Plague, The - Albert Camus

Prelude

I remember those days where Military Personnel were engaged to prevent any communal riots around the city. The infamous Babri Masjid episode and the communal riots brought in lots of tension in the city. Sporadic report of riots was reported at near coastal regions. Seems, I have chosen an apt moment to read "The Plague" by Albert Camus.

I have already read "The Myth of Sisyphus" but alas, the theme / message - still remained as enigma and hence I picked this one with a prejudiced mind. Did some homework regarding the bubonic plague, socio - political situation prevailed in Europe during 192-1950.

Each page left me with numerous images and situations prevailing across the globe. I feel like reading a prophetic master piece that transcends the barriers of time and space. Here is an account of my take on Plague.

Theme

Thousands of rats came out the fissures and let them died on the port city of Oran. They are found dead everywhere - on streets, houses etc.

Time to rejoice as the ugly creatures is dying? Or is it an early warning symptom?

Just like media celebrated hanging Saddam Hussain! TRP of channels increased as many of us wanted to see the show. Above that, does that suggest something more?

Coming back to the story - It was Dr. Rieux(narrator of the novel) who recognised the imminent mishaps and suggested steps to be taken to curb the epidemic. As usual, to convince majority who did not suffer from the direct hit is a task next to impossible. The lukewarm response with the flavor of optimism results in increase of death toll.

What happens next? Special ward in hospital, quarantine, burial of corpses under strict supervision and finally the port is closed! So, the reactive approach to the early warning symptom results in mishap.

From here onwards the novel focuses on the response of certain characters towards the situation. The characters represents - the one who want to escape, the one who want to fight, the one who wanted to take advantage of the situation ---- Survivors, Opportunists, Sufferers ---- Camus is the master genius who pick up limited characters to represent the multitude of emotions!

Raymond Rambert want to get out the city to join his heart throb in Paris but the movement is restricted due to quarantine. So what? There are smugglers who started the business of smuggling you outside the city! Cottardearned good fortune out of this smuggling business! Finally Rambert opt not to leave the city in trouble.

The Jesuit Priest Father Panelouxrepresents the vested interests of the church and an opportunist whose sermons conveyed the following message "This is God's reaction towards sinners. So, follow the Church". If we were to believe him, then the priest himself would have been the real sinner as he dies out of plague!

We have Jean Tarrouwho was a vacationer to the city who represents the “sane human being” volunteering to help the patients. Finally he sacrifices his life. He along with Rambert and Dr. Rieuxrepresents the fighters of the novel who are engaged in helping out the victims and spreading message of positivity.

As the epidemic was gaining strength and death toll raises - solidarity among the people undergone a positive revival. They started helping each other. Collective security is where everyone found solace.

Finally - when the city was declared to be "plague free", it gave way to celebration! But in reality, they were able to subdue the evil and not eliminate the same. People wanted to believe that they won but plague might come back to any happy city by letting some rats dying on their streets. (The concluding lines of the novel bearing this idea was popularised a lot when Plague struck Surat)

Related thoughts

This novel rants the ultimate truth that existence is an ongoing struggle against an ultimately unnamable and unidentifiable foe. Who is this "foe"? Might be your inner self who always warns you or your complacency! The evil changes its faces but reincarnate as something or the other. Again we are left with variety of choices - to be a fighter or to be an escapist or to be an opportunist.

One school of critics suggests that - Camus was trying to represent the Nazi invasion of France and plague was a symbol used for the same.

Quite possible! I can relate this with a number of events - to quote a few -

a) The communal riots happened after Babri Masjid incident

b) Mumbai Attack (Dont want to quote the dates as we witnessed many)

c) At times, we can see rats dying in tolls in the happy space of MS also (Fun intended)

For me - this is classic piece of literature. Something which transcends the barriers of time, space, geography - whatever!

Symbolic representation is something that was pioneered by Joyce, Camus, Kafka, Sartre etc. In India, I have seen O V Vijayan did the same through Saga of Dharmapuri.Also, I have read a short story by O V Vijayan(Fetus) where in a Queen who delivers an immature fetus who sucks blood of general public. That was a direct slap on the dark days of emergency where in Sanjay Gandhi was given freedom to triumph. There were a few intellectuals around to comprehend the meaning and hence Vijayan survived emergency.

I guarantee – you won’t regret for the time and money spent on this book. Really worth!

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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.

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