Oh, The Irony

Priest Paneloux was known for holding a weeks worth of sermons when the plague originally broke out. He was blaming the inhabitants of the town for the plague – saying that they had not loved God enough, and therefore brought this wrath down upon themselves. He basically told them that there was nothing they could do in defense of this vengeful God, and that they should simply try to love him. Now, however, his opinion seems to change. Whereas before he argues nothing could be done to better the circumstances of the town, now he has changed his beliefs. Tarrou tells Doctor Rieux that he has managed to convince Paneloux to join the sanitary squad. An action the priest seemed to formerly pointedly go against. I found this complete change in direction of the priest’s belief an interesting ironic change of events.  Another irony seen in this section of the novel is the fact that the very men singly-handedly entrusted with containing the disease – and possibly saving the surrounding regions from the extreme misfortune Oran has undergone – are the men responsible for helping smuggle people out of the town. These people have been entrusted not only with the safety of the citizens of the town, but also with the safely of possibly the world (for if the plague were to get out the results could possibly be disastrous). These men, however, are catalyzing the escape of Rambert, an aspect of the novel I found very ironic.