Theme: courage in the face of hardship
The Plague, by Albert Camus, is a novel
documenting the horrific affects of an epidemic of the plague on the small town
of Oran. A central focus of the novel is on the plague’s progression through
the population of the town and the effects it has its citizens. While some
resort to “revolutionary violence” it the resulting disarray, other’s step
forward to face their daunting opponent, willing to sacrifice everything to
help fight it. Throughout the novel a central focus is placed on three character’s
and their adaptation to their new plague-ridden surroundings: Dr. Bernard Rieux,
Raymond Rambert, Joseph Grand, and Jean Tarrou are all characters that risk
their lives daily to help those affected by the plague. Through these
characters and their adaptation to the plague one of the underlying themes of
the novel is illustrated: courage in the face of adversity of an underlying
theme.
One
of the characters that display courage in the face of hardship is Rieux. He
works every day, all day, in the plague hospitals trying to fight the
increasingly fatal epidemic. If not informed by the narrator, the reader would
never know there was an underlying hardship in Rieux’s life. He commits himself
so whole-heartedly to the job it appears as if it is the only thing in his
life. His work appears to consume him entirely as he fights to save lives.
However, this is a misconception created by his courage and work ethic in
response to the epidemic. He has a sick wife in quarantine outside of the town.
He is subject to the same sense of isolation and separation that the rest of
the town feels. This is a feeling that drives many of the citizens, as seen
with Rambert initially, into listless hopelessness. This despair felt by the
citizens of the town who had been separated from a loved one is felt to acutely
by the majority of the population that it is describes for about one hundred
pages of the novel. This feeling is what dictates many peoples behavior
throughout this time. This feeling leads to the increase in business in bars
and restaurants during this time of plague; these isolated individuals flock to
these places in an attempt to find some escape from their sense of loss. They
think that if they go to highly populated areas they will feel as sense of
community somehow, that their feeling of wholeness will be restored. Dr. Rieux,
throughout the novel, suffers from this same sentiment that drives the majority
of the town into desolation. However, Rieux doesn’t let it affect. He maintains
complete control and focus over himself. Even when he has reason to believe his
wife’s situation has worsened – through her increasingly friendly and
optimistic telegraphs constructed to put him at ease – he never stops his
battle against his faceless opponent.
“Grand
was the true embodiment of the quiet courage that inspired the sanitary groups.
He had said yes without a moment’s hesitation and with the large-heartedness
that was second nature to him” (135).
Like Rieux, Grand is another character in this novel that exhibits
courage in the face of the adversity provided by the plague. Joseph Grand is an
elderly gentleman that has been stuck in the same temporary position at the
post office for twenty-two years. He is complacent – not a man of action, never
speaking up in regards to his boss’ exploitation of him. “All he desired was
the prospect of a life suitably insured on the material side by honest work,
enabling him to devote his leisure to his hobbies” (44).
He
is not a capitalist, something that distinguished him from the majority of the
population of Oran. As seen described in the very beginning, and throughout the
town’s battle with the plague, the citizens of Oran are inherently concerned
with personal gain. This tendency of the town is so drastic that the narrator
notes it is not a place for old people – for they will be left behind,
unattended to by their families, as their families go off in pursuit of
material gains. Despite the overwhelming majority of his peers’ behavior, Grand
is never driven by a desire for material gains – he simply wishes to make
enough to support himself. This attitude further highlights Grand’s
complacency: he doesn’t care to take action even to benefit himself. He is
neutral character is further defined by his trouble with language, seen in his
inability to write his book. He is stuck on the first sentence; either because
he is a perfectionist and is unable to move on until he finds it perfect or
because he simply doesn’t have a firm grasp of the language in which he is
writing. He is so reluctant to take action he cannot even finish a written
sentence. All of these factors contributing to the total blandness of Grand’s
character are why I found his bravery in the face of the plague so interesting;
this form of action taking is almost out of character for him. He is actively
standing up for what he thinks is right rather than letting external forces or
people decide his fate for him; he volunteers himself to work in the sanitation
squads. Granted, he is only helping with registry and statistics, but it is
still an act to help the plague-fighting effort. He even eventually goes one further in this newfound trend
of taking action – doing much of his work in the actual hospitals alongside
Reiux. When thanked for volunteering he replied: “Why, that’s not difficult!
Plague is here and we’ve got to make a stand, that’s obvious. Ah, I only wish
everything were as simple!” (134). Grand was a formerly neutral character, a
man of little ambition or sustenance. However, when faced with the plague a
change is seen in his character: he becomes more of a man of action,
sacrificing his own time and possible health willingly in an effort to help
fight the plague.
Raymond
Rambert is another of the characters on whose character the plague has had a
profound impact. He is a writer for a newspaper in Paris and happens to be in
Oran on assignment when the outbreak of the plague beings. He is consequently
trapped inside of Oran when the town is quarantined. He believes because he has
no attachment to the city, and therefore he should be allowed to leave, despite
the quarantine. He has left his wife behind in Paris and is desperate to return
to her; it is this desperation that blinds him to his selfishness in his
endeavors to escape the town. He first goes to the Prefect’s office, explaining
how his “presence in Oran was purely accidental, he had no connection with the
town and no reasons for staying in it [therefore] he was surely entitled to
leave” (84).
He
is unable to see the inherent selfishness in his actions: the whole town is in
quarantine he can’t be the only one there by chance, yet he expects an
exception to be made in his case. In his appeal to Dr. Rieux to write him a
certificate of health Dr. Reiux explains to him that “there are thousands of
people placed as [he] is in this town, and there can’t be any question of
allowing them to leave it” (86). Entire families have been separated as a
result of the quarantine, however Rambert is unable to gain perspective because
of his central focus of his own escape. He is persistent in his desperation:
appealing to every official in the town. His argument remaining “that he was a
stranger to [the] town and, that being so, his case deserved special
consideration” (106). He is always met, however, with a response adding that “a
good number of other people were in a like case, and this his position was not
so exceptional as he seemed to suppose” (106). Despite being met with this response at every turn, he
continues his frantic search for a way out of the town. The fact that, despite
receiving a similar response from everyone whom he tries to evoke sympathy, he
still maintains that his position is exceptionally important illustrates how
blinded to reason as a result of his desperation he is. After exhausting all of
his legal methods of escape, he beings contacting smugglers. Cottard volunteers
in his quest for illegal transport out of the city, however, as Rambert is on
the brink of escape the two smugglers with whom Cottard put him in contact back
out of the deal. By their absence the smugglers, who typically brought lesser
items such as notes in and out of the town, illustrate their comprehension of
the gravity of the town’s situation: they understand that by smuggling one
individual out of the town they could possibly be risking catalyzing the spread
of the plague not just through surrounding areas, but because of its high level
of contagion, possibly the world. That Rambert cannot realize that not only
would his escape from the town be unfair to the families who have suffered
separation as well, but could possibly cause a worldwide epidemic is
incredible. More incredible still is that he could maintain the value he places
on his escape while continuing his acquaintance with Dr. Rieux, and in turn
being exposed to news of the devastation of the plague first hand as well as
its brutality and ease in spreading. His relationship with Dr. Rieux serves to
foil his character: he is desperate to fulfill his own selfish desires and
escape the town to return to his wife, while Dr. Rieux steadfastly battles a
seemingly endless plague while his wife’s condition worsens in a sanatorium
outside of the city. Before his transformation as a result of the plague,
Rambert’s weakness of character and morals is seen highlighted through the foil
Dr. Rieux provides by his strength and devotion to fighting the plague, despite
his own personal circumstances.
Rambert’s
transformation does not occur all at once; it begins with his request to “work
with [the sanitation squads] until [he found] some way of getting out of the
town” (164). It is catalyzed after an argument Rambert has in defending his
position of “living and dying for what one loves” – his wife. After Rieux vehemently
reassures him that he is not wrong in his personal quest for happiness, Tarrou
informs Rambert that Rieux’s wife is in a sanitarium over a hundred miles away.
This display of silent strength on Dr. Rieux’s part – his encouragement of his
friend to find the happiness he himself is deprived of – is what finally
resonated with Rambert. After this argument Rambert comes to Dr.Rieux’s
apartment the next day and signs on to help with the fighting the plague.
However, his transition is not complete here for he still continues his quest
to find a means of escape.
After
working for some time with the sanitation quads Rambert is finally successful
in his mission; he finds a way out of Oran. However, on the brink of escape his
character completes its transformation: he is unable to leave the town. Even
after Rieux “told him that was sheer nonsense; there was nothing shameful in
preferring happiness” (209) to the suffering of the town, he chooses to stay.
After working with Rieux and Tarrou, Rambert realizes that he belongs here
“whether [he] want[s] it or not” (209); that, like Rieux and the majority of
the town, he must sacrifice for the good of the whole. Be the sacrifice
choosing to stay and prohibiting the possible spread of plague, or choosing to
remain working in the hospital, Rambert finally realizes that his personal
plight is of insignificance in comparison to the plague and the misery it has
brought everyone. Through Rieux’s compassion and dedication in the face of the
plague Rambert is finally able to gain a larger perspective on his situation. Rambert,
out of all the other character’s seen in the novel, undergoes the most drastic
transformation at the hands of the plague: from a person entirely focused on
achieving his own selfish goals to one who demonstrates courage and chooses to
sacrifice his own happiness and continue to battle the formidable opponent that
is the plague.
