Title: The Plague
Rating: 4 Stars
I’m not really a huge fan of Camus. I consistently rate his work pretty high because I recognize the skill and craft of them, but they don’t really pull me in any emotional direction. I just read them and appreciate them but they really leave no mark on me.
So it is with The Plague. The setting is a town in French Algeria named Oran. It appears to be a pretty typical, somewhat bustling sea town. Suddenly, rats start dying. They start dying by the thousands. Townspeople begin to display flu like symptoms. Dr Rieux tries to help the afflicted but the first patient dies. More and more people begin to show symptoms. Doctors realize that this is not just a regular case of the flu but is in fact the plague. At first, the town leaders want to ignore the problem but ultimately so many people get sick that action must be taken. The entire town is quarantined. No one is allowed in or out. All gates are manned by guards.
Most of the novel takes place during the time of the quarantine. In addition to making general statements of how the townspeople are reacting to being trapped, the novel focuses on several main characters.
Dr Rieux is one of the main characters. He works heroically if doggedly as the number of deaths approach over one hundred a week. As a doctor, he knows that he cannot cure anyone. All he can do is to show up when someone is reported as sick, diagnose them as having the plague, and then arrange transport of the patient to a hospital bed and the patient’s family to quarantine. At first, the families curse him but as the plague continues to ravage the town they become resigned to their fate. Dr Rieux works himself such that he’s nearly in a constant state of exhaustion. He understands that he’s not really healing anyone in any sense of the word but feels that this is all that he can offer.
Jean Tarrou helps Dr Rieux as much as he can. Growing up, Tarrou watched with horror as his prosecutor father worked to get a defendant condemned to death. From that point forward, he pledged to only work for the good of people. Although an atheist, he wants to attain the state of being a saint. Here is his chance. Just as dogged as Dr Rieux, he endlessly works setting up volunteers to help out plague victims. He never complains and tries to always be positive. He ends up being one of the last victims of the plague.
Father Paneloux is a local Jesuit priest. When the plague first starts, he gives an impassioned sermon basically saying that we asked for this. We have turned out hearts against God and God sent us this plague as punishment. Later, he also volunteers with Tarrou and sees first hand the results of the plague. This softens him, especially after witnessing the death of a child, and he later gives another sermon in which he says that the plague is a test of our faith. He later also dies, although its not clear if it was from the plague.
Another interesting character is Cottard. Before the plague, he is suicidal. During the plague, his personality changes. He becomes positive and sociable. During the quarantine period, he conducts covert and illegal activities. As the plague runs its course, his personality undergoes another change. Once the quarantine lifts, he closets himself in his apartment and shoots at people in the streets. The police ultimately capture him and he’s taken away mad.
Through all of this, the town progressively loses hope. People stop trying to escape the quarantine and seem resigned to their fate. Christmas is scarcely celebrated. Even when the plague shows sign of abating, the townspeople barely allow their hopes to rise. Only when it’s clear that the plague is in full retreat do people begin to celebrate. Once the quarantine is lifted, families and lovers long separated for so many months begin to reunite to much joy.
Even with all of that joy, it is tempered because of the loss of so many people.
dorkenstein 