So after reading the first assignment of Pale Horse Pale Rider and the article about the pandemic that broke out in 1918, I can’t help but realize how absolutely tragic it is that a deadly new flu swept the world and took so many lives from the generation that was already exterminated and destroyed by the war, shortly before said war was about to loosen its grip on humankind. The fact that soldiers and nurses could’ve survived the war only to come home and shortly thereafter contract the illness and die, or have to watch a loved one die, is so devastating.

Anyway, this got me thinking about what I’ve learned in my psych classes about how mental health can affect physical health and vice versa. Specifically, chronic stress is soooo bad for one’s immune system, like genuinely terrible. Clearly, everyone in the U.S. and most European countries was under severe, long-lasting stress during this war. By 1918, humankind was simply exhausted, and I think this played a major role in the successful attack of the influenza (along with the spread of germs via soldiers living in unsanitary conditions and the lack of food across nations, etc.) Not only were people depleted physically, but mentally as well. Hope for an easy victory was lost at this point, and the horrors of combat broke people down.

Through Miranda’s perspective of the home front, we see not only despair and anxiety but also attempts to deny the dark reality of war, feelings of inferiority in men who can’t fight, and a general numbness/dissociation of American society. All of these are similar to symptoms of depression. I definitely think Miranda has depression, but to me, it also seems to be a societal experience at this time. Along with the chronic stress, I say this played a huge part in the ravage of the influenza. Yes, the conditions brought upon by the war and the improper handling of it made it harder to eradicate, but the hopelessness and the low spirits and the deep, deep sadness of the world ultimately made it easier for the influenza to kill people.