Thoughts

I would like to dedicate this blog post to two topics I have been contemplating. The first is the narrator, the fact that he has remained anonymous for the entire story is obviously important and I just wanted to retouch on the subject. The narrator has been a steady character and always has an opinion on what is occurring in town and certain aspects of the current city life. What makes the narrator’s insights in the novel so important is that he keeps himself detached. His commentary is nonbiased and by keeping himself anonymous he can keep his personal experiences from influencing his recounting of the story as much as possible. Obviously nothing is completely without biased, but I think the narrator does a good job of maintaining his objectivity. Thus, the presence of the narrator allows the reader to judge the story on his/her own terms.

The second topic I wanted to touch on quickly was religion. The people of Oran have been stuck in this city with no contact to the outside world and are constantly surrounded by death. The one thing that they all seem to have turned to, as an end of days “why not”, is religion.  I believe the reason for this is that it gives them somewhere to look while they ponder the question “why me?” Lastly, I believe that Camus is also using religion to set Dr. Rieux apart from everyone else in the novel, since he is not religious he can represent yet another view of the current situation in the novel.