The Main Themes of La Peste by Albert Camus - Essay Example

La Peste La Peste written by Albert Camus(1913-1960), is a story of the outbreak of the deadly epidemic, in the Algerian town of Oran in N.Africa.The population, dominated by the bourgeois, the business class, ignores signs of danger at first until many of their own class fall prey to the disease.A quarantine is declared for those inside the walls of Oran. Dr Rieux,who is revealed at the end of the novel to be the narrator and who is also the main protagonist in the novel,works along with the government and other citizens to take steps to defend against the worsening plague and the resulting social consequences.Reality changes dramatically for the citizens of Oran ,normally consumed with pursuing wealth and habitual pleasures ,when Death becomes omniprescent.The narrator contemplates, "C'est au moment du Malheur qu'on s'habitue a la verite,c'est a dire au silence"They are confronted with feeling of despair ,loneliness and profound self-contemplation .Camus weaves a fine web of diverse, life-like characters who react differently to the gruesome reality that faces them. Keenly aware of the meaninglessness of human condition,the citizens assert their humanity by rebelling against their circumstance in their own unique ways , and finding solidarity among themselves during the excruciating times of danger.Some of the main themes addressed throughout the novel are: Allegory to Nazi Forces: Camus made no efforts to conceal that the novel was partly an allegory of the French resistence to The Nazi forces of oppression during World War 2.The plague symbolizes The German invasion with its inhuman fatalities and violent barbarity.The solidarity and fight of the citizens of Oran against the epidemic corresponds to the struggle and determination of the revolt against the nightmare and rise of Nazism.Camus in 1955 said that the plague can apply to any resistance against any tyranny.The Plague metaphor is more complicated and flexible than the obvious correlation with the Nazi occupation that most people make on reading the novel.It can symbolize any calamity or disaster that tests the endurance of human beings and challenges their solidarity,sense of responsibility,compassion and will power.1 Isolation and Separation: As can be imagined,one of the major effects of a city quarantined is the resurgence of feelings of isolation,exile and futility among the victims. The picture of man in isolation, with or without a state 1John Krapp,"Time and Ethics in Albert Camus's The Plague,University of Toronto Quarterly,Volume 68 Number 2,(Spring 1999). of pestilence, is most vividly portrayed in the character of Grand. The need for human communication and affection is poignantly shown in the figure of this obscure, limited man . His heroism consists of his innate humanity which leads him to perform without reflection commonplace aspects of the work of the sanitary teams which lie within his capabilities. Grand reserves for himself, however, certain hours of the evening which he devotes to his life's most important work. He is writing a novel. Though he has produced many pages of manuscript he has not as yet progressed beyond the first sentence. The search for the exact word that will be the true expression of his thoughts haunts his every moment. This barrier of words hinders him in his conversations with his friends and was the cause, long before, of his wife leaving him. "As long as we were in love, we understood one another without words. But people are not in love all the time. There came a time when I should have found the words that would have kept her with me, but I wasn't able to." When Grand is stricken with the plague it is of Jeanne,his separated wife, that he thinks, of the letter he never wrote, the novel that will never be finished. And Rieux, witnessing the tears of this old man, feels a profound sorrow and sympathy which months of fighting the plague had seemingly stifled within him. Rieux knew exactly what the old man was thinking of as he cried, and he himself shared the same thought, that a world without love was a dead world, and that there always comes a time when a person becomes weary of prisons, of performing one's duty and of courage, and needs only the face of another human being and the wonder of a loving heart.La Souffrance profonde de tous les prisonniers et de tous les exiles est de vivre avec une memoire qui ne sert a rien.(La Peste).The punishment of the exiled is to live in the past haunted by memories that do not serve the present.2 The young journalist Rambert, sees human love and happiness as the greatest of life's values, and struggles desperately to escape from the closed city to rejoin his love. The descriptions of isolation and exile reach their peak in the narration of Rambert's efforts. Rieux accepts the validity of Rambert's belief that love is all important and finding it would liberate Rambert from loneliness and despair, but only for Rambert. Each man has his own truth. For Rieux, his truth is is to perform his job.That is his way of escaping the separation from his loved ones. Existentialism: Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine where man leads a metaphysical existence ,possesses a sense of being and exerts free choice 2Joan M.F.Johnson,"Albert Camus:The Plague and The Fall". to create and define himself .Man is destined to be free and find his own Truth with a personal commitment to individualism and a life of conscience.Camus is thought of by many as an existentialist and most of his works echo deeply the existentialist beliefs .The Plague is no exception.The following passages from the book illustrate the existentialist tendencies of intense individualism . "Ainsi, chacun dut accepter de vivre au jour le jour, et seul en face du ciel. Cet abandon general qui pouvait a la longue tremper les caracteres commencait pourtant par les rendre futiles. Pour certains de nos concitoyens par exemple, ils etaient alors soumis a un autre esclavage qui les mettait au service du soleil et de la pluie. Il semblait, a les voir, qu'ils recevaient pour la premiere fois, et directement, l'impression du temps qu'il fasse. Ils avaient la mine rejouie sur la simple visite d'une lumiere doree, tandis que les jours de pluie mettait une voile epais sur leurs visages et leurs pensees. Ils echappaient, quelques semaines plus tot, a cette averse et a cet asservissement deraisonnable parce qu'ils n'etaient pas seuls en face du monde et que, dans une certaine mesure, l'etre qui vivait avec eux se placait devant leurs univers. A partir de cet instant, au contraire, ils furent apparemment livres aux caprices du ciel, c'est a dire qu'ils souffrirent et esperent sans raison. "3 The above speaks of how an individual conscience and thought is the only one that makes life meaningful.The superficial external circumstances that dominate our everyday disposition is a mere mirage . # P 84 :"Rieux se trouve confronter avec un jeune journaliste, Rambert, qui veut quitter la ville pour se rejoindre avec son amant. Rieux doit decliner a cause de la raison et de la justesse, le jeune homme ne le comprend pas. -alors cela signifie que je me debrouille autrement Mais, reprit-il avec une sorte de defi, je quitterai cette ville. Le docteur dit qu'il lui comprenait encore, mais que cela ne le regardait pas. -si, cela vous regarde, fit Rambert avec un eclat soudain. Je suis venu vers vous parce qu'on m'a dit que vous aviez eu un grand part dans les decisions prises. J'ai pense alors que, pour un cas ou moins, vous pouviez defaire ce que vous 3Albert Camus,"La Peste",Page 74,Gallimard,The Macmillan Company,New York,1947. avez contribue a faire. Mais cela vous est egal. Vous n'avez pense a personne. Vous n'avez pas tenu compte de ceux qui etaient separer. Rieux reconnu que, dans un sens, cela etait vrai, il n'avait pas voulu en tenir compte. -ah ! Je vois, fit Rambert, vous allez parler du service public. Mais le bien public est fait du bonheur de chacun -allons, dit le docteur qui semblait sortir d'une distraction, il y a cela et il y a autre chose. "4 In the above passage ,Dr Rieux is confronted by a young journalist,Rambert who is seeking the doctor's permission to leave the diseased city to reunite with his lover outside.When Rieux declines in the name of justice and public service ,Rambert replies that the good of the public comprises of the happiness of individuals constituting it. Here Rambert personifies existentialism as in a man of revolt fighting for his own selfish needs.5 4Albert Camus,"La Peste",Page 84,Gallimard,The Macmillan Company,New York,1947. 5Boekverslag,Albert Camus(10th may 2001). Absurdism: Camus regarded himself as an "absurdist".Absurdism is a belief stemming from existentialism ,that recognizes the senselessness in mortal existence and the suffering and death that it brings to us. Camus's Absurdity does not simply refer to a vague perception of modern life fraught with paradoxes,incongruities and intellectual confusion.It also expresses fundamental disharmony and tragic incompatibility with our existence.Absurdity according to Camus, is a product of collision and friction between our human desire for order,meaning and purpose in life and the blank,indifferent silence of the universe.There are numerous examples of absurdist themes throughout the novel. For example,there are many passages that suggest that the author regards the citizens of Oran to be seeped in absurdity.Their chief aim in life is to do business to become rich and cultivate habits.Most of them are bored and lifeless.Drenched in superficiality and drudgery of routine ,they have never contemplated deeply about their existence and the vulnerable mortality of their existence.Before the plague, their lives were lacking in both passion and imagination and stuffed with bourgeois ideals which were mere hypocritical formations to cover their drive for wealth and power."The absurd is not in man nor in the world," Camus explains, "but in their presence together. . . it is the only bond uniting them." Religion: An atheist himself,Camus has often contended that the religious solution of finding a transcendent world of solace and meaning beyond the Absurd is philosophical suicide. He rejects religion as being evasive and fraudulent.The supernatural explanations in an attempt to overcome absurdity annihilates reason and therefore is according to him fatal and self-destructive.The narrator's quote in the Plague "Peut-etre vaut-il mieux pour Dieux qu'on ne croit pas en lui" suggests a barely veiled atheist attitude.,Dr Rieux addresses Tarrou his friend ,"since the order of the world is shaped by death, mightn't it better for God if we refuse to believe in Him and struggle with all our might against death, without raising our eyes toward the heaven where He sits in silence" 6 There is an incident narrated of a boy dying under the parents' tearful eyes. Amidst fervent prayers to God by everyone to spare this child,the priest Paneloux makes a sign of benediction at the moment of the child's death, and the cynical Dr. Rieux , in a moment of anger with Father Paneloux, avows "I shall refuse until the day of my death to love this world in which children are tortured." 6Albert Camus,"La Peste",Page 128,Gallimard,The Macmillan Company,New York,1947. The others contemplate human suffering in the context of God and the dwindling hope in religious solace.The absurdity of suffering of the innocent becomes clear to all. Acceptance and Revolt: The first step to combat absurdity a la Camus is to accept the existence of absurdity and continue living.Absurdity is an unavoidable characteristic of human condition and the courageous acceptance of this fact is important to transcend it.Camus espoused that the only solution to the absurdity of life is solidarity among humans and an affirmative revolt in the face of evil. The revolt signifies a defiance of spirit and opposition to any perceived unfairness,oppression and indignity of human condition. 7Dr Rieux ,the narrator and the main protagonist of the novel exemplifies this realistic,impersonal and stoic revolt that Camus speaks of.An atheist,the ever practical Dr Rieux works tirelessly at relieving the suffering of the diseased.Reality for him must be addressed at all costs.Denial,escape from plague and moral engagement with temporal 7David Simpson,"The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy"(2005). pressures are unacceptable to the doctor. Dr. Rieux, describes himself early in the book as "a man who was weary of the world in which he lived; who had, however, a liking for his fellow human beings and had decided, for his own part, to have nothing to do with injustice and compromise".As a doctor, Rieux is brought into close contact with all aspects of the plague and is forced to see the futility of most of his medical efforts to win against this enemy. His recognition of this futility does not lead him to relax his efforts or seek consolation in the eternal, the choice represented by the Jesuit Paneloux. With the lucidity of the absurd man, he faces a creation which he cannot accept and his revolt consists of his determination to struggle against pestilence. "It was necessary to fight in one way or another and not to fall to one's knees. The entire issue was to prevent the greatest possible number of people from dying and thus knowing the final exile". Solidarity: Camus is of the firm belief that Unity among mankind is of primordial importance in face of injustice.Revolt is meaningless without solidarity.8The plague quotes "Il peut y avoir de la honte a etre 4Murray Soupcoff,"Camus as Conservative:A Post 9/11 Reassessment of the work of Albert Camus",Free Republic(12/20/2003) heureux tout seul",It is shameful to be happy all alone. Rieux's ethical position is tested when he and Rambert consider whether it is better to fight or flee the plague. At first, Rambert remains convinced that Rieux represents an empty ethic devoted to serving an ideal. Later when Rambert learns from Tarrou that, like the journalist, Rieux is also separated from someone he loves, Rambert is converted to the struggle. Rieux's moral voice therefore successfully promotes solidarity through an experience of shared, material conditions .The biggest example of solidarity for the sake of revolt against a common enemy in spite of opposing ideals is between Paneloux and Dr Rieux. Dr. Rieux and father Paneloux have a profound discussion about the meaning of love,race,weariness and madness.They opposed one another, belief (Paneloux)vs. atheism(Rieux). Now, at the end of life's journey they find each other's support .Unity amongst humankind is needed in times of trouble. Even though Rieux refuses to discuss religion with the Father ,he acknowledges that they were working side by side for something that unites them--beyond blasphemy and prayers and it's the only thing that mattered. Paneloux sits beside Rieux,deeply moved and touched by this man with whom he has nothing in common.Paneloux admits that the doctor is working for salvation too,in his own way which is the highest compliment coming from him. Dr. Rieux replies that the only thing that concerns him is the public's health.In this way they agree to disagree while finding mutual respect and common ground in the battle against the plague. Triumph of Human Spirit: In many ways,La Peste is a celebration of human spirit and the determination in the face of injustice.Life is worth living despite the arbitrary cruelities of an unforgiving world .As quoted from La Peste"Il ya dans les hommes plus de choses a admirer que de choses a mepriser"There is more good in men than there is evil.The rebellion against the arbitrariness of life is an uplifting and deeply gratifying triumph of man.Our loved ones give meaning to our lives in a hostile world.A true rebel embraces solidarity as a means to an end.The revolt infuses purpose to our lives and transcends nothingness.Camus's notion of rebellion is intertwined in relation to others around us who share the opaque darkness of our existence.La Peste speaks of accepting the limitations of human existence while savoring every joy of life,fighting heroically against every action that brings unjust suffering.As one among infinity traversing the path of absurdity,we are in a way obliged to other humans and are responsible to embrace human solidarity.Through goodness,happiness,liberty,justice and brotherhood,we put meaning back in our lives thus mocking in the face of The Absurd. In conclusion,one can say that La Peste serves as a canvas for the author,Albert Camus to convey his innermost and strongest feelings and ideals. It provides an allegorical outlet for his various, personal struggles through poverty,Nazi occupation,tuberculosis and isolation.What sets the book apart in greatness is that it rises above its immediate associations and offers a timeless portrait of humanity in the face of life's disasters, whether man-made or external in nature. Works Cited Answers.com,Albert Camus November 2005,< http://www.answers.com/topic/albert-camus>. Boekverslag Albert Camus,10 may 2001,November 2005,< http://www.scholieren.com/boekverslagen/4433>. Camus,Albert,"La Peste",Gallimard,The Macmillan Company,New York,1947. Johnson,Joan M.F,"Albert Camus":The Plague and The Fall",November 2005,< http://www.wetzoollamb.net/jfpp/joan/essays/camus.html>. Krapp,John, "Time and Ethics in Albert Camus's The Plague", 1999,University of Toronto Quarterly,Volume 68, Number 2, November 2005,< http://www.utpjournals.com/product/utq/682/682_krapp.htm>. Simpson,David, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,Albert Camus,2005,November 2005,< http://www.iep.utm.edu/c/camus.htm>. Soupcoff, Murray, "Camus as Conservative:A Post 9/11 reassessment of the Work of Albert Camus",December 2003,Free Republic,November 2005,< http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1044133/posts>. Bibliography Bookmarks for Philippe,August 2003,November 2005,< http://users.belgacom.net/you44/Bookmark_PB.htm>. La boite a citations,Camus Albert,Portes du Net,November 2005,< http://boiteacitations.free.fr/cit-auteur/cit-camus.php3>. Les Plus Belles Citations de Camus Albert,Dicocitations,Dictionnaire des Citations,November 2005,< http://www.dicocitations.com/resultat.phpid=553>. Marta,Jan,May 1995,"Literature Annotations",Literature,Arts, and Medicine Database,November 2005,< http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/camus428-des-.html>. Peste d'Albert Camus,November 2005,< http://www.zum.de/Faecher/F/NS/matiere.htm>. Read More