1. Title: The Plague
2. Author: Albert Camus
3. The novel is called “The Plague” because it’s about a town that suffers from an epidemic of the plague.
4. The story is in chronological order.
5. The setting takes place during the 1940’s in the town of Oran, which is a French port on the Algerian coast. It is a very dull and boring town. The narrator describes it as being “ugly”. It has no trees or real vegetation. The town is filled with people that only care about making money, they don’t really care about having fun or enjoying life. It’s a pretty dismal setting.
6. The setting makes a pretty big impact on the novel. The town is struck with the plague, so the gates of the town are locked, and no one can get in or out. All the townspeople are stuck there and feel almost like prisoners. Because Oran is so bland, it certainly does not help to get peoples’ hopes up. The people feel trapped and some even try to escape. I think the setting caused the people to go a little crazy at times.
7. Dr. Rieux is the main character. He is a doctor that first recognizes that rats were dying exponentially each day and he wants something to be done about it. He wants to take action to make sure people don’t become affected by the disease, but the authorities are very relaxed about it and don’t want to jump to conclusions. He is a very caring person and puts the health of the town above his problems, such as his wife being separated from him.
The rest of the characters are not nearly as prevalent as Rieux, but some of the others include Cottard, Tarrou, and Rampert. They are all acquaintances of Rieux that basically symbolize the mood of the rest of the town. Each of them seems to represent a type of people and how they react to the plague. Cottard is a person who does not take any responsibility to help fight the plague. Tarrou is similar to Rieux in that he wants to help fight the plague. Rampert is someone who wants to escape and get out of the town. Each of the minor characters seem to represent how a bigger group of people react to the situation.
8. The story starts out with Dr. Rieux seeing a rat stumble, collapse, and cough blood out of its mouth. He at first thinks nothing of it, but then starts to see more rats and finds it peculiar. Rieux tries to talk to the authorities to get the bottom of the problem, but they think it’s a prank. Eventually there are more and more dead rats everyday. The authorities start to realize there is a problem and try to kill all the rats. Then one of the townspeople gets very sick and dies in a fashion similar to the rats. Rieux thinks that the plague is returning, but the authorities don’t want to believe him. More and more deaths start to occur and they realize that Rieux is right. The authorities are forced to close the town gate and lock everyone inside because they can’t let the disease spread. People begin to realize they are going to be stuck in the town for a long time. Some people are alone without loved ones because they were out of town when the gates were closed and they can’t get back in. Initially the townspeople panic and some people, such as Rampert, try to escape, but fail. Thousands of people are taken by the plague. Eventually the town starts to realize that they are in the situation together and begin to try to help one another get through it. They realize that everyone is dying, not just the poor or elderly, so they bond to help Rieux. At the end, the plague dies off and the gates of the town are reopened to begin normal life again.
9. I think one of the themes of the story is that we need to help each other, especially during difficult times. When the news of the plague first hit the town, everyone became selfish and only cared about themselves. Everyone only looked out for themselves. As the story progresses, the people realize that they are in it together, and that they need to help one another survive. I think by showing this, the author is saying that people naturally only care about themselves, but that by being selfish and isolated, we can’t survive. If we work together, we can get through tough times.
10. I thought an interesting when Rampert had his whole escape plan set up, but then he backs out because he feels bad about leaving while the plague is still going on. He had been trying to escape for much of the novel, but then suddenly has a change of heart. I guess he was moved by the way the town came together.
11. I read The Stranger by Albert Camus the first marking period and it was pretty good, so I thought I’d try another one of his books. I didn’t like this one nearly as much. The Stranger was written in a very different writing style. It was much more to the point than The Plague. It seemed to describe things less and the story moved a lot quicker. The Plague was very bland in my opinion. I know the stories were both originally written in French, so I think that different people translated each novel, which could have led to the differences in writing style. I would not recommend this book because it moves very slowly and the writing style is mundane. The ending is also very predictable, which makes the book even worse.