Isolation In The Plague

Disease and plague, something that has been with man since the beginning, always challenging them, forcing them to adapt and change. Plagues and Peoples by William H. McNeill is a book explaining the hardships, facts, and evidence of how plagues caused man to adapt and move. Documented encounters with disease, ranging from the height of the Chinese empire, to the medieval kingdoms in Europe and Spain, as well as the colonization of the Americas, and the great genocide of the native peoples of South America. The illusory idea that man had won the battle in 1974 was quickly proven wrong yet again, for man may never win the battle against disease, and forever be in a constant battle. McNeill’s claim of fact as well as Ethos allowed him to write a consistent story including rhetoric devices, showing the true purpose of the informative book and conveying his main point of how plagues shaped the course of humankind development.

A book of horrors, fear and death. “The Plague” is a book by Albert Camus which weaves these emotions and events into one suspenseful tale. Each paragraph and section is written and structured in such a way as to give the reader insight into the feelings of the victims of the plague, and to show somewhat of a theme. The passage from section 4, part 4, line number 1 to line number 35 gives us a glimpse of the melancholy of the people of Oran to their dead loved ones to the extent that they do not attend All Souls' Day, for they were thinking of them too much as it was. Albert Camus fills this passage with figurative devices, including, diction, personification, pathetic fallacy, metaphors, irony and a turning point. The first two paragraphs

Diseases have always been a threat to humans, all throughout history. One of the most destructive disease outbreaks in history was the plague outbreak which peaked in 1346 to 1353, in Europe, commonly known as the Black Death. This plague outbreak was extremely deadly and killed 30-60% of the European population at the time of the outbreak. The outbreak is commonly believed to have been caused by the bubonic plague, but modern evidence suggests that the Black Death was caused by pneumonic plague, a much more contagious and deadly infection.

Between 1315 and 1317, crop s failed and created the greatest famine in the Middle Ages

The writer “agreed with Kierkegaard that despair is not an act, but a human state. He saw this state of despair resulting from isolation from the rest of the world” (Tornaritis and Miller). The short story also has several autobiographical moments and reflects Camus’s attitude to the Algerian situation. Daru went to the remote school and the writer made similar decision at the end of his life. Camus moved to “the small village of Lourmarin , in the region of Provence… he bought a home in which he could escape from people to work alone in monastic style” (Lea 22). It looked like both the author and his character wanted to cloister themselves. However, the writer found out that it is difficult to be alone, while his character did not show signs he had problems with loneliness. Camus did not explain Daru’s reasons in details, but experts believe the man chose the remote area to escape from the pressure of urban life, like the writer did. The teacher also could fulfill his need to feel that people need him. Daru’s school became the main food source for the community because of the last drought, and he gave children and their families grain that was sent by the French administration. Like Camus, Daru was born in Algeria and did not want to leave his native land in spite of its inhospitality. These conditions were shown from the beginning of the story: “and suddenly this snow, without warning… This is the way the region was,

During the Black Plague, the responses from the Christian and Muslim society was different. Although they had similarities like they both thought that the plague was miasia carried by winds and one prevention method they both used was building fires to try and decontaminate the air. So, as the Christians saw this as a punishment from God because of their sins, the Muslim saw this as a divine act as it came from God himself.

The Plague (French, La Peste) is a novel written by Albert Camus that is about an epidemic of bubonic plague. The Plague is set in a small Mediterranean town in North Africa called Oran. Dr. Bernard Rieux, one of the main characters, describes it as an ugly town. Oran’s inhabitants are boring people who appear to live, for the most part, habitual lives. The main focus of the town is money. “…everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business’” (Camus 4). The citizens’ unawareness of life’s riches and pleasures show their susceptibility to the oncoming plague.

Rieux throughout the text has remained in an abstracted state, viewing the pain inflicted by the plague through a doctors eyes, symptoms that need to be fixed rather than a reality of an epidemic. As Jacques feels the full effects of the plague, his wailing and pain increases to the point here Rieux has trouble remaining in the room because the sound of the child’s suffering is too much to bear; he is no longer abstracted but instead fully present, experiencing hard emotions (Camus 217). After a long, drawn out period, Jacques finally dies. Paneloux remarks that his death is part of God’s plan. Rieux, angered by this comment, responds with a feeling of “mad revolt” and yells at Paneloux for believing in abstractions (Camus 218).

In its most basic sense, absurdity addresses the meaninglessness of life, with special attention directed to divine disavowal.” Jared White utilizes Absurdism to highlight the thoughts and meanings that go from individuality to the community. Absurdism is defined as the philosophy that humans live in essential isolation in an irrational and meaningless world. White says that when people realize their time has almost no value in the large scale, they give it up to the remainder of the world. He also claims that despite of the humans’ absurd settings, personal gains are favored. White makes clear that, taken literally, the plague of rats is an epidemic, but, symbolically, the plague of humans is a pandemic. The smaller outbreak only parallels the massive disease that people are infected with. White also argues that The Plague is in part a historical allegory, in which the plague signifies the German occupation of France from 1940 to 1944 during World War II. “In a deft narrative act, Camus allegorically uses the plague to consider not only his personal situation--sick, exiled, and restricted--but also the European conflict. Bernard further elaborates that Camus wrote La Peste with the plague as an obvious reference to “the kind of imprisonment [. . .] the Germans imposed on occupied France” (165).” Oran is cut off from the outside world, which is equivalent to France; the different attitudes of the

There are many obstacles, notions of self-preservation, and even temptations that one has to confront when choosing the right decision. To choose what is right, one must, often times, abandon resist all of the above even the most difficult of obstacles. In Albert Camus’ “The Guest”, the author illustrates these obstacles in the choices made by protagonist Daru, as he is faced with an impossible moral decision with regards to the Arab prisoner. Daru, a schoolmaster serving in the French Resistance Movement, is alone with his thoughts and sense of moral righteousness when approached with the incredible decision to free or not to free the Arab. As Daru reaches his fork in the road, he is confronted by circumstances in which a range of muddled variables play a role in his making the right decision, but Daru chooses justly and appropriately, letting the Arab make the decision whether or

In his novel The Plague Camus creates characters who are forced to think, reflect, and assume responsibility for living as they battle an epidemic of bubonic plague that is ravaging the Algerian port of Oran. For ten months as the outbreak isolates the city from the rest of the world, each of the citizens reacts in a unique way. Camus’ main characters undergo both individual and social transformations.

47). Here Camus presents the power of certain words like "syndrome" as their use suggests or outlines a certain course of action for the doctors. Rieux recognizes this power and initially rejects the use of "syndrome" as it would mean almost immediate implications upon his profession as a doctor. Camus furthers this when Rieux considers the use of the word "plague". Rieux hesitates, knowing that this word possesses certain implications that will change the lives of all Oran's citizens through quarantine. Thus for Rieux, "It's not the question of the term I use; it's a question of time" (P.47). In this description Rieux establishes that the real issue of using the term "plague" concerns whether the "time" is right to unleash the word's power to change both their careers and the townspeople's lives. Through Rieux's hesitation in stating these terms, Camus demonstrates how language, like plague, can have the power of life or death over people like Rieux.

Widely recognized for philosophical writings as a French essayist and playwright, Albert Camus is a major contributor to exploring the absurd in modern Western literature. Characterized by highlighting the human condition, Camus’ writing style focuses on the everyday lives and inner psyche of individuals in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. Such a character-driven writing style is most notably displayed in his 1946 work, The Stranger, a tale of an emotionally-detached man known as Meursault, who lives in French-colonized Algiers during the intermission of the two World Wars. Consisting of two parts—The Stranger first explores his daily life as a free man, and in the second, delves more into the character’s own philosophy as Meursault contemplates during his remaining time in jail. At its core, the story explores the relationships and interactions of the odd Meursault through the character’s inner monologue and dialogue with those around him. The story itself is very ambiguous in its’ nature, and the idea of contemplating the meaning of life and purpose is prevalent throughout The Stranger. Evidently, Camus writes Meursault as a man who believes that life has no meaning, and therefore people are free to do as they please. To supplement the protagonist’s view, the author also presents Meursault alongside various personalities of key supporting characters, each with their own unique personality, and differing outlooks on life. Doing so thus enables Camus to get readers to contemplate about meaning through multiple perspectives. Stylistically, through many devices that emphasize diction, imagery, and story themes. Ultimately, The Stranger is a way for Camus to convey that there are multiple ways to perceive the meaning of life, using Meursault to directly project a different view than what readers are used to. Surely, with the intent of crafting a protagonist so strange, that Meursault becomes comparable to other characters; less so as a reflection of what the author personally believes the meaning of life is, but more of what such exploration of the idea could be.

Within everyone’s life illness is present, however when an epidemic occurs, the way a population copes with the tragedy can vary drastically. Throughout Albert Camus’s The Plague, people like M.Michel, Cottard and Paneloux underestimate the severity of their situation, showing that the people of Oran often miscalculate how dire their case is, or blame it on outside factors, such as other people’s actions; however, it's this underestimation and denial that forces them to realize that sometimes events cannot be avoided or explained.

Among the many casualties of World War II was the surviving populace’s faith in the previously unshakable institutions they had defined so much of their life around. Formerly vaunted, unquestionable axes of life - religion, national pride, community life - had been irreversibly stripped of their unquestioned status. One would assume that the dissipation of such illusions would be up the alley of part-time philosopher and full-time writer Albert Camus, who had eloquently laid out his opinions on such human constructs in his Myth of Sisyphus. Much like the cursed king of Greek myth, man’s search for meaning in an absurd world was an endless and fruitless task, doomed to go on forever. Abandoning reason to place one’s faith in an imaginary God or supposedly immutable calling was a worthless effort: one should embrace their own life and live it within one’s own boundaries. Paradoxically enough, the descent of the Nazi war machine upon Europe, and with it the rejection of those leaps of faith, caused camus Myth and devoted himself to resisting the terror of Fascism, a struggle symbolically represented in his novel La Peste (The Plague) by the sleepy Algerian town of Oran and its struggle against a deadly outbreak. In a sense, Camus moved past the personal and perpetual rebellion against the Absurd to confront a ephemeral and collective threat no less existential. Unlike the lone absurd hero of the Myth, who much like Sisyphus we must imagine to be happy even in the face of