He does not neglect his writing; through his close association with Rieux, he gains even a sense of humor concerning the precision he works with. She comes to visit her son during the first days of the plague. He has talent and training for reporting and here is a subject for him. Finally they realize the futility of any messages. Rieux does not, of course, place his own happiness first, but he understands this desire. Buy Study Guide. He then visits Cottard, who acts strangely paranoid about people “taking an interest in him,” and asks the doctor if … And and but are hard to choose between, but harder yet are but and then. They have never expressed conventional emotions, and thus it is frustrating and useless to speak of the extreme emotions that the plague produces. Perhaps this enormous natural symbol of death, more than most any other factor, staggers them. They run after hope. With expected irony, Rieux remarks that the idle crowds filling the streets make the city look festive and holiday-like. Neither does Rieux believe that callousness is the general rule. In the midst of death and confusion he is still the beaming fellow that we left pages ago. Rats are emerging into the streets, where they move awkwardly in a sort of dance, then bleed profusely and die. This will be his life's labor and, even though it may seem impossible to us, at least he has not compromised. You should remember that this is a reversal in policy. and any corresponding bookmarks? But after the orator has been so striking in his sermon about devils and bloodied spears, this suggestion is colorless and vague — a kind of post thought, a p.s. is one of the few touches of humor in the book. He cannot worry his mother, who has absolute faith that her son will always return home. Tarrou counters with a story about a burial overseer, the sole survivor of a historical plague. To blame the Prefect, their business leader, seems natural enough. He is a squat, powerfully built, former football player, and his refusal to accept the status quo of official and unofficial no's has the kind of muscular resolution that he has surely experienced on the playing field. He refers to natural beauty in the midst of Oran's dying world. He ends the chapter with an incident which is a kind of travesty the plague has produced. As actual homes and family living are being exterminated by something abstract, human beings are destroying abstract symbols of that home. The only man in town who seems content is Cottard. There is additional irony in the chapter's imagery. But for the doctor, a seduction of oneself with the myth of a life beyond death or a destruction of oneself through suicide or apathy can be only the acts of a coward. This bit of faraway musing that is stimulated by Grand's repetitive gesture of "Hats off!" After Part I he begins an unhurried reminiscence through Chapter 9, concentrates his recollections upon commercialism in Chapter 10, and finishes the chapter with three conversational scenes, each a little longer than the last and each more important in the quality of personal revelation. This is in extreme contrast to his poverty and to the plague. His behavior is totally incongruous. He rushes down the stairs and pauses a moment. Now the plague has shut the city gates, walled out the outside, and given a name to the hours prior to closing: that time is Before. Rambert insists on being an exception, on being released from the fate imposed on the Oranians. Faith in a Something larger than man has millenniums of tradition; Camus' ideas challenge all these years of seemingly instinctive faith. The future for everyone in Oran is uncertain. They are doubly imprisoned — within Oran and within themselves — and this double-barred atmosphere of each man is awesomely new and menacing. Grand is thorough in his numerical analyses; he is even creative, taking great pains to plan graphs that will be as lucid as possible. He seizes their minds and grips until they are united in their shame. Rieux's mind wanders as he listens to Grand. Rambert is such a man. All of the places of rendezvous have this mad, surrealistic atmosphere. For a man as introspective as Grand, here in his prose problems are exactly the kinds of decisions that, in a social situation, try his courage. The old Spaniard An asthmatic philosopher. His notebooks are used as part of the chronicle. The plague serum still has not come, and Dr. Rieux finally realizes that he himself is feeling afraid. Madame Rieux Dr. Rieux' wife, who dies in a mountain sanitarium outside Oran. Now they look upon a scene of stagnation. But for Rambert it is as evocative as a holy statue. In fact, the pounding of the rain and the pounding of Paneloux's rhetoric join forces to drive the crowd to its knees. Within Camus' situation of Rambert's ineffectiveness in his dealings with the city and its underground, there are smaller ironies. It is, however, not the cave of safety that critics often accuse it of being. Consider the whole of Part I. Now, of course, more factors have to be weighed and, in the public's interest, the less alarming the figure, the better. The Oranians, you remember, seldom looked at the bay or responded to the natural sea beauty on their city's edge. For an example of Oran's growing panic, Rieux tells an incident that centers upon Grand and shows us what is probably one of the less spectacular of panicky reactions. Truth is impossible for the Church. Paneloux concludes his sermon saying that a prayer of love might help matters. And, in part, Paneloux is also responsible for that, but he is certainly not the only factor to consider. They send telegrams, but realize that clichés and platitudes are the most concise and satisfactory texts for communication. Remembering his wife, Paris, and evening walks, Rambert visits the railway station. They decide to publish daily totals. The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus that was first published in 1947. Cottard's revelation that he is a blackmailer and a criminal makes little difference to Rambert. He must keep emotion alive — in spite of habitually seeing sickness and in spite of daily seeing death. In addition, he addresses the public as his brethren, yet he indicts them in the second person, in the "you." All are equally in trouble, but they cannot comfort one another because they have never done so before. The only honest courage was to rebel against the mores of Oran that urged acceptance of a barren marriage as inevitable and final — even good because it had been decided and contracted. Modern antibiotics are effective in treating it. He is being ironic in return and implying that life rarely has I to 3 logic. Nor does common sense seem to care when taverns boast that spirits are the most effective agents against infection. Here is evidence of the latest gossip — the epidemic of attempted escapes. Just as Oran is sealed off, so these people seem to be fenced apart. Here we go. Plague, the disease, was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. In an ironic similarity, the doctor's wife is as inoffensively comforting to her husband as he is to his mother. Why does he talk to Rieux? This lesson will focus on the summary … There is nothing of genius in Grand, but because he is a human being, we should see that he does possess something admirable. Because no one feels great compassion, they escape the deepest distress; Rieux mentions indifference being taken for composure. Chapter 11 is brief but highly dramatic and most important. M. Michel A concierge, the plague's first victim. It concerns the role of the Church during the plague — what its attitude was and how it battled Oran's murderous enemy. Later, however, he reveals what is probably closer to the truth. The first-person narrator is unnamed but mostly follows Dr. Bernard Rieux.Rieux notices the sudden appearance of dying rats around town, and soon thousands of rats are coming out into the open to die. We read of the acknowledgment of the plague with a sense of relief. If Rambert realized that his concern for personal happiness was for himself, he would be making no gross discovery. He wants Rieux to give him a certificate of release. Camus intends for this character to carry considerable symbolic weight. and any corresponding bookmarks? You should also note that in this atmosphere of death, a birth has occurred: The Plague Chronicle is born, publishing speculations, tips, morale boosters, and sure-cure advertisements. It is hard, for example, for him to choose between but and and. A lucid evaluation of the crisis has been achieved, the enemy has been revealed and can now be confronted. The earlier chapter dealt with Rambert's futile but legal attempts to leave Oran; this chapter is a record of his vain trys to illegally escape. One should be aware that this chapter is not as objective as Rieux has said his chronicle would be; there is irony shot throughout its length. The Plague (French: La Peste) is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story from the point of view of a narrator of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran.The narrator remains unknown until the start of the last chapter, chapter 5 of part 5. Rambert has not yet developed a philosophy concerning his perseverance; his present concept is little more than a sustained, physical endurance. While listening to Grand talk about perfecting his prose, Rieux hears a commotion outside, goes to the window and sees people racing through the streets toward the city gates. He cried that the Oranians were enemies of God, were proud and indifferent — charges which are necessary ingredients for regular Sunday scourging; Paneloux had only to fire these charges vocally and imagistically until he saw heightened fear and awe in their faces. Margaret Betz is an assistant teaching professor of philosophy at Rutgers University – Camden and is the author of the book The Hidden Philosophy of Hannah Arendt. The other important decision in this chapter is made by Paneloux; he agrees to help Rieux and Tarrou. His wife writes that everything is going "as well as can be expected." They have developed as he began to assert responsibility. To blame one man would be unjust and erroneous. The suburbs have steadily felt its growth and have become part of a tightening belt of death that draws together toward the center of the city. Men, even with Rambert present, speak of him as though he were a profitable commodity. Removing #book# Grand continues that he has always wanted to write and justify himself, but he sees his failure to find the words as a flaw in his will power and in his vocabulary. The plague has stopped him in Oran and caused him to realize that he is failing to love his wife as completely as he might. He will stay until he can find a way of leaving, he says, but he is beginning to perceive that the present requires more serious allegiance and he does, almost totally, pledge himself to it. A sense of humor, objectivity, and responsibility are all tested and proven during his illness. And only by considering what must certainly have been one of their gravest trials can we arrive at more of the truth about those days. Her remark that one needn't be happy to make another start suggests that groundless optimism is as ridiculous as the pessimism that her marriage was fostering. He doesn't say why, but it is important to speculate about. Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# If, because of ignorance, he shirks, then ignorance is vice. It is the 1940s in Oran, a French-occupied Algerian colony. 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. Joseph Grand A petty official, also a writer. He is a man and he is insignificant, has failed to give love, has remorse, has a ridiculous goal, but in this emergency, with quiet courage, he has offered himself and serves as best he can. Camus’ The Plague shows us the worth of “the path of sympathy” in these troubling times or, as Rieux says, that “a loveless world is a dead world”. The Plague is a novel about a plague epidemic in the large Algerian city of Oran. The immensity of this beauty seems indifferent to Oran, the exiled abscess on the sea, and the universe seems at odds with civilized notions of beauty. The heroic is the human. Truth has a victory. To his church service came people who were directionless and questioning. At least, then, the future had always been there — somewhere — even if it hadn't been seriously considered. Because this first chapter of Part II is a jumble of summary, perhaps it is best to begin considering Oran's new environment and the adjustment of the townspeople toward it. Grand trembles violently, gulps his drinks, mutters, and is on edge. Now, as though he is asking for a parole to go back to Paris, he appeals to Rieux. There are two possible reasons: first, Rieux has doctored him, shown kindness, and offered to protect him; second, Rieux is a doctor and can function meaningfully only when people are sick or dying. Rieux sees Oran in these terms: in an emergency, people are tried and this means that they do what they must — help others and themselves to survive. Knowing Camus' affection for natural beauty, and having Oran's commercialism as a background for Grand and Jeanne, we might wonder if their sharing of happiness — for what seems to be the first and last time — in a shop window, artificially contrived to be beautiful in order to induce people to buy, isn't a comment on the meagerness of their chances for a full, rich life together. Rambert begins this round of disappointments by contacting Cottard, and by trusting in Cottard, Rambert exhibits a measure of his determination. Rambert's change of mind to stay in Oran and assist Rieux and Tarrou is the climax of this chapter. For days the plague has been foremost in his mind; now he sends his wife a telegram expressing his concern and hope for her recovery. This is not true of Grand. Rambert's secret is that he has discovered that love and happiness are all he really cares for. Couple this with the temperament that originally creates a doctor and the result is an anomaly. Rieux also asks Tarrou to come by next day for an injection before his "adventure." She comes to visit her son during the first days of the plague. Tarrou offers a sympathetic ear, so Cottard spends time with him and Tarrou takes notes in his diary. It has a positive, growing quality. Before leaving the chapter, note the poetic images Rieux records. Of particular interest is how the plague binds men together and then, ironically, cuts them apart and rebinds each man within himself. Summary and Analysis Part 3 Part III consists of only one chapter — a short, intense chronicle of the crisis weeks in Oran, the time when two natural powers — the plague's rising fever and the midsummer sun-incinerate the city's prisoners. In addition, Rieux's professional pace is extremely taxing: long hours of diagnosing, of treating, and of disposing of the dead. They float and drift, completely at peace. Often his surroundings seem surrealistic: deserted cafes, a rooster defecating on his table, conversation punctuated by a parrot's squawk and interrupted by queries from the dwarf waiter. The present, the now, is particularly frightening because it is seen against and as a part of a sequence of days and nights of living and dying. Moreover, the disease is no longer merely "plague." Could he justify himself? Removing #book# His name is on paper; he is calling attention to himself. No amount of processing can handle the swollen flow. The suburbs have steadily felt its growth and have become part of a tightening belt of death that draws together toward the center of the city. I will be giving a summary that does not spoil the ending. Absurd, perhaps, but also admirable. Again we read of the old Spaniard counting his peas, imagining that he has accomplished a twentieth-century feat by abolishing clocks from his house. To escape is impossible. They hope letters can be sent someday, so they continue writing. © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Rambert studies the timetables and departures posters as though they were religious stations of the cross. Like Cottard , he feels the need for random human contact. The plague has sealed the harbor. His wasn't a glamorous or even a happy marriage — which shouldn't surprise us, knowing Grand even as superficially as we do. But imagine what the word must encompass for him. To Tarrou, he is rather offhand when he says that he wandered into the profession much as he might have any other. There is only one word to describe such irony: absurd. Rieux's anxiety about his wife intensifies his exhaustion. 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. He is short with Rieux, who doesn't understand the writing project or the weeks spent on one word. The Plague Summary. Why this creativity? 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