Alex Thorn

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Alex Thorn

Class of 2004

Ms. St. Pierre

English 544

The Abstraction of Existentialism

At the heart of Camus’ novel, The Plague, is the irony in the notion of “freedom,” whether it is the physical lack of freedom created by the quarantine or the freedom that Rieux, an atheist, is granted due to his freedom of choice. Certainly, once the plague sets in on Oran, those within the city walls are trapped by the quarantine and literally lose all freedom. However, as Camus describes again and again, the habits and strict regiments that govern the citizens’ lives had entrapped the town long before the plague hit. As Tarrou admits, he “had plague long before [he] came to [Oran],” except that his plague was indifference or inaction. Moreover, it was not until long after the plague had run rampant throughout Oran that the citizens, especially Rieux and Rambert, truly become alive. As the plague rises from the dust of Algeria, the citizens of Oran learn how to live and, essentially, obtain or regain their humanity. And, it is in the literal and physical uprising of the plague that Camus’ philosophy of self-governance takes form in response to the apparent hopelessness of the plague.

Camus' novel is an amalgam of existentialism and humanism. A true atheist, Dr. Rieux believes that neither death, nor pain, nor plague has any intrinsic moral or cogent meaning – instead, Rieux’s rationale is based on the principles of existentialist self-righteousness. Before the plague hits, Rieux speaks with restraint about his wife, Tarrou takes his love for granted, and the people are enslaved and blinded by their habitual lifestyle in Oran, where all that signals a change in seasons are “the baskets of flowers brought in from the suburbs.” (1) Yet, as the plague hits the town and Rieux’s occupation becomes his life, his existentialist and Sisyphus-like approach allows Camus to show how the torment and complete paroxysm of the plague births (or reiterates) the values and morals of those detained by the quarantine. Rieux embodies the existential belief because he chooses to fight against the suffering that has besieged the populous who, according to Paneloux and the Catholic doctrine, “deserved it.” (94) Yet, the sense of inevitability brings out, throughout The Plague, the true humanity – not divinity – in Oran.

Only after enduring so much of the plague, is Rieux able to detach himself from his eternal attempts not to cure the plague, but to combat it and “take an hour off… for friendship.” (245) The reiteration of Camus’ characters’ human values can be directly attributed to the autochthony of the plague itself. Literally born out of the ground, the plague surfaces from deep within the earth, as rats “came out of basements, cellars, and sewers [and] swayed helplessly, then did a sort of pirouette and fell dead.” (15) Initially, the people are oblivious and, of course, caught off guard by the apparently invisible, causeless threat. However, with invisibility and gratuitousness comes a sense of divinity. Sadly, immediately following their initial consternation, the citizens of Oran are indifferent to one another's suffering because each person is selfishly convinced that his or her pain is unique compared to "common" suffering. Finally, as the reality of the plague becomes omnipresent, the people of Oran - or at least the ones Camus follows closely – react rather than blame or despair. That reaction, essentially, constitutes A) an effort against the “divinity” of the rats and the plague, B) the difference between Paneloux and Rieux and, more importantly, C) the abstraction behind existentialism itself.

Despite the seeming hopelessness that the plague causes in Oran, the never-ending rebellion against death and suffering that existentialism entails and Rieux enacts displays The Plague’s infusion of optimism in the face of adversity. Fleeing the city or otherwise avoiding the anti-plague effort is tantamount to surrendering to the absurd death sentence under which every human being lives. It is for that reason that Rambert decides to turn back into the wind and struggle with Rieux, Grand and Tarrou. On the other hand, Paneloux resigns himself to this death sentence as a matter of his own faith and belief in the cause of the disease. Yet, Paneloux and Rieux are near in their beliefs, despite the obvious and intrinsic contradiction in their faiths. In the face of such a seemingly meaningless choice, between death and death, the fact that they both make a choice to act and fight for themselves and heal becomes even more meaningful – whether it is the medicine and aid from a doctor or from God Himself that is doing the healing. Because of his commitment to fight and heal himself, Grand actually survives the plague. However, Paneloux’s death while holding the Cross proves Camus’ dissatisfaction with the resignation to insignificance that religion requires. Though, while Paneloux may have been “wrong” (or, more likely, unsuccessful) in placing his faith in God rather than in himself, his suggestion that “this same pestilence that is slaying [them] works for [their] good and points [their] path” (98) is entirely correct: the plague did have some positive effects, though perhaps not initially obvious. For, in the face of insurmountable adversity, Dr. Bernard Rieux ceaselessly fights the plague and, in turn, receives the gifts of appreciation and humanist rebirth.

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