ENGL 4310

So, I know that I have already done one blog on “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” but I felt that this was a separate enough thought process to merit its own blog.

The title of “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” is obviously a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Death is the pale rider of the pale horse according to the book of Revelation. The title gave me a thought. We can see three of the Four Horsemen within “Pale Horse, Pale Rider.” (I am not including the fourth rider since he is subject to debate as to who/what he is.) I thought I would talk about the influence of the other Horsemen within the world of the story.


The Red Horse.

The rider of the Red Horse is War. After the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand an epic domino-effect drew countries into the war because of various treaties between all of the European States. This is one of the main reasons why the first World War was fought. World War I occurred from 1914 until 1918 when the Allied Powers signed an armistice with Germany. In 1919 the Treaty of Versailles officially ended the first World War. WWI is most often associated with trench warfare, but it is also primarily the first time the world saw fighting with tanks and toxic gases. The U.S. did not enter the war until April of 1917 yet even before that people were ordered to conserve food, primarily meat and sugar. The U.S. also implemented the sale of “Liberty Bonds” to fund the war.

A great webpage for more info is: http://www.firstworldwar.com/

The Black Horse.

Pestilence rides the black horse and he is not only thought to bring sickness but famine and economic failings. More minor instances of this horsemen’s influence in “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” are the food rations that U.S. citizens were required to live by, as well as the fact that Miranda cannot afford to buy liberty bonds, both of which are indicative of the economic troubles of the country during war-time. But the thing that most predominately relates to Pestilence is the Spanish Flu that strikes Miranda. According to Wikipedia, which I know is an ever reliable source, around 20% of the world population in 1918 suffered from the Spanish flu. Between 2 and 20% of those infected with the Spanish flu died, a rate substantially higher than the 0.1% mortality rate of usual influenza. More than half of the people that died from the Flu were between 15 and 40.

More information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/

The Pale Horse

It has been previously mentioned that the rider of the pale horse is Death. Though the title of the story relates more to how Miranda manages to outrun the Pale Rider, despite that Death still “done taken [her] lover away,” Death plays a prevalent part of the larger world in “Pale Horse, Pale Rider.” Nearly 20 million military and civilian deaths occurred during World War I, around 1,120,000 casualties happened during the Battle of Somme alone. As if those weren’t staggering enough numbers, the Spanish Flu Pandemic possibly claimed double or more the number of casualties as WWI, though it is impossible to know the exact numbers. It is estimated that the two years of the Spanish Flu Pandemic may have been more deadly than the Bubonic Plague. Clearly, when you put those numbers into perspective, it is no wonder why Miranda and Adam felt hopeless.

Obviously, Death overshadows the other Horsemen, War and Pestilence, by being an integral part of both. But though Porter only mentions the Pale rider, it is clear that the other Horsemen are just as present.

Oh! And a treat: a recording of one of the songs in “Pale Horse, Pale Rider”