Plague In Literature Research Paper

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.

In his novel The Plague, Albert Camus presents a pseudo-historical documentary of a plague that confines and controls the citizens of Oran within their city gates. The plague possesses the power of life and death over the people, as it determines which citizens will face their death or those who work to stop death. These latter men, personified by the character's of Rieux, Grand, and Tarrau, each struggle endlessly to master the plague's power over their lives, even with the realization they may never succeed. For Camus, this idea of "impossible struggle" against an unseen power resonates throughout the novel and reoccurs in another "plague" which these men must contend - the limits of human

The book When Plague Strikes, is about 3 deadly diseases. It 's about the Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS. Each of these diseases can cause a serious outrage of death. The book also tells about how doctors try to come up with treatments, medicines, and antibiotics to try and cure these diseases. All these diseases got the best out of everyone. Some people reacted differently than others with these diseases. All the diseases came in play in A. D. 1347, when the Black Death broke out for the first time in what’s today is know. As southern Ukraine.

"The Black Death" is known as the worst natural disaster in European history. The plague spread throughout Europe from 1346-1352. Those who survived lived in constant fear of the plague's return and it did not disappear until the 1600s. Not only were the effects devastating at the time of infection, but during the aftermath as well. "The Black Death" of the fourteenth century dramatically altered Europe's social and economic structure.

There are many ways to explore any period in history. The period that we will look further into will be Medieval Europe. I found an academic article that explores deeper into that period, especially the Black plague. Assembling three primary sources of the black plague, each has a different perspective of what was portrayed in the academic article.

In the late Middle Ages the worst evil known to man terrorized Europe. People were dropping dead everywhere and there was no place to put them. This vicious culprit was known as the Black Plague. During the 14th century in Europe millions of people died from the plague and the plague brought about great change. Before the plague there was peace and prosperity in the High Middle Ages and after the plague things were different. Historians consider the outbreak of the Black Plague a watershed moment because of great social, religious and economical changes.

When Bubonic Plague visited England in 1348, it was called the Great Mortality. We know it as the Black Death that lasted until 1352 and killed vast populations in Asia , North Africa , Europe , Iceland , and Greenland . In total, it extinguished as much as fifty percent of the world's population.

The Black Death was a terrifying plague that struck Europe and Asia unexpectedly and reduced populations by millions; it was also coined the “Bubonic Plague”. This horrific disease stunned and traumatized every member of society. It’s common symptoms were vomiting, fever, fierce coughing, sneezing, and black and blue blotches or bruises. The most obvious signs of this infection, though, were swollen lymph nodes in the armpits and groin. Although people didn’t know where it came from, the disease was spread by fleas that fed on the blood of infected rodents and rats and proceeded to jump onto people when the rats died. Seeing as people went months without changing clothes or bathing, it’s not surprising that this vile disease came along. Ultimately,

Bubonic plague is an infectious disease that is spread by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. These bacteria remain in a dormant state primarily in a rat flea’s foregut. Once the flea has bitten a victim it regurgitates the contents in its foregut into the bite location. Once the bacterium has entered into a mammal’s warm body it begins to reproduce and spread throughout the mammal’s body. The reproduction of this bacterium creates large painful swollen lymph nodes which are called buboes. Once these buboes get large enough they begin to ooze infected body fluid so that any contact between an infected person and a healthy person will facilitate the spread of this disease. (The Mayo Clinic Staff, 2012)

Before getting to the works inspired by the plague we need to have a clear understanding as to the history and scale that the plague occurred. The plague is thought to have originally started in spring of 1346 in the steppe region which then made its way to the Mongol region. The Mongols were not particularly fond of Christians as the Mongols had converted to Islam and saw Christians as enemies. Religious persecution took place and Christians were murdered. This persecution led the Mongols to take advantage of the plague and launched plague infected bodies into the last Italian merchant trading station in their region. The remaining Italians fled the station on boat carrying the

In,London 30 possible bubonic plague victims are being excavated.This event was horrible but,it will help us learn about one of London's most notorious killers. The skeletons will be anylazed by osteologist from M.O.L.A and test maybe will reveal if bubonic plague or;something else was the cause of death. The database reveals the case of a woman who died on October 17,1581 dyed of plauge; she was buryed in the New Churchyard. Another woman died of sore legs. Then she was brought into a cage to die. Some people didn't adhere to a religious faith and so they were not buried in regular chuchyard graves. The people buried survived many things; the scientist will be able to use Europe's largest project to uncover knowledge about the amazing period

The Great Plague killed nearly half of the European population during the fourteenth century. A plague is a widespread illness. The Illness was also known as the “Black Death”. Most of the European people believed the plague was the beginning of the end of the world. They were scarcely equipped and unready for what was to be entailed. It was by far one of the worst epidemics yet to be seen in those times.

Albert Camus' The Plague, takes place in the desert town of Oran, Algeria, in northern Africa. It is the perfect setting for this story to take place. The ordinariness of Oran is contrasted with the extraordinary business of the plague. Sprintzen points out that "There is a mythic significance of Oran. Given the previous description of the quality of Oranian life, the selection of Oran as the location for the outbreak of plague should not come as a surprise"(Sprintzen 38). In Oran, life for its inhabitants has lost meaning. The plague offers them a chance to give meaning back to their lives. The plot of the story is revealed in five parts, over which we see the characters undergo changes. Through

There is a certin unsureness in the circulation and communication of information in A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe. This instability of the language in this proto-novel is caused by the author citing two sides to every point or statement he makes causing contradictions. On top of this Defoe repeats the same points throughout the entire text. This uncertainty helps to make the reader believe the writing is an actual journal as opposed to an edited, actual non-fiction.