The Plague by Albert Camus is an existentialist classic, in which he continues to question the absurdity of life and applies the notion of rebellion. He has become the exception, however, and soon the town can barely contain its desire to celebrate the evidence that the plague is diminishing and will soon disappear. Diagrams Jean Tarrou Philosophical observer of events Dr. Bernard Rieux Doctor fighting the plague Friends Saves Fellow volunteers Fellow volunteers Fellow volunteers Opposing interests Father Paneloux Jesuit priest in Oran Raymond Rambert Journalist desperate to escape quarantine Joseph Grand City employee and aspiring novelist Cottard ⦠After the term of exile lasts several months, many of Oran's citizens lose their selfish obsession with personal suffering. The long-awaited reunion between Rambert and his wife takes place not back home in Paris, but in Oran. Albert Camus highlights the theme of time in his 1947 novel, The Plague. They indulge in selfish personal distress, convinced that their pain is unique in comparison to common suffering. Word Count: 785. Osborne-Bartucca, Kristen. Albert Camusâs novel The Plague (1947) is often cited as a classic of existentialism, though Camus himself refuted that classification. The Plague is a novel about a plague epidemic in the large Algerian city of Oran. "The Plague Summary". Against the background of events, he creates various attitudes of human beings toward the plague, ⦠At the end of The Plague, the narrator reveals himself as Dr. Rieux. He greets the plague epidemic with open arms because he no longer feels alone in his fearful suffering. Another visitor who is trapped by bad timing is Jean Tarrou. GradeSaver, 9 June 2020 Web. The Plague is his chronicle of the scene of human suffering that all too many people are willing to forget. If youâve read Albert Camusâ great, short novel youâll remember a gripping narrative about an outbreak of bubonic plague that strikes a small French Algerian city in the 1940s. He is announcing the deaths of many people, common people, and as spectators, we will wait, watch, hear, and perhaps learn from the consequences of the everyday Oedipuses and Creons of Oran â citizens warned again and again of their fate to die, yet who choose to be unbelieving, antagonistic, and indifferent to the warning. This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Plague by Albert Camus, an existentialist classic in which he continues to question the absurdity of life and applies the notion of rebellion. Considering Camus's ideas about the impossibility of reaching an objective truth, it is not possible to agree with Dr. ⦠When a cluster of similar cases appears, Dr. Rieux's colleague, Castel, becomes certain that the illness is the bubonic plague. Grand, having recovered from a bout of plague, vows to make a fresh start in life. M. Camus is a master of the Defoe-like narrative. When a mild hysteria grips the population, the newspapers begin clamoring for action. Dr. Bernard Rieux is the first to intuit that things are not right with the city when he notices a sudden spike in the number of dead rats around town. The Plague is a novel written by Albert Camus, an ultimately bleak story about a terrible illness that swept through an unprepared town. The initial self-centered response of individuals to the quarantine as a personal tragedy eventually gives way to a widespread realization that everyone is affected equally even if in starkly different ways. Rambert's wife joins him in Oran after the city gates are finally opened, but Dr. Rieux's own wife dies of a prolonged illness before she and her husband can be reunited. Not affiliated with Harvard College. The flagellants believed that selfpunishment for their sins might help save them from death as a result of the Plague. Battle Against Crisis at the Conclusion of The Plague, The Absurd and the Concept of Hope in Camus's Novels. It is the 1940s in Oran, a French-occupied Algerian colony. The acceptance of the plague under these terms lessens the selfishness of the town, but does little to alleviate the collective despair and hopelessness. Alone among the quarantined not bursting with happiness at this thought is Cottard. This is, in a sense, what Camus is doing in the opening scenes of The Plague. Camus focused less on the ambulances and body counts in stricken Oran than on how the plague affected the citizenry, who, like us, had to realign priorities, schedules, in ⦠In this clear and detailed reading guide, we've done all the hard work for you! Requests to the government to initiate a strategy before an epidemic gets out of control are ignored and only after the death toll skyrockets are leaders finally incapable of denying the seriousness of the situation. He dies clutching his crucifix, but the symptoms of his illness do not match those of the plague. The novel presents a snapshot of life in Oran as seen through the author's distinctive absurdist point of view. In April, thousands of rats stagger into the open and die. Bernard Rieux (behr-NAHR ryew), a physician and surgeon in Oran, Algeria, where a plague is claiming as many as three hundred lives a day. Imagination in the context of the Camus' plague means identifying with people, with giving into love and grief, with confronting the real. The sacrifice being made by Rieux inspires Rambert to give up on his plan to escape and stay to fight the epidemic. These observations stimulate him to organize sanitation duties with the help of volunteers. Overview Unlock the more straightforward side of The Plague with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! He has been carefully making notes of everything he’s observed relating to the plague. Copyright © 1999 - 2021 GradeSaver LLC. A lucid evaluation of the crisis has been achieved, the enemy has been revealed and can now be confronted. Only after it becomes impossible to deny that a serious epidemic is ravaging Oran, do the authorities enact strict sanitation measures, placing the whole city under quarantine. So far, the plague has been semi-limited to the outer districts of the town. The Plague literature essays are academic essays for citation. When a mild hysteria grips the population, the newspapers begin clamoring for action. Note: This is a summary and analysis of The Rebel and not the original work.The Rebel is a 1951 book-length essay by Albert Camus, which treats both the metaphysical and the historical development of rebellion and revolution in societies, especially Western Europe. An attempt is made to end the story on an inspirational note with Rieux’s observance that ultimately those trapped in Oran revealed the better side of human nature more often than the worst. What was the philosophy of the “flagellants”? Meanwhile, Rieux, Tarrou, and Grand doggedly battle the death and suffering wrought by the plague. When conditions in Europe suddenly changed at the beginning of the 14th century, what did many people believe had come? With William Hurt, Sandrine Bonnaire, Jean-Marc Barr, Robert Duvall. Perhaps Dr. Rieux withholds his identity because he is concerned with maintaining his objective distance from the chronicle. We read of the acknowledgment of the plague with a sense of relief. Abstraction is seen as deadening oneself to reality and mankind, sticking with statistics or philosophies or doctrines, focusing too much on rules or theories or putative panaceas. Tarrou dies just as the epidemic is waning, but he battles with all his strength for his life, just as he helped Rieux battle for the lives of others. Like, Mary Poppins windy, which is bad news when you live on an unprotected plateau. Rieux and an elderly colleague named Castel suspect Oran has become the victim of an outbreak of bubonic plague. Suddenly, everyone is just as lonely and afraid as him. The Plague by Albert Camus 1001 Words | 5 Pages. Not long afterward, Paneloux himself dies, committed so thoroughly to his view of the faith that he refuses medical treatment. Not long after the concierge succumbs to the ravages of the affliction, doctors all over town are flooded with patients experiencing similar symptoms. This illness is ⦠The public quickly returns to its old routine, but Rieux knows that the battle against the plague is never over because the bacillus microbe can lie dormant for years. From the title, you know this book is about a plague. The people believed the Blacl Death signaled the Biblical apocolypse. The story is narrated to us by an odd, nameless narrator strangely obsessed with objectivity, who tends to focus on a man named Dr. Bernard Rieux. Our study guide has summaries, insightful analyses, and everything else you need to understand The Plague. Oran essentially becomes cut off and isolated from the rest of the world. The sight of Oran littered with the carcasses of rats stimulates panic among the citizens and forces the government to order a special force tasked with cremating the rodents. He begins randomly firing his gun into the street until he is captured by the police. That note of optimism is ultimately undercut, though, by his haunting reminder that the microbe responsible for bubonic plague can lie dormant for so long that it creates the illusion of being gone forever when in reality it has the power to recrudesce into an epidemic with little warning once more. Unlock the more straightforward side of The Plague with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! They confront their social responsibility and join the anti-plague efforts. Not only that, he is making a killing in the booming business of smuggling, another consequence of the epidemic. When the young child of Oran’s magistrate succumbs to the suffering and perishes in a painful and grotesque fashion, Father Paneloux is moved to deliver another sermon. Cottard committed a crime (which he does not name) in the past, so he has lived in constant fear of arrest and punishment. Dr. Rieux is not so lucky; his wife has died during the separation mandated by the quarantine. When M. Othon's small son suffers a prolonged, excruciating death from the plague, Dr. Rieux shouts at Paneloux that he was an innocent victim. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. He and Dr. Rieux are forced to confront the indifference and denial of the authorities and other doctors in their attempts to urge quick, decisive action. In the 1990s, a South American city is rocked by the imminent outbreak of a plague. He tries to escape by illegal means with the help of Cottard's criminal associates. As the rat carcass problem is contained, Dr. Rieux treats the concierge where he lives, who is complaining of an unusual fever. The authorities finally arrange for the daily collection and cremation of the rats. They come to recognize the plague as a collective disaster that is everyone's concern. It is the story of a plague epidemic in the city of Oran in the 1940's and tells of the individual destinies of some of its inhabitants, who all react to the situation in a different way. Through the use of allegory and point of view, Camus substantiates that when people are not aware of time and its advancing, they are wasting the precious and limited time of ⦠These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Plague. In April, thousands of rats stagger into the open and die. The Plague (French: La Peste) is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story from the point of view of an unknown narrator of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. Adding to the horror is a death toll affecting so many people that cremation is necessary to keep up. Through the voice of his compassionate protagonist, Dr. Rieux, Camus speaks of the graphic horror of the plague and its effect on the population. 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