The Plague by Albert Camus is an absurdist novel. It depicts the spread of a fictional plague. Dr. Bernard Rieux acting as the narrator of the story. The story takes place in Oran, Northern Algeria. Rats begin showing up in the rather boring town, which raises a bit of concern from the people who live there. Before long, piles of thousands of rats come out to die daily. They are found everywhere, in cafes, hotels, houses, hallways, streets, and rooms. M. Michel, the concierge of the building in which Rieux lives, contracts an odd illness and dies within a week. Experiencing incredibly high fever, difficulty breathing, and fatal buboes. He is the first victim of the plague. After this, many people in the town begin to fall to the same illness. In no time at all, the number of deaths becomes staggering. Hundreds by the day. The town makes the decision to gate Oran and quarantine.
“How hard it must be to live only with what one knows and what one remembers, cut off from what one hopes for!” (pg.33)
“They knew now that if there is one thing one can always yearn for, and sometimes attain, it is human love.” (pg.271)
I chose these two quotes because they tell us about exile and isolation as well as yearning and longing for absent loved ones. Things which become the main focus in the novel as the story progresses. The story focuses on the effects of the plague on the townspeople. As the plague’s death toll increases, people become more afraid and begin to stay away from other people in fear of contracting the plague. The narrator dwells on the feelings of isolation and suffering and portrays a lot of the townspeople as jumbled messes full of “futile” emotions. Many people consider this novel to be a war allegory of the French resistance to the Nazis in WW1. Relating to how the story “points out the futility of human aspirations and inevitability of suffering.” (study.com)
The novel perfectly tackles the topic of estrangement. The book has become somewhat relatable when talking about isolation and quarantine.