Term Paper on "Plague Albert Camus Wrote His Magnus Opus"

Term Paper 6 pages (1950 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Plague

Albert Camus wrote his Magnus opus, the Plague in 1940s with more than one goal in mind. But the dominant goal, that seems to stand above all the rest, is to draw attention of people towards apathy- a general indifference of people towards what was happening in the world. Camus used plague as an allegorical device because writing about plague was definitely not his purpose. "To simplify things, one can say that the Plague is an allegorical novel" (Picon 146). There were many deeply embedded underlying themes and one such theme was to highlight the indifference exhibited by people towards various problems around them and the inaction of people in the face of calamities such as war and epidemic. It is definitely more about World War II and the French Resistance against German Occupation than it is about plague but even more than that it is about people's actions or lack of them thereof. While some may call the novel existentialist in nature, Camus himself refused to agree. "That Existentialist philosophies offered him a vocabulary from which he occasionally borrowed is of secondary importance in his case" (Bree, Camus 74). He categorically said: "No, I am not an existentialist" (Doubrovsky 345). Existentialists believe that life is meaningless without actions and one must take action to give meaning to his existence. "Since life made no sense, each man must give meaning to his individual existence" (McCarthy 202). This, we would say, Camus borrowed from existentialism but the rest is his own.

Camus believed that in the face of human suffering, only few people would come forward and help out. These men are men with intrinsic dignity and their actions assign some value to their existence. Camus felt that men would usually ignore their own worth and capabilities till faced with calamities and its only then that some have the courage to use their abilities for greater good of the humanity. The rest, he believed, would remain ignorant and passive. When Hitler was conquering the world in one sweeping motion, Camus noticed how indifferent most of the people were. It was only when France came under attack and English people faced an immediate threat that some sound action was taken to thwart Hitler's consistent attacks. The war is not the issue here: "The significant potential of the Plague encompasses war, but includes other levels of meaning as well" (Ellison 95). He was not only trying to ignite passion in the people of Europe for their own safety, but he was more concerned with something greater as Rambert comments: "We -- mankind -- have lost the capacity for love" (Camus, 149). The reason plague was chosen as the device is important. This disease was serious in nature and so are all threats of worldly domination. And secondly there was nothing one could do to stop it; but that didn't give men license to sit quietly and do nothing. Something may be unstoppable or simply too powerful to overcome but "it's no reason for giving up the struggle" (Camus, 118). The novel was however not meant for the Europeans alone. It had a much wider audience to address. Camus knew that men around the globe would have to face this struggle in one form or another, sooner or later.

The setting of the Plague was carefully chosen to match Camus's goal of underscoring the indifference that had clawed its way into the society. The author "had carefully chosen his terrain: the atmosphere of collective suffering; inner tensions; the gradual snuffing out of individual aspirations; the sense of impotence and frustration." (Bree, AC 35). It was important to choose something that would affect more than one person or one family; hence the plague.

The story takes place in the small town of Oran, in Algeria. In this small town, the narrator notes, that people were not concerned about others but each one was more concerned about his individual prosperity. "The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich"(Camus, 4). Everyone had become a man for himself. No one was really interested in others or their lives and hence the essential meaning of humanity and human worth had gone out of one's existence. People are looking inwards instead of outwards and hence the society means little and individualism is dominant. With "the town's so being disposed that it turns its back on the bay.... it's impossible to see the sea, you always have to go look for it" (Camus, 5-6). The plague gives everyone a chance to wake up and take notice of the world around. As the plague spreads, the apathy and self-interest become even more obvious because individualistic thinking had been so dominant for years as the following passage reveals:

The manager of the hotel can talk of nothing else. But he has a personal grievance, too; that dead rats should be found in the elevator of a three-star hotel seems to him the end of all things. To console him, I said, 'But, you know, everybody's in the same boat.' 'That's just it,' he replied. 'Now we're like everybody else.' (Camus, 26-27).

People are not interested in other people's problems. It is every man for himself to the extent that doctors are not even willing to accept that an epidemic had broken out. They know how vast the implications of such a disease would be and thus refuse to accept that their country was in the grips of a deadly disease that could affect each and every person and family in the same way. Doctors eventually come to terms with the reality and try treating patients only to realize later that an epidemic doesn't affect one person but an entire nation: "That one must fight against the plagues that enslave man: this is the sole conclusion which, according to Albert Camus, is not open to doubt" (Picon 150). The plague unites the people because they finally realize that it is only through helping each other that they could help themselves. No individual action amounts to much as vicims increase in number each day: "The Plague does, beyond any possible discussion, represent the transition from an attitude of solitary revolt to the recognition of a community whose struggles must be shared" (Sprintzen 103). But the futility of individual action makes people sit up and take notice. Something was deadly wrong with the entire town and it was important that something more serious than individual treatment took place.

The reactions of the people to this deadly disease have a special significance to the goal of the novel. It shows how individuals tend to react to evil. The first reaction is of course to flee the country. People "were trying to escape from this atmosphere of growing panic" (Camus 97). Rambert is only named character among those who try to flee. This is because the others do nothing hence they do not deserve to be given a name while Rambert takes action as a journalist. Slowly and gradually people start uniting against he plague. A visitor named Tarrou who is first to start sanitation campaign triggers their efforts. "Against this background of collective misery... some individuals in the revolt against the Plague are sharply silhouetted" (Maquet 79). Tarrou appears to understand on some level what is really going on here. He tells Rieux something that explains the crux of the novel: "this epidemic has taught me nothing new except that I must fight it at your side" (Camus, 229). Rambert and Grand also join the effort thinking: "I can't say I really know him, but one's got to help a neighbor, hasn't one?" (Camus, 19). The slow awakening of the people is extremely important to the purpose of this novel.

Tarrou is probably the one who echoes author's beliefs and views the most clearly. He is not a native and doesn't have any self-interest in helping out the people in Oran. But he sees ot as his responsibility to help out his fellow human beings and that is exactly what he does: "...he realizes his responsibility towards others and acts on that responsibility" (McMullen 1). He cannot stand apathy and knows it was important to unite the people and he does that by urging people to join his sanitation squads: "Next day Tarrou set to work and enrolled a first team of workers, soon to be followed by many others. However, it is not the narrator's intention to ascribe to these sanitary groups more importance than their due" (Camus, 12). Tarrou is an important character because he is not a hero. Camus presents him as just a human being but a real human being- a man who has the capacity to think and act. He is not interested in creating a heroic image of himself as he says: "I don't believe in heroism; I know it's easy... What interests me is living and dying for what one loves" (Camus,… READ MORE

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