A Powerful Introduction

      The Plague by Albert Camus is a novel chronologically written that takes place in the small town of Oran: a French port on the Algerian coast. Camus begins the story detailing Oran as monotonous and unappealing.  This rendition of the town will later explain the bias with which the story is told.  The author depicts the people of the town as individuals who “work hard but solely with the object of getting rich, “(4) foreshadowing their egotism. The introduction of the story portrays them as followers of a simplistic lifestyle; ironically, the novel then sets out to tell of an epidemic that changes the municipality forever.

      The despondency of the characters is established through a series of dialogues.  A young journalist visits Dr. Bernard Rieux, the protagonist, to interview him for a story he is writing. Rieux quickly changes the subject of the interview by asking if the journalist “would be allowed to publish a condemnation of the present state of things,” (11). The narrator proceeds to explain that “the language was that of a man who was sick and tired of the world he lived in,” (11).  This is further emphasized when Dr. Reiux sees a man who attempts to commit suicide. Though the town of Oran is portrayed as a place where individuals can lead a tranquil life, the beginning of the story corroborates the dejection of its inhabitants. Camus demonstrates this unhappiness early in the novel to set the tone for the rest of the story.