One Last Plague Thing

Spoilers here! If The Plague is on your reading list, avoid this post at all costs!

As The Plague came to an end (both as a disease and a book), I found that it left me in something of a melancholy mood. Based on what had happened so far, I don't know what I was expecting - a happy ending? A simple resolution with no loose ends? Maybe. Some naive, idealistic part of me was hoping that everyone would pull through to see the end of the plague. And for the most part, the cast of characters of which I had grown so fond did alright. 

By the end of the book, the plague has died off in Oran. Slowly, the deaths trail off and restrictions are lifted. By all rights, it should be a happy ending (and I imagine that for most of Oran it was). But on the days leading up to the quarantine being lifted, we find that Tarrou, who has grown close to Rieux, is growing sick. Rieux hopes that it is a simple illness, but they both know better. Tarrou has been working tirelessly to aid the plague victims, and now he has become a victim himself. Rieux does his best to help him, but Tarrou cannot be taken to a hospital - if it is discovered that there is another plague victim within the city, Oran will be forced back into quarantine. It is inevitable, perhaps, that Tarrou dies on the very day the gates are opened.

To me, this was the cruelest twist of fate that Camus could have included; one final blow to his already bruised and battered characters. Rieux's wife has already passed away in a distant hospital, and now, on a day that should be happy, his best friend is dead as well. I found myself surprisingly upset be Tarrou's death. It may have just been the timing - I had steeled myself against the deaths throughout the book, but let my guard down as the story came to an end. Tarrou's death truly came as a surprise. He was not a particularly beloved character, but I did enjoy the friendship he built with Rieux. The thought of Rieux (a favorite character of mine) losing that precious bond along with so much else was distressing.

On the whole, I greatly enjoyed The Plague, despite the melancholy mood it put me in. The characters were compelling, as were the various stories woven into the overall narrative. I also found myself growing attached to the narrator, even though I did not know who he was until the very end. I would definitely revisit this book later on!

As a side note, the next book on my list is another one about sad French people - Les Miserables! If you want to read it, now's the time! (That means you, Grandma!)

More Gloomy Plague Stuff

This one has spoilers, guys! If you want to actually read this book don't read this post.

The Plague is by no means a funny book. It may provoke the occasional chuckle, but overall it gives you little reason to smile. For me, one of the most heart-wrenching scenes came with the death of Monsieur Othon's young son. The boy comes down with the plague and is clearly on the brink of death. This illness coincides with the finishing of Doctor Castel's anti-plague serum. Since it is a sure fact that the boy will die if nothing is done, Rieux and Castel decide to try the serum on him. 

It doesn't work. The boy dies, but instead of dying the faster death that most plague victims must face his death is drawn out and incredibly painful. Castel, Father Paneloux, Rieux, and Tarrou all sit with him as he dies. They are horrified at the process, and especially by the idea that by giving him the serum they have drawn out his suffering. As the reader, I was horrified as well. Camus does not shy away from describing the boy's death. He goes to great lengths to describe how the boy's "lips parted and from them rose a long, incessant scream, hardly varying with his respiration, and filling the ward with a fierce, indignant protest" (194). That picture is at once terrifying and heartbreaking, and the fact that the boy dies soon after did little to help. 

I also found myself incredibly moved by the reactions of Father Paneloux, Tarrou, and the two doctors. Paneloux falls to his knees and prays that God might spare the child more suffering. However, the child's screams drown him out. I found that particularly symbolic - one person's prayers and good intentions can do little to help someone in so much pain. Rieux, on the other hand, quietly internalizes his misery and exhaustion until it explodes out of him. After the boy's death, he grows angry; with himself, with Father Paneloux, with the world. I can understand his distress. Even as a very capable doctor, there was nothing he could do for this one suffering child. Of course he had seen children die before, but he had never sat with them as they twisted and screamed and eventually just faded away. That experience, I think, drives him a little bit mad. 

While the other characters are distressed as well, I found Rieux's and Paneloux's reactions the most moving. Both illustrate the helplessness the characters feel as the things they believe in fail them. Father Paneloux is a highly religious man, but his prayers fail to have any effect and he is understandably upset by that. Rieux, on the other hand, is a man of science. When all of his doctoring can do nothing to help the child, he grows disillusioned. The confusion that they both feel illustrated perfectly the feeling of helplessness that seemed to have taken over the town.