As for the sermon, Tarrou thinks that at the beginning and end of a pestilence there is always room for words, but during the middle there is only silence because there is only truth. He tells Rambert it’ll be ten thousand and for him to meet for lunch tomorrow at the Spanish restaurant near the dock. The dying realize the utter futility of their resistance, yet many of them declare defiance anyway. He says frankly that in about a fortnight or a month the doctor will serve no purpose anymore, and that the sanitary department is inefficient. They talk about the sanitary squads and Rambert’s plans. The next day before Rambert arrives, the men discuss various plague-related issues, such as one patient who recovered, and the need for all to apply themselves equally to the rules in town. After working on the sanitary squads, befriending Rieux and Tarrou, and comprehending Rieux’s own sacrifice of love, he ultimately decides to stay, choosing involvement over detachment. Rieux insists that fighting the plague isn't heroic, but a matter of "common decency." He asks what taught the doctor this, and Rieux replies, “Suffering” (129). Then, though, he adds something he read from an old chronicle of the Black Death about sending up a prayer of love even amidst the darkness, and he hopes they will all do so as well. Camus: The Plague (Part 5) Khaleb Tota & Janyia Heaven Key Events (summary) Tarrou’s fatal illness, bad news for Dr. Rieux and the Return of loved ones Tarrou dies after several days. They are worried and irritated, and tend to blame the authorities. Cottard remarks to Tarrou that the efforts of the sanitation league are useless because they don't seem to be making much difference. Essay Topics. The lack of regular communication is enervating for many. Amid the narrator’s general comments on the people as a whole are the stories of individual characters: Rieux, Tarrou, Rambert, Paneloux, Grand, and Cottard. He brings Rambert ever deeper through the criminal underworld, until he meets someone who is able to help. in april, thousands of rats stagger into the open and die. The Plague: Part 2 Summary & Analysis. They cannot rely on their neighbors for solace, and communication seems stunted. People wait and see, just by chance, if a train is coming, but there never is one and they sadly return to their prison. Oran is an ugly coastal city where everyone is bored trying to get rich and cultivating habits to take up their time. As summer sets in and the death rate rises, the town begins to shut down even more. Tarrou visits Rieux and gets right down to his purpose. Rambert, blazing, says it is, and they’ve lost the capacity for love. Grand becomes a general secretary for the sanitation league. No one knows precisely how many die over the course of the reign but the total is probably around 250,000. Rambert agrees. One is habit—seeing the same movie over and over, for example. Those parted from lovers realize they have a hard time conjuring up their lover’s face, adding to their distress. Tarrou, surprised, says Cottard did. You can view our. The next day, Rambert arrives at the restaurant. Rieux and Tarrou find comfort in listening to Grand talk about his literary project, to which he still dedicates himself even as plague rages. Discouragement settles in. Idleness and lethargy prevail. People are forced into acknowledging their common humanity. He drifts aimlessly about, reading newspapers hoping for good news, and looking like “a mere shade among the shadows” (109). Some people alleviate their despair by buying many things, which shows “the frantic desire for life that thrives in the heart of every great calamity” (120). Some people do not like those they are quarantined with, while others realize how dear formerly neglected family members are. He then says he’d forgotten—Cottard does not want it to stop because he’d be arrested. Critic Eugene Hollahan has a compelling study of these main characters, considering them on a spectrum of abstraction to imagination. Symbols & Motifs. He gives words of consolation, and the people think he is done. For a time there are more people on the street as if it is holiday, and people do start frequenting movies and bars more. One is trying to make sense of the nonsensical, like Father Paneloux. All of this does keep his mind off the plague for a time, but any hopes he has of official release eventually vanish. In Part Two, the gates of Oran are closed and the people are now trapped inside, grappling with the inconceivable reality of the plague. The narrator talks about the general reaction of the populace. The changes happen so swiftly that people cannot believe they will be permanent, and thus everyone continues to focus on their personal feelings. He himself is fit, he proclaims, and is in good spirits. Rieux says nothing, but listens to the eerie whispering of the plague outside. The old man mourns the loss of cats to spit on. Eventually, though, things begin to sink in. The sense that the hot weather will worsen the plague is burdensome, as the summer is now clearly arrived. Plague is the obvious example but it is by no means the only one. Garcia says he does not know what has become of the others. This last group is compelled to some foolhardy acts because they feel like criminals. She left him and he cannot stop thinking about her. The Plague (French: La Peste) is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story from the point of view of a narrator of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran.The narrator remains unknown until the start of the last chapter, chapter 5 of part 5. Wild animals or flies: Ex. His presence here is accidental and he hopes Rieux can give him a certificate saying he does not have the plague so he can try again to get out. There is a new paper called The Plague Chronicle, which starts off by providing information and updates but soon becomes a vehicle merely to promote “new, ‘infallible’ antidotes against plague” (119). Language is not sufficient to convey the totality of grief and despair; all that can be used are trite, ordinary phrases. Rieux tells Tarrou to come to the hospital tomorrow for an injection, and tells him bluntly his chances of surviving are one in three. They tell Rambert their guard duty lasts a week and begins in two days, and they have to watch for the best night to get him out. People still go to restaurants (but wipe everything down assiduously), Tarrou notes, and spend money freely. He asks, though, if Tarrou has weighed the dangers. Part 2: Chapter 8 Summary. The Plague SSUMMARY: PART 1 The first part of The Plague, by Albert Camus, begins in describing the large French port called Oran which is on the Algerian coast of Africa. Later that evening Rieux visits the hospital, and when he is leaving he encounters Rambert. Letters are forbidden because of potential contamination, so telegrams become commonplace. Tarrou and Rieux leave Rieux’s place, both on their way somewhere else. They sit down and Cottard asks a small man who comes up to their table where Garcia is, for he wants him to know this friend of his. The Plague Part 2, Chapter 2 Oran comes to a stand still. He is with another man as well, who is thin and ill-shaven with an equine face. The serum from Paris proves ineffective, and the plague turns pneumonic. Many of the townspeople are trying to escape in the evenings, and sometimes there is violence. The day Father Paneloux takes the pulpit is one of violent rain and heavy humidity. Rieux muses that it might be better for God if people refuse to believe in Him and struggle against death and not raise their eyes to Him, even if Rieux’s own victories are slight. Cottard refuses because "it's not [his] job." The small man smiles knowingly and asks if Rambert is in business too. They fall into despondence and feel as if they cannot endure, but then come out of it. Summary of Part One. Summer would also normally bring more leisure and élan, but now there is nothing to look forward to—“plague had killed all colors, vetoed pleasure” (113). There is only the present, for by mid-August “the plague had swallowed up everything and everyone” (167). Rieux sighs that he does not know what that means, but there is a gulf between himself and Paneloux, for the latter is an academic and does not see the suffering that Rieux does up close. They go there the next day, leave a message for Garcia, and meet him the following day. Doctor Castel begins making serum using the local bacillus microbe. The death rate is rising, the second serum from Paris is less effective than the first, and the plague is becoming pneumonic. He says his name is Gonzalez as they bid adieu. Rambert realizes he will have to start over again. The men grab a drink, sitting in a café as whispers permeate the night air. There is Grand, a sympathetic failure wrapped up in his own sad life and literary endeavors. Tarrou says he is like them in that respect, but death means nothing to him. He only learned what it meant to be a doctor when he saw his first patient die. Part 1 describes Oran as it was before the plague and just after the disease has taken hold. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of “How to Survive a Plague” by David France. Tarrou recruits his workers and decides that men are, as a rule, more good than bad and that the evil that exists in the world comes of ignorance. Tarrou is doubtful Rieux will agree, but both men do indeed show up. Exile is even more of a burden for those who do not live in Oran but are caught there during the plague. He then asks again about Tarrou weighing the consequences. Rambert realizes that there is no means of getting out that is legal, so he begins to reach out in another way. Once the gates of the town are shut, the plague becomes everyone’s concern – no one is trying to ignore it anymore. Because the authorities have not really made a concerted effort to recruit volunteers, Tarrou takes on that responsibility for himself. Tarrou continues that he was thinking of a sort of conscription of healthy men to help out. In 1900 there were outbreaks of plague in places as far apart as Portugal and Australia. There is nothing of genius in Grand, but because he is a human being, we should see that he does possess something admirable. Raoul says this man will put him in touch with two friends who will introduce Rambert to sentries. However, they are now learning their lesson from this evil. The Plague: Part 2. Throughout Part I, there is a sense of urgency and frustration. The next phase for Rambert is intense lethargy. They “live in company with a memory that serves no purpose” (73), for the past is tinged with regret, the present is unbearable, and the future is uncertain. Rieux would be grateful for the help, but he asks Tarrou if he has weighed the dangers. The novel presents a snapshot of life in Oran as seen through the author's distinctive absurdist point of view. Rambert reveals that he stopped believing in heroism after taking part in the Spanish Civil War on the losing side. Rieux does not harshly condemn Paneloux because he views the clergyman as merely ignorant. Part 2. Yes, they are risking their lives but they feel that this is a fight they must be part of. He says he and Rieux don’t care what he’s done, and for him to sit down again. "Starsky and Hutch" The Plague: Part 2 (TV Episode 1977) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. When Rambert begins investigating illegal methods of escape, Cottard offers to help him. The Plague study guide contains a biography of Albert Camus, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Before Tarrou leaves, he turns to Rambert and tells him Rieux’s wife is in a sanitarium one hundred miles away. He decides he likes “flower-strewn” instead of “flowery,” but then becomes dejected because there are too many “s” sounds. The Plague: Part 2. People keep going to cafes for a time, but as the Week of Prayer nears, things begin to look gloomier. However, for Rieux and Tarrou, "truth" is a matter of recognizing the plague as a collective disaster that must be opposed. The ecclesiastical authorities have prepared to use their own weapons against the plague and organize the Week of Prayer. Conversation is hard between them at first, but when Rambert brings up football, the horse-faced man lights up and they discuss many aspects of the sport. Grand is embarrassed and pleased, and confesses he is having a lot of trouble with the opening line (which is all he has actually written). Neither has he seen the implacable manner in which the plague continues to kill its victims despite their intense desire to continue living. Bookmark We do not feel horror when the plague is proclaimed; the horror of the disease has already saturated us. Tarrou’s other observations include the hour at daybreak when the victims of the night and the cries of death of the new day are quiet; it is as if plague is taking a breath. Cottard tells him Rambert has a wife in Paris and wants to get away. Over the centuries Bubonic Plague has broken out in Europe and the Far East. The Question and Answer section for The Plague is a great Two days later the two of them head to the barracks. Rambert has to wait two days while his escape is arranged, so he contacts Dr. Rieux to update him on his endeavors. Important Quotes. He says he will die for love but not for an idea. It is a terrifying disease because sufferers die within hours. Paneloux is shaken by the child’s death and he delivers a second sermon, this time declaring that the horrors of plague leave only the choice to believe everything (about Christianity) or deny everything. There are other guards and they have to be careful. Tarrou draws up a plan to recruit volunteers for the sanitation league because he does not want to see … Themes. Without sparing anything, he proclaims that people think God will always forgive them, will always let them be comfortable. The families of the afflicted wear him down with pleadings and screams and protests as loved ones are taken away, and as tragic as it is, it is also monotonous. Tarrou draws Rambert aside to inform him that Rieux's wife is in a sanitarium 100 miles away from the city. Mail service is stopped for fear of spreading the plague beyond the city walls. The Torah emphasizes that the ‘arob (עָרוֹב "mixture" or "swarm") only came against the Egyptians and did not affect the Israelites. Suddenly the men hear running outside, and see two men trying to get to the gates. He becomes a bit ashamed of his outburst, but when they reach his home he invites the doctor in to look at his manuscript. No cars leave the town. They are in a crowd of mostly women, carrying goods they want smuggled out. Battle Against Crisis at the Conclusion of The Plague, The Absurd and the Concept of Hope in Camus's Novels. People hope for an end to the epidemic, of course, but if that is not possible, a quick cure for the afflicted: the narrator mentions how the Plague Chronicle, which set out to “inform our townspeople, with scrupulous veracity, of the daily progress or recession of the disease…to publish the latest orders issued by the authorities…very soon came to devote its columns to advertisements of new, ‘infallible’ antidotes against plague” (119). 4. M. Othon tells Tarrou his wife is in quarantine but does not change his own habits. Nevertheless, he fails to make the crucial connection with others that Tarrou, Rieux, and eventually Rambert, make. Rieux is happy to have his mother with him, but everything else is burdensome. He has to start over again, and goes back to Cottard. The frustration, however, is not wholly a life and death matter. It is obtained on Alderaan by interacting with the mission terminal in the Operations Hub in the Contagion Zone in the Rakghoul Tunnels. Introductions are made. Rieux is aware of this daily effort of Grand’s, and it grates on him that the verbal comforts and lauding being sent in from outside Oran cannot encompass Grand’s efforts. Rieux stands and says they should drop the subject. The concluding scene is, somehow, amusing — perhaps because it seems so apt. When Rieux says she is in a sanitarium outside of town, Grand comments that the situation is actually lucky. Summary. One patient declared her resistance to death even as she took her last breath. Although Tarrou's plan proves effective, Rieux hesitates to exaggerate the importance of the volunteers' efforts because it makes them seem like rare occurrences. The old asthma patient, consumed by his habits and routines, is selfish and whining. What was the status of life in Europe in terms of faith, technology, and trade before the Plague arrived? He also mentions visiting Rieux’s asthma patient, a housebound man by choice who lives a routinized existence gleefully free from interest in anything. 1 Summary 2 Person, Place, or Thing 2.1 Characters 2.2 Locations 2.3 Objects 2.4 Powers 3 Gallery 3.1 Covers 3.2 Previews 3.3 Ads For centuries, they have shaped the progress of New York City from the shadows. He encounters overworked officials, liars, triflers, red-tapers, too-busy-and-too-important people, and more. Tarrou thinks for a minute and asks what Rieux thought of Paneloux’s sermon, and if he thinks the plague can have a good side because it opens men’s eyes. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Plague. The Plague Plot Summary The book is divided into five sections, each of which tells of a distinct period in the plague's takeover of Oran, the port city in northern Algeria where the story is set. Although the anti-plague efforts seem to make no difference, he is unwilling to consent passively to death. He and Rieux visit Rambert later, who pours them drinks and tells them that the men will not come. When Tarrou asks if he believes in God, Rieux avoids the question by explaining that Paneloux has not seen the suffering first hand, so he has the luxury of believing in "Truth." Cottard protests he’d never do that and didn’t want the plague but it has made things easier. He theorizes that he cannot contract the plague because he carries his own death sentence and men never die of two illnesses. Nevertheless, as cool weather prevails in January, the disease loses all its gains. His work sends the message that, even though there is risk, everyone must get involved in fighting the plague. Abstraction is, Hollahan writes, “willed detachment from the common human lot,” which can only be overcome “by the development and employment of sympathetic imagination.” When one imaginatively identifies with suffering, they travel the path of sympathy and move from “isolation to communion, from detachment to involvement.” The imagination is what helps the possessor gain insights into reality, but “is also a problematical power which can lead a person astray, or which, at first, does not automatically suit every situation.”. Rieux would be grateful for the sanitation league are useless because they force people to the... 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