motives motives motives

Father Paneloux is formally integrated in the novel at this point,  he seems cool, calm and collected while delivering his sermon. The people of Oran made time in their routines to be indifferent to religion and Fater Paneloux seizes the opportunity to "guilt-trip" them all into becoming believers. First of all, he addresses the people of Oran separate to himself, telling them that they brought this plague upon themselves and that it was because of their need of success and disregard of God that all of these people were dying.  It seems to be that he feels as if the plague is not his business, as if he has nothing to worry about since the plague is the other’s problem. Furthermore, it is clear that the people of Oran have either bought on to the belief that it is their fault and they must prey, or they just ran out of things to do, so they might as well just prey. Regardless of the reason, the people of Oran have in fact changed their routine, and a more human side of the population is starting to emerge. More interaction is visible and Albert Camus, for some reason, is making the notion of the people of Oran as an impersonal mass less and less prevalent. Individuals are starting to matter more. In reality at this point it hard to differentiate if this novel is just a novel to entertain, or a recount of a series of radical events done to convey a sort of social commentary.
 

Religion

I am going to have to agree with Lauren on the subject of religion in this specific part of the story. I find it strange that in a time like this, where 500 or more people are dying a week, families are separated, and people are confined to this one town with no foreseeable improvements in the near future, that the population of the town isn’t flocking to the explanations of religion. They simply go to the Week of the Prayer because “it can’t do any harm” (93). The priest’s accusations that the people have not satisfy God’s need for love and that is the reason for the Plague is the kind of reasoning that one would expect from the general body of the people. Though for some reason the people are not taking up these fanatic beliefs. The priest seems to be expressing the desperation that one would expect to see from the majority of people, especially when he begins to talk about how this has all been predetermined and that there is nothing anyone can do but accept their impending death. Ironically, not even the priest seems to be able to accept what he is saying and follows up by telling people to pray to God even though he believes that all this is predetermined. I believe the priest is a character that is suppose to represent the traditional reaction that people are tend to have in situations like this one.

Blame game

In times of dire disappointment and apparent helplessness, people find comfort in placing the blame on something else. Blame the government; blame the earth blame everything except yourself, in the plague ridden city of Oran, the blame was placed on the bearer of bad news, which happened to be one of the people who was doing the most to help, Dr. Rieux. Dr. Rieux had to become numb to the disease in order for him to keep his emotions in check and help people with a clear head. Thinking rationally, in cases like these, could save many lives, but unfortunately, the people of Oran did not see his reaction in this manner. They saw his suppression of emotion as a sign of indifference, like a robot with no emotions. His discussion with Rambart clearly depicts how the people see the doctor and how they feel towards his plan of action. They disagree. Ramabart tells him that he uses words of reason and not from the heart, when he is told that he can not leave in case of possible contamination of others outside of the city. After Ramabart adds that he is just thinking about the society as a whole’s needs, not those of an individual, like him. This thought is also felt through the people trying to see their infected families, they want to see them but due to the safety of others that are not contaminated in the city, if in quarantine those infected should not come in contact with others from the outside world.

 

Skipping Town

            In pages 80-86 Rieux encounters Raymond Rambert, a journalist who interviewed him earlier in the novel. Raymond is still trapped in the city due to the quarantine and is desperate to get out. I believe Raymond Rambert serves to convey the feelings of all the people stuck in the city who are not permanent residents. He has tried everything he can to leave. He was even able to “thanks to his professional status, pull some strings, [and secure] and interview with a high official in the Prefect’s office.”(84) Nevertheless he is still trapped in this foreign place where he knows no one and has no home of his own. His desperation is further highlighted when he asks the doctor to write him a letter that he is not infected in order to help him convince the prefect to let him out of the city. The doctor refuses stating that this attempt is obviously futile, but I feel that his inability accept the fact that he is stuck in the city is a feeling that is most of these “outsiders” have. Lastly, the doctor gives Raymond an important message, “as a journalist, [Raymond] had an excellent subject to his hand in Oran”, (85) in other words there is a bright side to all this and I think what Albert Camus is trying to convey is that people have to stop worrying about what they can’t change and focus on the bright side of the situation.

Religion in Response to the Plague

            I found it interesting and slightly ironic how, even in times of plague, the population does not – for the most part- turn to religion. Many people attend the Week of Prayer: the priest’s idea of battling the plague. Despite the large attendance, many people simply regarded attendance as to how “it can’t do any harm” (93). However, what I found most interesting about this section is what the priest attributes to the cause of the plague: God’s anger. He accuses the town of loving God in a way that “could not sate the fierce hunger of His love” (97). He hypothesizes (for he cannot know for sure) with much certainty that God had waited for the town to worship him, and the townspeople had been to self-absorbed to ever alter their daily patterns enough to bother with church. The priest accuses the citizens of “imaginin[ing] it was enough to visit God on Sundays, and thus [they] could make free of [their] weekdays” (97). This, through a religions perspective, is a commentary on the capitalistic nature of the town; always concerned with work and progress. From the priest’s perspective, this overall fascination with individualistic pursuits resulted in God never being worshiped to the degree He wanted, and for this reason God has “loosed on you this visitation [the plague]” (97), and he goes on to say that, because this is all a predetermined path, everyone should rejoice because nothing they can do will affect it – he is basically telling them to rejoice their impending death at the hands of an angry God. After telling the townspeople that God is killing them off because they failed to worship him enough, he then encourages them to send “prayer[s] of love” (99) to a God who he just said was allowing their slaughter. The priest’s behavior amused me because his reasoning in his sermon seems to be very flawed.

How the Doctor Copes

In this section of the novel the author talks about the several ways the townspeople are coping with the invasion of the plague into their daily lives. Dr. Rieux, in particular, is a main focus. For Doctor Rieux, his method of coping is a result of the sorrow he is personally responsible for bringing families on a daily basis. In the town, since the public confirmation of the epidemic, those infected have been taken from their homes and forced into sanatoriums in an attempt to stem the disease’s spread. Rieux now spends the majority of his daily visits accompanied by a police officer, because when diagnosing victims with the epidemic – and therefore ordering them out of their homes and away from their loved ones – many people view him as the villain [not the plague] and react violently. He responds by slowly loosing touch with the emotional side of the epidemic, labeling it as “abstraction”- he can only, for the purpose of the good of the community, concern himself with “facts as everybody can see them” (87). These facts agree with the shutting of the gates; facts that are impervious to “common human feelings” (87), feelings, as Rambert describes, that should be inherent when dealing with people cut off from their loved ones by the sealing of the gates. The doctor continuously seems to withdraw from all emotions, he even “grows out of pity [because] it’s useless” (91) in times such as these. The doctor is faced daily with “the dreary struggle in progress between each man’s happiness and the abstractions of the plague” (91) and this constant struggle is wearing on him, for he continuously has to disregard emotion and empathy and follow medical facts and protocol in an attempt to do what is best for his town as a whole. As a result, his compassion begins to fade. This, however, does not make him a bad person; it simply makes him a person coping with the horrors of the plague as best he can.

A Dynamic Character

The town of Oran announces that it is in “a state of plague” due to the efforts of Dr. Rieux. In the beginning of the novel, Dr. Rieux proves to be a man with morals who sincerely cares for his town. The doctor went through a series of actions to ensure that his town would be prepared to face the fever. However, in this section of the novel, Dr. Rieux’s character is beginning to alter due to the affects of the plague on his town.  

            The usually concerned and involved doctor becomes detached and unresponsive to the town’s growing death toll and suffering citizens.  The visiting journalist, Raymond Rambert, who earlier in the novel interviewed Dr. Rieux now came to Rieux for help. The journalist claimed that he did not “belong” in Oran and had “a girlfriend waiting for him in Paris” (77): Rambert pleaded to Rieux if there was any way he could help him escape. Rieux quickly explains that, “there are thousands of people placed as you are in this town, and there can’t be any question of allowing them to leave,” (79). Dr. Rieux finds himself dealing daily with families of his patients. The narrator explains that Dr. Rieux is becoming so accustomed to the suffering residents that he turns indifferent to their cries. The narrator explains, “in this feeling that the heart had slowly closed in on itself, the doctor found solace, his only solace, for the almost unendurable burden of his days,” (83). 

Utter Desperation

The excerpt begins with the town officials of Oran proclaiming “a state of plague”.  With the announcement of the fever, the individuals of Oran do not express much concern. However, it is the methods of protection that bring the townspeople to utter dejection.  The narrator begins by discussing the loneliness felt by all the residents of Oran.  With the end to the mail service, the townspeople are at a lack of communication with family members outside of the town. It is now where the citizens realize they took for granted all family members and loved ones. Due to the suffering, the citizen’s grow to ignore the affects of the plague and hope for the day the doors of Oran will reopen.

            “This ruthless, protracted separation enabled them (the citizens) to realize that they could not live apart (from loved ones), and in sudden glow of this discovery the risk of the plague seemed insignificant,” (64). The narrator explains that it is the state of “unknowingness” that brings the citizens to a state of misery. In this state, the townspeople of Oran ignore the dangerous effects of the plague. The narrator uses rhetoric like “fallen” “aimless” “distress” and “sterile memories” throughout this section to emphasize the emotions of the citizens.

            With the death toll increasing, the residents of Oran are at a loss for worry and long for the day in which they will be reunited with love ones. In this section, the narrator emphasizes that their awareness can hurt them in the future. 

Words

              Words are among the only ways humans can communicate what they feel, think or believe. Words can be combined with other words, made into sentences, yet sometimes it can be impossible to put these exact thoughts into words. Camus makes countless references to these instances in which people are at a loss of words. The characters are not necessarily at a loss of words due to an event or an object, they are just uninspired and trying to hard.A conversation between Dr.Rieux and Richard about the importance of the word for what was going on in the town. What was peculiar was Dr. Rieux acknowledgement of the word plague, yet his ambivalence to the significance of its naming. It seems that the inhabitants of Oran find comfort in words, control, even.
            The aspiring writer, Grand, was supposedly working on his book, yet how could not seem to find words to fill up his page. This might be due to the fact that he was trying so hard to write, and not just to write, but to write something that sells. When people are so fixated on an outcome, they sometimes lose sight of how to get there and fail. Things like this must flow, and having a hidden agenda disrupts this flow, no matter who knows about it. People trying to write, send telegraphs, could not. They were also at a loss for words. Words. Words. Words.

People of Oran

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetrated/4890190702/

People do not appreciate what they have until it is taken away from them. Even if this something they do not do, they always have the liberty to do it. Now, put a person in prison, or tell them that they can not leave their house. There they will notice the freedom they once had, and more importantly, now do not. Even if this person stayed most of the day in their house, now that it is prohibited for them to leave, they will feel the need to get out. This is exactly what happened to the citizens of Oran when they were forced into quarantine. They mostly went by their routines, stayed within the confines of their houses and kept to themselves. When they were told that they were completely detached from the outside world, they suddenly longed to write to their relatives and leave Oran. Isolation and fear were a direct result of the quarantine, the feelings swept through the town quickly touching those infected and even worse, those yet to be infected. They knew not how long the plague would last, or if they would get out alive, all they knew was that they were stuck there.  Any other group of people would cause havoc, but  the habitual demeanor of the citizens of Oran enabled their keeping of the panic at bay. The panic was more at a minimum since the people were just to absorbed in their own suffering to care about the bigger picture. They just cared about themselves and their immediate present.

Bigger Problems

The attempt of the people of Oran to get accustomed with their situation is not going well. They are unable to accept what is happening to them, in the sense that they don't understand the dangers this plague poses. As what tends to be human instinct when something is going wrong, the people of Oran are becoming unhappy with the leadership. As any normal group of confused people would do they demand the statistics of what is going on in order to make their own conclusions, though this is obviously quite useless because the people lack the knowledge of what is normal so they can not make accurate conclusions. The quote, "The commercial activity that hitherto made it one of the chief ports on the coast had ceased abruptly. [...] all testified that commerce, too, had died of plague." shows how Oran is also commercially cut off from the world, and I believe that this coupled with the uneasiness of the people will soon become a major problem in the town. A town with 200000 people cannot be controlled when they are all starving to death. Arrangements need to be made in order to supply for the survivors in the town otherwise there will be bigger problems then the plague itself. Rioting and starvation are the problems i see arising in this story that will jeopardize the containment of the plague.

The Doctor Doing the Best He Can

            As previously argued by Cristina Valencia, the doctor is seen as evolving into a man of little compassion. However, I do not agree with this statement. The example she sites in relation to the reporter, Raymond Rambert, does not show the doctor’s lack of compassion, but rather it highlights his medical foresight. He understands that allowing one person to leave the town due to emotional needs is an enormous risk; he could carry with him fleas that could then begin to exponentially spread the plague to other regions. Dr. Rieux faces the crisis of what is good for the city, and in turn the world, as whole versus what is good for the individual. Regarding the “greater good”, he realizes that the plague must be contained because if not, its affects could be disastrous on a global scale. He realizes that if he started making exceptions for individual cases such as Rambert, he would not only be responsible for catalyzing the spread of the plague, but he would also be favoring these select few. He cannot allow Rambert to leave and force others, who have loved ones outside the city as well, to stay. Allowing Rambert to leave would force him to allow all the others to leave, and this would most certainly spread the plague to surrounding regions. By his supposed callousness in the face of Rambert’s plea he is protecting the global community from an outbreak of a disease that could potentially demolish the population. In his refusal of this individual’s request he is saving the lives of countless more. Given the doctors situation I believe he is acting appropriately, for in times of such turmoil as this, the good of the whole often needs to be put above the well being of the individual. 

The Seriousness of the Situation

            In this section of the novel no one seems to be taking the plague seriously, despite the rising death tolls. The narrator spends the majority of the section reflecting on how the plague has caused a feeling of exile amongst the general populace as a result of the quarantine of the town. Because the shutting of the town’s gates occurred before it was officially announced, many family members who had left to travel were locked out of the village.  The author describes how many of the inhabitants fell into a seasonal affective disorder without the presence of their families; “citizens became subject to a curious kind of servitude, which put them at the mercy of the sun and rain […] a burst of sunshine was enough to make them seem delighted with the world, while rainy days gave a dark cast to their faces and moods” (75). This feeling came from the new, lonely lives of many individuals, because previously, the “person they were living with held, to some extent, the foreground of their little world” (75). The author describes that the only form of relief from the mental turmoil of the town was “to set the trains running again in one’s imagination, and in filling the silence with the fancied tinkle of a doorbell, in practice obstinately mute” (73). The plagues largest affect on the town seams to be on the people who lost loved ones, “nobody as yet had really acknowledged to himself what the disease connoted” (78), for everyone was to engulfed in their own personal misfortune as a result of separation, as “personal interests […] continued to occupy the foreground of their thoughts” (78). The townspeople seem far to self-centered and fail to realize the large-scale effect this disease could have. 

Quarantine

In these first pages of part 2 of the novel, the city of Oran has gone into full quarantine, and the narrator begins to explain the situations of the people still living inside the walls. He talks about how many people have loved ones trapped on the outside since the closing of the gates was so abrupt. As he describes different groups of people, who have different losses, the reader can begin to see what the affects of isolation are on people. People begin to realize that their problems aren't so important because everyone else has the same ones; and they are all "on the same boat"(67). The reader also begins to see the affects of being isolated from those that one spends almost everyday with, people begin to question their love or realize that they can live without the one they are missing. It is interesting to see the psychological affects that this quarantine is having on the people of Oran.The narrator also makes a point that the ones inside the quarantine are not the only one's affected. The residents of Oran that are trapped outside are also grieving, for those they don't even have their own home to stay in. Lastly, in these few pages we get a quick little insight on the narrator in this part of the novel. Though we still don't know who he is we are hinted that he is someone trapped in Oran who has been separated from a lover, "To come to last, and more specifically, to the case of parted lovers, who present the greatest interest and of whom the narrator is, perhaps better qualified to speak"(74). This may not be much but is definitely a first step in getting more insight on the narrator.

Cottard

This man, previously described as being reclusive, in this section of the novel becomes far more outgoing. The readers are introduced to him when he first attempts to kill himself before the disease has started infecting humans. Now, however, he seems to have recovered from his “fit”. He now appears to be attempting to make a very public display of himself. As Grand comments, “I don’t quite know how to put it, but I must say I’ve an impression that he is trying to make himself agreeable to all and sundry, to be in everybody’s good books” (53). He has become “amiable” (53) where before he was a “silent, secretive man, with something about him that made Grand think of a wild boar” (53). Cottar is making a point to try and endear himself to everyone; he is even making friends with a woman tobacconist who Grand says is a “holy terror”. Before, whereas he was likely to eat in small cheep restaurants he is now dining in lavish venues and leaving large tips. Aside from this change, he also seems to be acting strangely. When the grocer “had shown less affability, he came home in a tearing rage” (54), and when the woman at the tobacconist’s brought up a murder case he turned around and fled without another word. He asks if someone can be arrested in a hospital, and is cited commenting on how someone would “make a good witness” (54). His behavior is highly indicative of a man with something on his conscience, as Grand believes. However, the doctor simply dismisses it as perhaps his fear of the “fever”. The nearsightedness of the doctor that has been see in pervious sections of the novel is present again here; he fails to comprehend the implications of Cottard’s actions. Cottard in this section of the novel acts highly suspicious- possibly he has committed a serious crime, something serious enough that he would consider getting sick and going to the hospital in order to avoid arrest. 

The Papers

In the previous section of the novel (pgs. 20-40) I found the commentary on the real concern of the newspapers ironically insightful. The narrator comments about how “the local press, so lavish of news about the rats, now had nothing to say. For rats dies in the street; men in their homes. And newspapers are concerned only with the street (35). This comment implies that the newspaper reports on what other people can see for themselves but not what is of real importance. This can be seen as an insight into the human condition, reflecting how humans are more drawn to things of interest and public popularity than things of real importance. This [for the most part] universal truth in relation to humans can be seen contemporarily in the overwhelming intrusion of issues of popular interest into previously news medias. For example, CNN, which originally prided itself on its “hard news”, has now become increasingly involved with popular culture. The issue is brought up again in this section of the novel; in stark contrast to the overwhelming press coverage of the dying rats, there is barely anything in the papers in relation to increased death toll of the new disease. However, the media did cover it to a small degree, as “it even founds its way into the papers, but discreetly; only a few brief references to it were made” (51). This ironic tendency of human nature to prefer popularity to importance can clearly be seen illustrated in this section of the novel. 

Too Slow... Again...

             In this section of the book I found it strange how, again, the doctor seems to be so slow in his assumptions. When the concierge falls fatally ill, even he knows the cause of his own illness. He is constantly breaking through his feverish haze to make utterances about “them damned rats” (22). A common concierge with no medical training is able to make this conjecture, yet the doctor seems to remain oblivious. Even when several other people fall ill, he still fails to begin to even speculate about the possible cause of this disease. Finally, after a “real epidemic had set in” (35) does he come to a conclusion, and not of his own choice; his conclusion is forced out of him by a friend, one of Rieux’s colleagues who is adamant that Rieux “know[s] as well as [he does] what it is” (36). Only then does Rieux concur that “everything points to its being the plague” (36).

             He takes a long time to come to his conclusion, similar to the previous amount of time he took to acknowledge that the dying rats were a problem(about 15 pages). This slowness may have stemmed from his reluctance to cause public panic, but I believe he should have been quicker in his assumption. It is not as if he was unfamiliar with the plague, for he remembers all of the facts he had read about past plagues: “Athens, a charnel-house reeking to the heaven and deserted even by the birds; Chinese towns cluttered up with victims silent in their agony; the convicts at the Merseille piling rotting corpses into pits; the building of the Great Wall of Providence to fend off the furious plague wing; […] the carnival of masked doctors at the Black Death” (40). He was not unversed in the ways of the plague- therefore he must have known that rats were a common factor its spreading. With all of this knowledge I found it incredible that he was so slow to come to an understanding of the disease ailing his patients.  

Comic Relief

In this section of the novel a new unique character is introduced: Jean Tarrou. He records that he is “paradoxically satisfy[ied] at the discovery of a town so intrinsically ugly” – a testament to his ironic sense of humor. He is an interesting character who “in those chaotic times […] set himself recording the history of what the normal historian passes over” (24) – he records the insignificancies in a time of turmoil. I found this character quite humorous for his sharp observational skills (especially given the situation of the town he is in) pick up on details most people would have missed. For example, he is fascinated with a family who eats at the hotel; describing the father in detail, then summarizing him to look like “a well-brought-up owl”, the mother like a “black mouse” and the children like “two poodles” (28). He is “quite fascinated by the commercial character of the town”(26), and he warmly approves of this “idiosyncrasy” (26); his opinion of the town is paradoxical and ironically positive, for he approves of a character that the narrator previously implied to be a fault of the town. I believe that this character is introduced for the purpose – aside from allowing the narrator to site his extensive observations relating to the doctor or the disease- of comic relief. His detailed commentaries and opinions on the insignificancies of the town serve as humorous breaks from the tragedy and suffering of the townspeople.

The Slow Doctor

This story wastes no time getting to the foreshadowing; in the first few lines a dead rat is introduced – creating an eerie tone that will be held throughout the upcoming pages. The main character, a doctor named Bernardo Rieux, makes house calls, and in this way of traveling around he learns of the dead rats. When he first comes across one on his doorstep he thinks nothing about it, although he lives on the second floor. I just found it kind of astonishing that, being a doctor, when he encountered a second rat wobbling towards him, who then collapses spewing blood, he doesn’t give it any thought. As a reader with no medical background, the ailment that was traveling like wildfire through the rat population immediately roused my interest and led me to think about a possible human infestation. I found it unusual that the doctor was not more inquisitive into the cause of the rat “plague” and its possible impact on humans. Even with something as unnatural as the rats coming out of their holes to die, the doctor only comments on how it “get[s] on one’s nerves” (13). In fact, every person with whom the doctor speaks seems to be more concerned with the appalling death toll of the rats than the doctor. All of the clients he visits in some way or anther make a comment in regards to the unusualness of the situation, and he appears neither curious nor suspicious. Finally, after seven pages (about 4 days) detailing the high death rate and the distress it is causing, does he show some concern and tell the Municipal Office to look into it. 

Thoughts on the beginning

I thought the story started off unusually. The narrator talks about how boring and lacking in character the town of Oran is – the town where the story will take place. The town basically never changes and is always hot and ugly with only bearable weather coming in winter. This town is run on the basic principal of survival of the fittest, however, with a modern capitalistic twist. In the town everyone’s sole concern is making money, “as much as possible” (4). The town is so driven by this material incentive that it is no place for the sick; they will be overlooked, “while the whole population, sitting in cafes or hanging on the telephone, is discussing shipments, bills of landing, discounts!” (5). While he doesn’t give us a specific setting, the narrator tells us that the story takes place during the 1940’s. The narrator then amends his seemingly harsh criticism of the town and its citizens’ moral by saying that once one develops habits, existence in the town becomes manageable – in fact the town becomes a place one can trust. He creates the image that although life here is mundane and boring, it’s safe; while it is “treeless, glamour-less, soulless, the town of Oran ends by seeming restful and, after a while, you can go complacently to sleep here” (6). This description of the boring yet safe life that the citizens of Oran lead serves as a background for the mayhem the author foreshadows will come. 

Discussion Pages 1-60

Rats as foreshadowing

The rats in themselves are a big foreshadowing of the disaster to come. Starting off one by one they die a gory death and litter the streets with their corpses. The people did not know what to make of these corpses, and doing as people do, they all had an opinion and a theory of what had happened to those rats. Much like the glimpses we get in the first pages of the “fever” going around that ends fatally. People talk amongst themselves, creating rumors and spreading false information. Of the characters presented so far in the novel, only Jean Tarrou has gotten the feeling that the rat deaths were just the beginning of something even worse. He wrote down a conversation between himself and the night watchman of the hotel, which also serves as foreshadowing, about how he was unsure of what disaster was coming, but surely one was imminent. The introduction of death was slow, but it began very early in the novel with the first dead rat spotted by the doctor, then the three that the concierge had found, and it just builds up to 8,000 rats on the street, until the first human life was lost. This deliberate introduction of death in the novel prepares the reader for the full blown epidemic that ensues and makes the reader more “comfortable” with the topic of death.

Is the world really that bad?

It is a cruel world. Innocent people die, guilty people live. Albert Camus, it appears,had contemplated that same notion in the time around the completion of his novel. In the Plague, the protagonist, Dr. Rieux initially how people like to depend on rational things, and how wars and plagues are not rational and they plague our existence as humans. While analyzing Grand and his peculiar manner of being, Dr. R then thought of how unfair it was that good people like him have to die from such random events. This epiphany, that life is fleeting and that anytime might be your time,can be interpreted as a contradictory claim towards the whole "God determines everything" that most religions preach. God would not kill-off someone who did not deserve it, right? It may also just represent a recent concern that he might have had of what life really is. In any case, it is clear that, although small in numbers, this passage exploring such sentiments do affect the novel as a whole. It makes everything more significant and related to any situation in modern life. The world is either cruel on purpose, or it just is cruel due to the lack of predictability.

Evolution of Death

A feeling of desperation and anguish rushes over with the sudden evolution from rat death to man death. Humans are important. These deaths were brushed aside, as if not that important, and it is that belittling of the problem that leads to the ultimate, horrific fate that plagues the town. All suggestions by Dr. Rieux, of quarantining the first victims of the strange bumps, are brushed off as exaggerated nonsense, when in fact they would have contained the disease from spreading. This reaction to what was happening reflects the town’s, as a whole, lack of knowledge, and lack of desire to know what was happening. Nothing is worse than a collectively ignorant group of people. Effectively, when analyzing the deaths, they realize that more people had died than what they thought, and Dr. Rieux said it was the plague. The narrator then, even though he said he would be unbiased, decided to input his belief on plagues hidden under the façade of factual information. He compared war to plague, and speculated on how stupidity had its ways of remaining prevalent, which he supported well and to anyone might look like if it is factual. He also critiques human’s belittling of any situation and their lack of foresight. The narrator later specifically singles out Dr.Rieux as one of the more able people, and he still says how little he actually knows about what is to come, and how he only feels “unease” whilst facing this catastrophe.

Veronica Ucros

Cottard: A Significant Character

In this section, author Albert Camus develops the character of Cottard. It is argued that Cottard is an additional character in which is created to add a mysterious feel the story; however, I disagree. I believe that Cottard symbolizes the “eccentricities” of the townspeople of Oran. Cottard, like almost every other individual in Oran is troubled by the strangeness of the town in which he inhabits. In order to deal with the idiosyncrasies of the town he behaves a certain way. The most obvious way in which Cottard attempts to deal with is suffering is by attempting suicide.

            In order to gain back the acceptance of the individuals of Oran, Cottard performs a series of actions such as leaving large tips and making small conversations with passerby’s. Grand describes the new behavior of Cottard by stating, “in the streets, in shops, he was always trying to strike up friendships. To the grocer he was all affability; no one could take more pains than he to show his interest, “ (50). The way Grand views Cottard emphasizes Cottard’s persistence in regaining partial acceptance. He, like any other person in the town facing inattention, wants consideration. 

           By creating Cottard, a man ignored by his society, Camus is able to demonstrate to the readers the actual behavior of the people of Oran. Cottard displays to the readers that the people of Oran are harsh and idiosyncratic. 

            

Dr. Rieux’s pragmatic and anxious nature grows increasingly evident in this section. Throughout the story, Rieux is characterized by author Albert Camus as a man who cares for his community through his dedication to his patients. His concern towards the fever is emphasized by his continuous calls to the Prefect’s office. After finally being able to convene a health committee meeting, he brings attention to the expanding number of deaths and fevers to the unconcerned town’s leaders. Rieux demands that town officials must “apply the rigorous prophylactic measures laid down in the code,” (46). All his efforts to help cease the new fever shows his dedication to his town in Oran. The actions of the public officials in the meeting indicate the carelessness with which they regard the fever. It almost seems as if they want to sweep the plague “under the rug” and mask its importance from society. The official's behavior and wishes give glimpses of what Oran really is- a suppressed society controlled by its government.

            Furthermore, in this section, Camus foreshadows how the people of Oran would behave if their government declares there is a plague. When describing a character Camus says, “ he was one of those rare people, rare in our town as elsewhere, who have the courage of their good feelings. What little he told of his personal life vouched of acts of kindness and a capacity for affection that no one in our times dares own to," (43). This excerpt indicates that the people of Oran are cold-hearted. If a friend were to get struck by the fever they would immediately exile that friend from their life. 

"Since his attempt at suicide Cottard had had no more visitors." (50)

This excerpt from the novel demonstrates the cold nature of the inhabitants of Oran. 

Ignorance is Bliss

 

 

When facing situations or events of great despair or hardship, populations tend to rather be in the dark about the information and causes of these events than to be fully aware of what is going on. In the Plague, by Albert Camus, the population . At first, with the rat deaths the newspapers would write descriptions, and "...the rats were the great topic of conversation in that part of the town."( When actual human lives were being taken by the plague, everyone went silent, the newspapers stopped counting the deaths, the people stopped making an effort to figure out what was happening. "I saw some cases in Paris twenty years ago. Only no one dared to call them by their name on that occasion." (18) Ignorance is bliss. Yes, the government did put posters up, but they were unobtrusive and did not really work to inform the inhabitants of Oran. It was feared, by the government, that the people would exaggerate the truth and go crazy upon hearing the news of what was happening. Although this is true, and people do tend to make everything worse than what it is, in this case, leaving them in the dark about something that could potentially take their lives, was not the best decision.    They acted as if not talking about the problem, would make it go away. 

The Plague

Pages 40-60

The Complexity of a Main Character

In this segment of the novel I was able to gain further insight into Dr. Bernard Rieux’s views and motives. The dialogue Albert Camus creates between Dr. Rieux and characters in the story allows the audience to interpret Reiux’s honorable and analytical persona. This section reveals that Dr. Reiux is growing increasingly anxious about the “fever” that is sweeping his community. Rieux’s continuous calls to the chairman of his town’s Medical Association to advise him of the threatening fever and relentless visits to his patients testify to his unease. Rieux reaches such a high that, “ it was time to put the brakes on and try to get his nerves into some sort of order” (29).

             Dr. Bernard Rieux’s methodical nature is explored in the last few pages of this section when he begins thinking about the affects of the “fever”. He contemplates “what are a hundred million deaths” (35) and slowly comes to terms with his uniform society dying out.  It takes a long time for Dr. Rieux to utter the word “plague”. Nonetheless, quickly after Rieux comes to terms with his expiring society, the audience finds Camus using the words “cruelty” and “pain” (37) to describe Oran. 

            In this portion of the novel, the audience is introduced to a new perspective of life. Viewing Oran through the eyes of Dr. Bernard Rieux, the readers are able to understand his worries and comprehend the severity of this plague.   

A New Character

 In this section of The Plague, Albert Camus introduces the audience to a compelling character- Jean Torrau. Torrau is a tourist in the town of Oran and provides the audience with a third-person perspective on the events of “the plague”. It is argued that Torrau is a “comedic character” and is placed in the plot to dispense “humorous occurrences” however I disagree. Camus describes Torrau as “good-humored, always ready with a smile, and an addict of all normal pleasures without their slave” (22); nevertheless, I find his disposition to be his only favorable attribute.

            Jean Torrau is put in the novel to validate Oran’s peculiarity. His mysterious nature and observations of the community characterizes the novel’s theme of mortality. Torrau notes the unusual behaviors of the individuals in the town to stress the inattentive manner in which they perceive the newly found plague. When speaking to a night watchman, he spots a family walking into a restaurant. Immediately, he is drawn to their oddness and closely observes them. Torrau even admits to the night watchman that he finds the family “quite interesting” (26) he then further provides a detailed description of every member of the family. Furthermore, Tarrou observes a neighbor who would “spit vigorously at cats” (24) and goes on to document his neighbor’s delight.

            Jean Tarrou is a character put in the novel to reinforce the abnormalities of Oran. With his thorough observations of Oran’s individuals, the audience is able to gain a better understanding of the individual’s actions and reasoning.

The Plague Pages 20-40

The Weather

Although I am unsure what role the weather actually takes in this novel, I know that its presence in the novel has something to do with what is happenig. At the begining of the novel, when the narrator is describing the town, he takes time to Point out how the weather is not always favorable and how it sometimes forces the inhabitants to stay confined within their homes. In the later sections, while the rats are dying, and people started to get contaminated the weather turned gloomy, as if reflecting the impending chaos. When people started dying, one patient was even described to find comfort in the weather because of the asthma.