The Plague
In the mid 1940’s, Albert Camus, began to write the novel . The story has been read over and over again, yet it tells more than it seems to. It tells the story of a town gripped by a deadly disease, and of how the inhabitants thrive to overcome it. Many consider the inhabitants’ fight against to be an allegory to the German Occupation of France, however, as critic Albert Maquet says, “to simplify things … is an allegorical novel.” 1 The true meaning of the story, however, is not an allegory. Albert Camus felt that life was a series of contradictions. He felt that humans sought to explain the world in “human terms,” however, Camus says, ...
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Camus could not have created a better setting for the novel.The story takes place in the desert town of Oran, Algeria, in northern Africa.The city suffers from extremes of weather conditions; in the summer and the heat forces the inhabitants "to spend those days of fire indoors, behind closed shutters." The people much like the shutters are closed off from their neighbors, and usually devote themselves to “cultivating habits” 4 . For the most part everyone in Oran is an individual; they do not care their fellow man. However, changes all of this. When strikes, at first each person refuses to accept the inhumanity of the situation, and try to continue life as they always have, in their selfish pursuits. However, as the death toll rises the people realize that they cannot fight on their own, and that they must unit together and do so something to fight , or “revolt” against the “absurd.”(Cruickshank 174) This reality is best seen in ...
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first sentence. However, this man eventually becomes referred to as the hero of the novel, though “he had nothing of the hero about.”8. He joins the fight against , acknowledging, "I can't say I really know him, but one's got to help a neighbor,” 9by keeping statistics of all the “plagues activities.” Although, his tasks are menial, Grand is to be admired because he joins the “revolt” and does what he can to contribute to the fight against “indifference.” Camus has a respect for all of those who join in the “revolt” and it is clear that he has a fondness for Grand whom he refers to as the “the true embodiment ...
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The Plague. (2005, May 8). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Plague/26571
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"The Plague." Essayworld.com. May 8, 2005. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Plague/26571.
"The Plague." Essayworld.com. May 8, 2005. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Plague/26571.
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