First impressions of this novel, "The Plague, by Albert Camus" were very different from just about all the novels we read in this course. Notably, what stood out to me was the setting and way of life of the people residing in the city of Oran. The narrator of the book, who is unnamed for now, describes the entirety of the city as bleak and gray, with the citizens visibly having no interest in anything other than individual commerce and wealth. This description of an “ugly town”, and how it “turns it’s back on nature” gives off a hidden metaphorical comparison between the plot of plague and the setting, that the city of Oran is plagued with capitalist ideologies and is consumed by wealth in which there’s only happiness in finding money.
The main character, Dr. Rieux, is quite different from the other main protagonists we’ve come across in this course. One would be able to describe Dr. Rieux as a sort of humanist and strong believer in knowledge and science as the ways of life. For starters, he’s seemed to pick up on the fact that these rats aren’t just strewn around by kids as most of the people in the town presume, as he’s noticed that there’s blood spurting from their muzzles, and they appear to be sickly in some form. He relies heavily on his analytical judgement in the sense that he is a doctor. As he predicted, the number of dead rats continues to grow until there are heaps of them littering the streets of Oran. Furthermore, when one of his patients falls ill and has unusual swelling around the armpits and groin area, and eventually passes away shortly after, Dr. Rieux knows that there’s some disease spreading through the city. It’s around this point in the book when we are introduced to Raymond Rambert, a journalist who wants to get the scoop on the current growth of deceased rats. After Dr. Rieux inquires on whether he would be able to tell the full truth, Rambert declines and says he is not in a position to do so. Again, this defines Dr. Rieux’s character is truth-based and shortly after declines to provide information to Rambert.
To me, it seems like Dr. Rieux is in a way, out of place in his society, as he tends to think differently, more critically about certain aspects that people face daily, such as the clear foreshadowing that plague has stricken the city. Or the fact that he has more humanist approaches such as being truthful and honesty are values held close to him, while, in the city of Oran, money, capitalism and even cheating your way into that lifestyle seems more prevalent. Altogether, this novel definitely brings some new values and ideas to discuss, and will definitely delve into an interesting read!
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