On the Plague’s Progression

            At this point in the story even the most stubborn minded residents have come to accept the finality of the plague. The plague offers no moments of solace for the members of this village. Whereas before it was pillaging the outer districts of the town, as soon as people begin to accept what is happening to them, the plague takes another turn - seemingly always wanting to keep the villagers on their toes. Now the plague is affecting the wealthier, more central districts of Oran, and with ironic outcomes. This sudden explosion of plague in this area has caused a segregation of these central areas; resulting in a further constriction of the freedom the occupants of Oran had clung to. Ironically, however, now the wealthier citizens of this area begin to envy the poorer occupants: they envy their freedom. The tables have been turned – the plague completely flipping the social demographic of the town on its head to a point where the poor are now the ones to be envied while the rich are stripped of their freedom as the plague runs throughout their populations. The plague has affected the population of Oran to such an extent that they become seemingly frenzied in a need to free themselves from it. Many people, upon return from quarantine, feel the need to burn their homes - affectively both symbolically and physically destroying their pasts; where they came from, everything that ties them to Oran and the plague currently pillaging it.