Literary Analysis Paper: The Plague

Eugene Albert Olarte Javillonar August 7, 2013

IV AB MA POS/ Subject: LIT 189 Teacher: Mrs Mary Thomas

The Plague and the Human Self:

After much reflection of the work of Albert Camus, “The Plague” the researcher for

this paper will sync the concept of the human self and death with the overarching themes of

the novel. In summary the novel revolves around the perspectives of the citizens of Oran as

the plague unexpectedly unleashes itself on them. First the plague arrives as a sudden rise of

many dead rats then the book transitions to the death, sickness and trauma that stretches and

affects the people. The book explains to its readers that it will attempt to be as objective as it

can about the situation that has struck the peaceful and routine lives of the city. With Dr.

Rieux playing as the narrator and one of the major character perspectives the readers are

given an in depth story of lives and believes that change for better or worse in the face of a

constant stream of death and slow madness. From the initial effects of the plague the city then

gets quarantined further traumatizing the people, burdening them with longings of loved ones

and family; and as the months pass we see the development of desperate characters such as:

Rambert and his desire to escape the trapped city, and Cottard who has come to love the

atmosphere of despair. But with the plague came with opportunities for “heroes” like Tarrou,

and Joseph Grand who go out of their way to ease the crushing misery with the creation of

the Sanitation League and helping in the medical facilities. Before the end of the plague the

novel portrays the city and its people slowly accepting the plague as a daily issue, where

death and quarantined friends and family members are routine. The novel concludes soberly

with our narrator telling the readers that there is more praise in humans than there is to

despise.
 Literary Analysis Paper: The Plague

From this setting the researcher wants to analyse the novel as a masterpiece of city as

a character. Drawing from the fact Camus has encompassed a distinct life for the city of

Oran, detailing it with generalities like the city and its people feeling similar emotions when

the plague struck, the researcher will transfigure the city and its people as the main focus of

this paper.

The thesis statement of this paper is the following:

That Camus brings to life (or to death) the collective experiences of a bustling city and is

able to showcase that a city moves and reacts like a living, emotional human being through

the lens of the five stages of grief.

Death and Grief:

Death and the reactions of people towards it is one of the most human things there is.

It is only in the realm of people that we transfigure death to such a high degree. Throughout

history we as a people have created ceremonies, traditions and religions that have placed

death as the center piece of our attention. And we have also developed a science to it, not so

much in our fascination to the dead but also because death means more to the ones still alive

then those who have passed. It is the grief that attaches itself to those still alive that creates

change and trauma to the human person.

With this idea, the researcher will connect this grief for death that usually is placed

towards a singular person and apply this human concept to the very being of the city. Because

the city of Oran for the researcher is not merely a location, but once the city became

quarantined and isolated from the rest of the world the people’s fate became interconnected,

combining them and their experiences into collective experience, specifically a combined

experience for death and grief.

 Literary Analysis Paper: The Plague

To operationalize the theory the researcher will use the concept of the five stages of

grief which also known as the Kubler-Ross Model. The concept which was studied by

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, she hypothesizes that a person when faced with the reality of

impending death or other extreme, awful fate he or she will experience a series of emotional

stages: denial, anger, depression, bargaining and acceptance. Using those five stages, the

novel has shown a generality of those reactions given by the citizens of Oran, and that the

horrible fate that has befallen them was the very plague itself. The city moves through these

stages like a collective being even more solidified because of their isolated nature.

The Five Stages:

The five stages are the following: denial, anger, depression, bargaining and

acceptance. Through analysis of the book, the city of Oran progresses through the stages with

the experiences of the collective.

Denial, the first stage is defined as usually only a temporary defense for the

individual. This feeling is generally replaced with heightened awareness of possessions and

individuals that will be left behind after death. Denial can be conscious or unconscious

refusal to accept facts, information, or the reality of the situation. Denial is a defense

mechanism and some people can become locked in this stage. For the city of Oran denial is

felt through the initial reactions towards the dying rats. M. Michel, the manager to one of the

hotels in Oran only saw the dead rats as a prank done by hooligans. Even when the death toll

of rats rose only blame and slight panic was occurred because it never really crossed the mind

of the people that a serious issue will affect them. “Our fellow-citizens, as they now realized,

had never thought that our little town might be a place particularly chosen as one where rats

die in the sun and concierges perish from peculiar illnesses. From this point of view, indeed,
 Literary Analysis Paper: The Plague

they were mistaken and discovered that they had to adjust their ideas. If it had all stopped

there, old habits would no doubt have regained the upper hand. But others of our fellow-

citizens, who were not concierges or poor people, were to follow M. Michel down that same

path. This was where fear began — and with it, serious reflection.” (Camus 1948, pg. 21)

This denial even occurred in the government with the prefect hesitant to immediately

act on the findings that Dr. Rieux and Dr. Castel found. This plus the media was limiting

itself to broadcast much news about the rise of dying sick, all this occurs because of the

human reaction of denial, the city is unwilling to let go of its sense of peace.

The second stage is that of anger. Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes

that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to

misplaced feelings of rage and envy. Anger can manifest itself in different ways. People can

be angry with themselves, or with others, and especially those who are close to them.

Anger can be seen in the sermon of Paneloux. “A cloud fell across the end of the first

month of the disease because of a marked aggravation of the epidemic and an impassioned

sermon by Father Paneloux.” (Camus 1948, pg. 57) Since the plague is something that can’t

be denied any longer, his sermon is a reflection of the plague being placed as a punishment

from God. He calls out to the people saying this occurrence is because of the sins of the

people, that they together are only to be blamed for the death and trauma. “He (Father

Paneloux) had a strong, impassioned voice which carried a long way, so when he launched a

single vehement and thundering attack on his listeners — 'My brethren, a calamity has

befallen you; my brethren, you have deserved it'” (Camus 1984, pg. 58)

In the novel also Rambert’s experience is a showcase of anger for the circumstance.

For his case he is merely passer-by to the town for he is originally from France, “he said that

he was a foreigner in our town and that, consequently, his case should be given special

consideration.” (Camus 1984, pg. 64) Because in a sense he was a stranger to the city he felt
 Literary Analysis Paper: The Plague

a deeper frustration for the situation, a representation for those other strangers to the city of

Oran, “like the journalist Rambert and others, whose situation was different, and for whom

the pain of separation was amplified by the fact that, being travellers surprised by the plague

in the town, they were separated not only from the person to whom they could not return, but

from their homes as well.” (Camus 1984, pg. 47)

Ramberts experiences connect perfectly with the third stage which is bargaining. The

third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay death.

Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher power in exchange for a

reformed lifestyle. In the case of the city bargaining occurs to those trying to escape the

quarantined city. The people unwilling to sustain the isolated life, they attempt again and

again for special treatment that they may leave the city to visit those they loved. Such an

example is Rambert dealing with smugglers and paying a huge amount for him to be

smuggled out of the city. These people who resort to this tactics are bargaining what little

they have for two things, to escape the threat of the plague as well as that longing for the past.

The second to the last stage is depression which the novel portrays with careful

collective generality because in depression the person begins to understand the certainty of

death. Because of this, the individuals may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of

the time crying and grieving.

Depression is through the novel as that moment when the people have realized that

they are like prisoners. Understanding that they are trapped with no certainty of escape, thus

to hope is almost like a dream. “Thus they endured that profound misery of all prisoners and

all exiles, which is to live with a memory that is of no use to them. Even the past, which they

thought of endlessly, had only the taste of remorse and longing. They would have likedto be

able to add to it everything that they regretted not having done when they could do it, with

the person for whom they were waiting — just as they brought the absent one into every
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situation of their life as prisoners.” (Camus 1984, pg. 47) Because they were locked from all

sources of communications, the isolation was almost tremendous, and though some of the

citizens took to the cinemas and cafes to pass the time, as a form of distraction rather than

recreation, the people lived through the days of the plague like that empty bodies. Because of

non-existent belief in the future, and that they were hopeless, the people passed through the

streets of Oran like a spiritless shadows.

The last stage of grief is acceptance. Simply put the city of Oran has come to terms

with the plague. That this situation has become their situation, they have come to realized that

the plague is impartial to all, and that all classes are affected and made equal, “Because of the

efficient impartiality which it brought to its administrations, the plague should have worked

for greater equality among our fellow-citizens… Of course, no one could fault the equality

of death, but it was not one that anybody wanted.” (Camus 1984, pg. 135) This impartial

justice has made the city realized that the plague is a collective disaster, not one to solved or

undertaken solitarily. This unified act to help one another can be seen through the perspective

of Jean Tarrou, who has accepted the plague and decided to help by creating a sanitation

league and by seeking willing volunteers to help Dr. Rieux and those sick.

But apathy to misery was one of the distinct natures of acceptance. The plague and

people dying or being quarantined became routine as well to the citizens. It no longer was a

surprised, and that everyday life became fixed to seeing the day’s just pass. The citizens no

longer concerned themselves with much extreme emotions.

 Literary Analysis Paper: The Plague

Conclusion:

Through this analysis of the five stages of grief and the experiences of the citizens
portrayed in the novel by Albert Camus we see a cohesive development of a collective
thought. The city of Oran in the face of the plague transforms itself from merely a location or
a town where people live to that of a living character, an organism experiencing the reality of
mortality and grief. The culture and the people of Oran is in a way a singular life, and that
being something like a human being will react with collective human reactions. The novel
“The Plague” in essence portrays in a large scale the human stages of grief and death and that
by analysing the reactions of the people we are introduced to a myriad of experiencing
joining together to each stage of grief.

Bibliography:

Camus, Albert. The plague. New York: Modern Library, 1948. Print.

Ross, Elisabeth. On death and dying. New York: Macmillan, 1969. Print.

Ross, Elisabeth, and David Kessler. On grief and grieving: finding the meaning of grief

through the five stages of loss. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.