The Plague (A review)
The Plague is a book by Albert Camus that seems really long and is long until you hit the latter half and things start getting interesting.
Namely, the book is split into 5 sections, each describing a different phase of life or after a remarkable event.
A basic summary of the book is as follows: A plague descends on a small coastal town and essentially holds everyone captive, and many people react in very different ways as a result.
Given that the book was written by Camus in the 1940s, there's a lot of background context that needs to be known to fully understand some of the lines in the book. Namely, this book was published just after the end of WW2, and thus some of the "symptoms" that the townsmen exhibit as a result of the prolonged isolation due to the plague (such as burning down buildings, hallucination, exhaustion, lack of optimism/hope) can be compared to how individuals feel in a time of war, whether that be by associating fighting the plague as to fighting the war or by how each person is sort of fighting their individual battle to reconnect and hold meaning during a bleak time.
Also, Camus is famously known as pioneering the theory of "the Absurd" (see Absurdism), and the general message of this philosophical school of thought is that existence (and life) is absurd, that is to say, it lacks any meaning or reason. The way to live fully according to this school of thought is to embrace the absurdity of life and live fully present and aware knowing that life is absurd and there is no true meaning to life.
Relating this back to The Plague, the plague introduced in this book really represents the absurd -- there's no reason for a plague to happen at that place, at that time, or even to happen at all; it just happened and as a result life is such that there is a plague. The reactions that the townspeople and other major characters have as a result of this plague then can be a metaphor for how different individuals live (or act in the face of the absurdity of their situation).
Basic Summary (Since I forgot most of it):
The setting for literally everything takes place in the small coastal town of Oran in the northwest of Algiers (this town exists btw). The main characters are the narrator (later revealed as the doctor), the doctor Doctor Bernard Rieux, a journalist trapped in the town due to quarantine, Rambert, a supposed businessman but really someone who suffers from a lack of purpose and fully embraces life, Jean Tarrou, and the local priest, Father Paneloux. There are also side characters, and notably I'll mention M. Othon, a magistrate, Grand, an individual who works diligently for the city yet is also obsessed and in some respects crazy, and Madame Rieux, the doctor's retired mother. Of course, it should be noted that there are other important characters yet I have chosen to ignore them.
The book starts off by providing a description of the town Oran. It then moves on to provide a description of the doctor's daily activities, along with the curiosity that rats are emerging in the city. A few pages later, these rats start dying, as well as the emergence of some cases of a bubonic-plague like disease (this is the plague) among some individuals. Here, most of the characters (besides the priest and the magistrate) have been introduced to us.
The next section (not part since I don't remember the parts) focuses heavily on the administrative and social response to the plague. There is, of course, much debate among the authorities to the severity of the plague, notably with many arguing that the plague is just a minor thing and it will go away very soon.
Very notably here, it's interesting to see these town officials treated the plague with some sort of respect despite eventually brushing the problem off. This kind of mirrors the response of some countries to our latest plague (2020). Also, the doctor can be thought of the whistleblower here; he is the first to realize the severity of this problem and the potential impacts, and he is an individual working on the front lines.
Moving on, eventually statements get issued and the public has to face the fact that there is a plague amidst them and that it is here to stay. (Side note: It is interesting to see that face masks are not worn by the public despite being worn later by "cleaning crews") We here see the first absurdity in the reaction of the individuals; instead of staying inside and trying to protect themselves, they more or less consider it an extended vacation and wander and meander and lurk outside even if they have nothing to do. Arguably however, this is expected behavior as there is literally nothing to do, and in a town of a hundred-thousand, seven hundred deaths from a plague in a week isn't that many.
Anyways I forgot the next part. Paneloux delivers a religious sermon, the townspeople get more and more anxious, more and more people die, and the plague evolves into a respiratory illness. Also, a serum is being developed (it ends up working wayyyy later), and it's interesting to note that with the townspeople doing literally nothing, everything is meaningful and meaningless to them; they clamor for optimism knowing that it means nothing and they're wasting their time.
During this part, something interesting also happens; the doctor is essentially not allowed in to houses or areas with sick people mainly because they know and fear that they will be taken away from fellow family members and thus put up fierce resistance to the doctor's entrance. Rieux eventually has to get police to force down some doors or indicate their presence for the doctor to actually come and give a diagnosis (essentially a death sentence at this point). Furthermore, more and more of the city is being converted into recovery rooms, which is an interesting fact in my opinion.
It should also be worth noting the character development of the journalist Rambert. At the start, he clamors and tries every possible method of getting out of the city and thus quarantine to be united with his wife, so he can "live." He berates and mocks and degrades the doctor for not knowing what is "right." Eventually, he joins a smuggling company and creates plans for himself to get smuggled out of the city. However, at this moment, he learns that the doctor is in the same position that he is in; Madame Rieux (this time I am referring to Monsieur Rieux's wife) is also held far away from Rieux, and the two have been separated for a very long time. Upon learning this, a change of heart suddenly lapses over Rambert, and he realizes that the doctor means no harm in denying him what he wants; the two are in the same situation. Thus, he joins a cleaning municipality (think of like volunteer groups doing public service), and the book moves on to part three.
After a bit, part three of the book happens, which reflects a general shift in temperament and mood towards the plague; rather than the townspeople believing that someday their prince will come and they will be saved, they turn towards a more pessimistic (arguably realistic) view, that the plague is here to stay and they have nothing to do until it goes away. As a result, drastic changes happen; some have mood swings and hallucinations, others openly revolt against others and the government for "oppressing" them, and more others simply resort to isolation.
Part four is very long yet very moving and very interesting. Many issues are discussed here, with for me the most striking and most notable being what it means to be a saint and the church and its relation to salvation, being revealed through a conversation between the Doctor and Father Paneloux. Paneloux ends up dying, most likely as a result of his dying endeavor to become a saint and to have his only true solace in God (and thus ignore all mortal ways of living). Thus, near the end of his life, he rejects science and moves more towards a spiritual way of living that ultimately leads to his death. Other than that, for me personally, the death of the magistrate's son was the most striking. Disregarding the fact that the serum was first tested on him and Camus does a fantastic job of depicting a child's struggle against the plague and his ultimate, cruel, death. Also, the peoples at this point (as said by Camus) are only "marking time," considering there is nothing to do.
This part fantastically depicts the weariness of the plague, which I would assume is a reference to the weariness of the war on the home front or simply the weariness to roll a rock up a hill everyday. I like this part.
Also, Rambert, the journalist who was plotting his escape, at the last moment when an escape is possible, chooses to remain in the city, citing his own morals and his sense of guilt that would remain.
Part four ends with Tarrou and the Doctor engaging in some disorderly conduct, namely, using the doctors' privilege to allow both of them to swim in the Mediterranean. Furthermore, right before this, Tarrou reveals his whole life story and how he comes to be.
In part 5, Tarrou mysteriously catches the plague, and through a long and heart wrenching fight against it, he succumbs. This part is what I would consider to be the most emotionally moving, as this is one of the two deaths that really matter in the book; with this one, I could feel the sorrow (tbf I am emotionally connected to Tarrou) and the emptiness depicted that came after his death. Also, we see the doctor cry for the first time.
In the actual part 5, it turns out that the plague is dwindling; that is, the number of infections and deaths each day start dropping for on apparent reason. Moreover, everything that previously doesn't work starts working, such as the serum that previously held no effect on the plague now seems somewhat effective in reliving symptoms and warding off the plague.
This phenomena is absurd. This is well-reflected in the reactions of the townspeople, who are reluctant to acknowledge that the plague has gone away, first dismissing it as optimism, and eventually realizing the true implications for this statement. There are still some that hide behind the blinds and do not believe this truth. Anyways, life goes back to normal, yet it is still interesting that many eventually end up longing for the past when they were confined and the plague was around.
The book ends on the detainment of a character I have intentionally omitted (he is not interesting in my opinion), yet for me it ends when Rieux receives news that his wife has died. However, instead of crying or expressing pain, Rieux simply states that he was expecting this and moves on with the same hardness as if nothing has happened.
Overall, the first half of this book was kinda mid (6/10) and the second half was phenomenal. Of course, not knowing any context besides the fact that this was written by Camus, it was only after having a conversation with my dear friend Satvik that I realized the message and some of the intricacies of this book.
Overall, the first half is very slow, and the second half is fast. It felt terrible reading the first half, and I considered stopping many times (the book wasn't boring to the point where I quit but still not very interesting). Also, many of the explicit philosophical remarks and ideas expressed are as a result of character monologues, something I find very interesting and very fitting.
9/10. Would read again if I knew it would be this good.
I'll be reading less fiction and more popular science/non-fiction for my next few books.