Christianity, Community and Crisis. A study of Stewart O'Nan's novel "A Prayer for theDying" and the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,7, University of Dusseldorf "Heinrich Heine" (Anglistik II), course: Virus as Political Metaphor, language: English, abstract: How challenging the fulfillment of one's own role in society and the co-occurring responsibilities, as well as weighting up mental well-being against physical health, during an imminent crisis can become, is something the protagonist of Stewart O'Nan's novel "A Prayer for the Dying" becomes painfully aware of. Set a few years after the Civil War, Jacob Hansen has just returned from the war and now holds the office of Sheriff, Pastor and Undertaker in the small Wisconsin town Friendship - he is a dutiful man who takes his roles very seriously. When a deadly epidemic, Diphtheria, starts to spread around the townspeople, Jacob struggles between keeping the town safe and maintaining his sanity, troubled by post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the townspeople are not very compliant and a threatening natural catastrophe further strains Jacob's moral disposition as he has to decide between leaving the sick to die and saving those not struck by disease.

This paper aims to elaborate on how in general diseases may be instrumentalized to fit a certain persons or groups psychological needs, and how especially the question of responsibility, as well as the virological imperative, steers a community's behavior in the face of an epidemic/pandemic. Further, it will discuss the ethical and inner conflicts concerning the measures taken to overcome the threat of a deadly disease. In concern to this, the self as "evil object" will be explained and, inter alia, measures such as isolative quarantine will be discussed exemplarily. Stewart O'Nan's A Prayer for the Dying, as well as recent literature regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will function as analytical basis for this paper. Lastly, I will try to formulate an assessment of the situation's outcome in O'Nan's novel and will provide a short outlook on a possible positive impact the Coronavirus pandemic may have on our society.