The struggle of rational thinking of science versus the fear of superstition and religion are brought to life in Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year. As the Great Plague ravages 1664 London, Defoe's narrator, a middle-aged bachelor, observes the plague and the citizens of London with impressive, rational sight. He stays in London as the wealthy flee, and watches as the poor turn to faith to fight the disease, whole families are locked up for quarantine, carts and pits of bodies are left open in the streets, and city watchmen and officials take advantage of the situation to pillage and loot.
