History Literature / ThePlague

A classic 1947 novel by Creator/AlbertCamus, ''The Plague'', on the surface, tells the story of an epidemic of [[ThePlague the bubonic plague]] that besets the Algerian city of Oran, imprisoning the citizens behind quarantine. The protagonists, including Dr. Bernard Rieux, a man named Jean Tarrou, a visiting journalist Raymond Rambert, and a city clerk Joseph Grand must respond to the plague and find their place in the ensuing depressing conditions, while philosophizing on the nature of suffering and the proper response thereto.

* Rambert is at first desperate to escape the city with any means possible to see his wife again, but he eventually decides to stay and help the people.
* Othon starts out as a traditional 50s French father, saying impeccably polite and very nasty things to his wife and kids. He gets more emotional, and more altruistic, later in the book [[spoiler: after his son dies.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: The narrator makes notations of this frequently about the plague, and extends it to life as a whole via Tarrou's musings about his own life. More literally to the trope, [[spoiler:Grand plays with this having a bad bout of plague but coming back around soon, but Dr. Richard, M. Othon, Father Paneloux, and Tarrou are among the narrative's plague casualties]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The plague ends, Rambert reunites with his beloved, but many people die before that happens, including [[DramaticIrony one doctor who once predicted that the plague would end soon]], Tarrou and finally Rieux's wife. And Rieux knows that one day, the plague will return.]]

* CharacterDevelopment: Othon starts out as a traditional 50s French father, saying impeccably polite and very nasty things to his wife and kids. He gets more emotional, and more altruistic, later in the book [[spoiler: after his son dies.]]

* AnyoneCanDie

* DeathOfAChild: The plague doesn't spare children.

* TheStoic[=/=]ThePollyanna: Rieux.

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Averted.]]

* AuthorTract: Camus exposes his philosophy in a much more explicit way than he did in ''Literature/TheStranger''. [[TropesAreNotBad But this was in some ways necessary as this book serves to exorcise the bitter memories of the Occupation. Plus, the committee for the Nobel Prize for Literature didn't seem to mind.]]

!! This novel displays the following tropes:

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The plague ends, Rambert reunites with his beloved, but many people die before that happens, including [[DramaticIrony one doctor who once predicted that the plague would end soon]], Tarrou and finally Rieux's wife.]]

* [[spoiler:InfantImmortality: Averted.]]

* LaResistance: In the context of the allegory--the plague as the Occupation--the sanitary teams form a resistance that is fighting back against the unspeakable evil of the plague.

* LesCollaborateurs: After his suicide attempt, Cottard basically turns into the quintessential Pétain supporter and profits off the plague much in the way collaborators profited from the Nazi Occupation; he is one of the only people who is sad to see the plague go.

* TheFettered: Tarrou, who dedicated his life to fight against killing, though he later became disillusioned.
* ThePlague: Well duh.

* [[spoiler:TragicBromance: Tarrou and Rieux.]]

The novel received a film adaptation in 1992 by Argentine director Luis Puenzo, starring William Hurt, Robert Duvall, and Raul Julia, and featuring music by Music/{{Vangelis}}.

* AuthorTract: Camus exposes his philosophy in a much more explicit way than he did in TheStranger. [[TropesAreNotBad But this was in some ways necessary as this book serves to exorcise the bitter memories of the Occupation. Plus, the committee for the Nobel Prize for Literature didn't seem to mind.]]

* ShoutOut: To TheStranger-a Frenchman from Algiers who was arrested for shooting an Arab on the beach is mentioned.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The plague ends, Rambert reunites with his beloved, but many people die before that happens, including [[DramaticIrony one doctor who once predicted that the plague would end soon]]], Tarrou and finally Rieux's wife.]]
* BodyHorror: to be expected in a work about bubonic plague.

* LaResistance: in the context of the allegory--the plague as the Occupation--the sanitary teams form a resistance that is fighting back against the unspeakable evil of the plague.
* {{Leitmotif}}: the song "Saint James Infirmary."
* LesCollaborateurs: after his suicide attempt, Cottard basically turns into the quintessential Pétain supporter and profits off the plague much in the way collaborators profited from the Nazi Occupation; he is one of the only people who is sad to see the plague go.

* ShoutOut: to TheStranger: A Frenchman from Algiers who was arrested for shooting an Arab on the beach is mentioned.

* NoAntagonist

* PoliceAreUseless: Tarrou at one point remarks "And, anyway, we've never had much use for the police."

A classic 1947 novel by AlbertCamus, ''The Plague'', on the surface, tells the story of an epidemic of [[ThePlague the bubonic plague]] that besets the Algerian city of Oran, imprisoning the citizens behind quarantine. The protagonists, including Dr. Bernard Rieux, a man named Jean Tarrou, a visiting journalist Raymond Rambert, and a city clerk Joseph Grand must respond to the plague and find their place in the ensuing depressing conditions, while philosophizing on the nature of suffering and the proper response thereto.

[[caption-width-right:200:[[BlatantLies A book about the life of peaceful farmers in time of harvest.]]]]

A classic 1947 novel by AlbertCamus, ''The Plague'', on the surface, tells the story of an epidemic of [[ThePlague the bubonic plague]] that besets the Algerian city of Oran, imprisoning the citizens behind quarantine. The protagonists, including dr. Bernard Rieux, a man named Jean Tarrou, a visiting journalist Raymond Rambert, and a city clerk Joseph Grand must respond to the plague and find their place in the ensuing depressing conditions, while philosophizing on the nature of suffering and the proper response thereto.

The book is generally agreed to be an allegorical tale about the human condition, arguing that the worth of man's life lies in never giving up despite the inherent meaninglessness and uncontrollable irrationality of life.

The book is generally agreed to be an allegorical tale about the human condition, and carries an Existentialist message, arguing that the worth of man's life lies in never giving up despite the inherent meaninglessness and uncontrollable irrationality of life.

!!This novel displays the following tropes:

-->''I know positively–-yes, Rieux, I can say I know the world inside out, as you may see-–that each of us has the plague within him; no one, no one on earth is free from it. And I know, too, that we must keep endless watch on ourselves lest in a careless moment we breath in somebody’s face and fasten the infection on him. What’s natural is the microbe. All the rest-–health, integrity, purity (if you like)-–is a product of the human will, of a vigilance that must never falter. The good man, the man who infects hardly anyone, is the man who has the fewest lapses of attention.''

* {{Lockdown}: A city-wide one. The novel explores how this affects the inhabitants psychologically when they are trapped away from their loved ones for months.