Items

• 1919-05-19

  "Flu Gets Her a Husband"

  I found an article “‘Flu’ Gets Her a Husband” in the Atlanta Constitution newspaper that was published on May 19, 1919 on a page titled “In the Realm of Women’s Affairs,” which consisted of articles about women. At surface level, this article tells the story of a performer named Miss Amparito Farrar and how she found a husband. She was sick with the Spanish flu and went to see a doctor, whose name is Captain Goodrich T. Smith, for treatment. Rather than treating her, he asked for her hand in marriage. She accepted and they got married. Even though this article has a satirical and lighthearted tone, it gives a sense of how people were living life during the Spanish Flu pandemic. In reality, their love story most likely did not take off that fast, but on the other hand it is not unimaginable that they moved fast in their relationship due to the fear of dying from the Spanish flu. The writer of the article may have exaggerated the progression rate of their relationship to exemplify how fast their relationship advanced. The fear of getting the Spanish flu and dying alone was a fear many people had, so the probability of people jumping into relationships during the pandemic was high. This further reveals the mindset of individuals during the pandemic. Of course, the way Miss Farrar and Captain Smith met is one of the focal points of the article that is also informative. They met through Captain Smith’s occupancy as a doctor. This exhibits how people had to resort to unconventional ways of meeting people because the pandemic made it hard for them to socialize normally. People were more inclined to meeting people at their place of work since those were the only places they could interact with other people. In comparison to how people dealt with dating during the Spanish flu pandemic, people are utilizing social media and dating applications to meet new people because of the social distancing regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic. This has resulted in many people online dating, also known as “e-dating,” in which people develop romantic relationships with a person they met online without meeting them in person first. The article goes to show that people still have the opportunity to meet the love of their life while they may experience troubling times, whether it is during the Spanish flu pandemic or the Covid-19 pandemic.