Mar 31, 2003 04:27 PM
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(Updated Mar 31, 2003 05:14 PM)
Set in Algiers, in Northern Africa, The Plague is a powerful and thought provoking study of human life and its meaning in the face of a deadly virus that sweeps through the city, taking a chunk of the population with it.
Divided into five sections, the book narrates the plague in the city of Oran. Part one talks of Oran before the plague has struck and the situation just after the deadly disease hits the city. It starts with Bernard Rieux, the town doctor noticing a dead rat one ordinary morning. But from that morning onwards no one is able to lead a normal life in Oran. First thousands of rats die, then it is the turn of the cats and dogs and finally it is the humans who start to succumb to the deadly disease. Oran slowly becomes a city of hell with no way in or out.
In part two the plague start to affect one and all. The section narrates the efforts of the inhabitants to fight individual battles against the plague, but to no avail. People continue to suffer and lose their loved ones. Out of desperation, small pockets of volunteers evolve to fight the plague as a team and not as individuals.
By the beginning of Part 3, ''the plague had swallowed up everything and everyone. No longer were there individual destinies; only a collective destiny, made of plague and the emotions shared by all.'' This is the worst period and the number of casualties start to rise alarmingly. The plague kills so many people that there's no space left to bury them.
The fourth part marks a remarkable comeback. The citizens of Oran led by the group of volunteers pledge to fight the disease. Things begin to look up and some of the inhabitants stage a miraculous recovery. The rats alive now, begin to resurface in the city.
The final section witnesses the plague leaving the city as suddenly as it had came. A public notification is given that the epidemic seems to be over and people start to rejoice in the streets. Gates are opened and they are united with their loved ones who could not come to the dead city once the disease had spread.
At this point, Dr. Rieux reveals that he is the story's narrator. The book ends with the haunting observation that although the plague bacillus may disappear into hiding for years to come; it never dies or disappears for good.
The novel can be interpreted from various angles. It can be seen as an allegory to the brutal Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War. But at the same time it can be seen as a fight against human indifference.
The first point however seem to be an oversimplification, and it tells only part of the story. The Plague tells us a story of a fight but it is not against a disease, against the German soldiers, it is a fight against the indifference in the face of human suffering. Every character in the story responds to the catastrophe in his/her own way and this reaches to the heart of the Philosophy known as Existentialism; yes, it is actions that truly define a man.
If carefully read it is not very difficult to understand the frustration of the narrator when people prefer not to get stuck in the same boat with someone else as the plague slowly takes control over the city of Oran. There is confusion everywhere, no one understands what has hit them but in their selfish pursuits the citizens turn a blind eye to accept the inhumanity of the situation. They try to cling on to their lives as they always have lived. Hence the struggle against the plague begins with individuals. It takes a lot of time for them to understand that an epidemic is something that affects one and all.
In comes the character of Tarrou. He is an outsider to the town. He is not from the town of Oran; he is not on business there; in fact he is on a vacation. As the plague spreads in the town he (Tarrou) should have stayed indifferent to the chaos surrounding him and would have ideally thought of leaving the town unscathed. Yet he thinks that it is his responsibility to help others in distress. He acts like a champion and ''Next day Tarrou set to work and enrolled a first team of workers, soon to be followed by many others.'' One may think of him as the hero - a man larger than life, a great man in troubled times who does not back out but fights the deadly disease head on. But what Camus tries to point out is the fact that Tarrou is not a hero, he is not a great man either, but he is a man with a capital M. He is someone who does things which should be done by everyone else. What Tarrou does, every man can do. ''I don't believe in heroism; I know it's easy ... What interests me is living and dying for what one loves''. He lives and acts in the way he thinks it is right and thereby conforms to the Existential beliefs of Camus himself.
''You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.'' --Albert Camus (1913 - 1960)
A fabulous book by a superlative storyteller. Enjoy Reading. Look forward for your valuable comments.
