On Grand’s Silent Strength

             A transition, as similar to that of Tarrou, is seen in Grand in this part of the novel. This transition, however, is not only limited to these two individuals. The whole town is doing what needs to be done in the face of the plague. It appears that the seriousness of the situation has finally set in and that the town is banding together in response to fight back. This is seen in the number of people who signed up for the volunteer sanitation groups imply because they couldn’t imagine not doing so.

            Grand, previously described as a somewhat eccentric character, displayed an honorable amount of fortitude and courage in this section.  “Grand was the true embodiment of the quite courage that inspired the sanitary groups.” (134).   Grand previously toiled away at his paperwork-riddled job, however, now he has volunteered to serve as something of a secretary for the sanitation volunteers. He responded, when asked to volunteer with a “Why, that’s not difficult! Plague is here and we’ve got to make a stand, that’s obvious. Ah, only if everything were as simple! (134). He volunteered, immediately, selflessly, for he simply could not imagine not doing what needed to be done in this time of plague. He even goes so far as to do his paperwork for the volunteer group in the plague-riddled hospitals - something he does out of his own free will, for he could be doing it at home. However, despite the increased importance and responsibility placed upon him at this time in the novel, he still remains the slightly eccentric man the reader came to know earlier; he still agonizes over the first line in his novel endlessly, never seeming able to perfect it.