a story and thrown onto our everyday lives. This is a pandemic taken straight from a novel.
I hadn’t thought about the numbers of cases as fantastic, but you bring up a really good point about it. I’m not going to expand on that because when I started to I felt my chest constricting.
If the recent casual eugenics (I hate to sound callous but a spade’s a spade) toward the immunocompromised had been in one of our stories, how do you think we would have talked about it in class? Do you think it even would have made it to the table for discussion, or do you think it would have gone ignored?
Best,
Rachel
I, personally, would have been angered by a story with such casual eugenics of the immunocompromised. I would have a lot to say about a story that takes such a heavy thing and throws it into the casual as my entire family has something (my mom has asthma, my dad had heart issues and smokes). That what scares me so much about this virus. I talked about the numbers because talking about anything else brings tears to my eyes. I hope it would be put on the table to discuss as it’s not a small thing.
Sometimes it takes us to see a statistic with growing numbers in order to take it seriously. Although in comparison to how many people are on this earth? It’s not that much. (for now)
I think the worst part is that we do need to see the rising numbers to take it seriously. The “well, it isn’t someone I know” mentality is truly terrifying to me. I think we should definitely work on changing that as a society because that isn’t a healthy way to think of pandemics like this.
This pandemic in modern society is odd… everything about COVID-19 makes me feel like I’m living in a different world. I find that I’m not sure what to do with myself even though the possibilities are endless, I think finding that motivation to create a mock version of “business-as-usual” is very difficult especially for someone who thrives on having a full schedule.
I am the same way with “business-as-usual,” I am constantly doing or hanging out with people, but now because of covid-19 I am isolated in my house and rapidly running out of things to do besides homework. I hope we will be back in April and we can get back to the schedule we had prior to this pandemic.
The callous responses of many people as they continue to do as they please definitely felt fantastic to me at first; if I were to read about it in a fantastic novel or short story, I would probably think to myself that people in real life would be much more considerate. This virus has challenged many of my ideas about human behavior, and I am not looking forward to how many more of these ideas might be proven wrong.
I’m so glad I’m finding other people who are just as shocked at the callousness at the people around us. People who are preaching “Some are gonna die, its inevitable, nothing we can do about it so business as usual” are really driving me crazy. I have no idea how to explain to these people who are buying everything stores have and taking their spring vacations as planned that they should care about the people who don’t have as strong immune systems. It’s impossible to teach empathy to adults and now I’m realizing how few were taught as kids.