Tarrou

In this most recent part of the novel, Tarrou has yet again come up as a strong and prominent character. His actions during this most recent part of the novel have shown that he is definitely an important player in the Oran’s recovery. Tarrou realizes the gravity of the plague and has taken it upon himself to make plans for the recovery of Oran such as the recruitment of volunteers in order to help with the current state of affairs. Though it is possible to just force people to do what needs to be done, Tarrou believes that only volunteers are truly worth something because they are the ones that actually want to help.

The actions of characters like Tarrou shift the mood of the novel from before where the story was more focused on describing the inconveniences of the plague to now where the seriousness of the plague is finally getting to people. Tarrou’s activism shows that there is hope for the town in people who care but also emphasize the dire situation they are in, when it falls to the people do take matters into their own hands since the government is idle.  Hopefully, as the novel progresses the efforts of Tarrou will prove to have bigger impact on the situation of Oran and maybe even be key in the elimination of the plague and the opening of Oran’s gates.