Community In Albert Camus The Plague

In Albert Camus’s novel, The Plague, the characters were brought together as a community because of the rat-induced Black Plague. As Dr. Rieux discovered that the gathering of all the dead rats has caused the epidemic to exacerbate, he and the other doctors urged the authorities to place Oran under quarantine; therefore not letting any of the civilians to be able to make contact with anyone other than with the people in the city. Initially, the civilians acted selfish and only cared for his own life, which is evident in the first part of the novel, “In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words they were humanists: they disbelieved in pestilences.” The authorities also chose to ignore this

dire issue and only acted when there was a sudden influx of deaths. Civilians went about normal life and pretended the plague was not upon them, “Hitherto, surprised as he may have been by the strange things happening around him, each individual citizen had gone about his business as usual, so far as this was possible. And no doubt he would have continued doing so.” Camus shows how indifferent the civilians were to the plague in order to make a distinct contrast between the pre-plague time and the plague time.

After Oran had been placed under quarantine, the civilians eventually come together as a community in order to mitigate the problems they all face. At first, the people who were unprepared for the closing of the gates longed for their loved ones and wandered aimlessly without a purpose for they lost all hope in quarantine ending any time soon. They saw their situation as something only they are experiencing and they forgot that everyone is also experiencing the same thing. The civilians were just as self-absorbed as they were before the quarantine. “But once the town gates were shut, everyone one of us realized that all, the narrator include, were, so to speak, in the same boat, and each would have had too adapt himself to the new conditions of life,” shows that because the civilians are essentially facing the same issue, they come together as a community to help one another through these tough times of isolation and confinement.
Father Paneloux took it upon himself to declare the plague as a form of punishment for the civilians’ sins, thus leading to the civilians becoming religious and fervently praying for mercy and forgiveness. This shows that in a time of fear and chaos, people congregate and participate in community acts such as praying to God and listening to sermons. Since most of the civilians have resorted to self-loathing and complaining about the state of Oran, Tarrou decided to make a change and started to recruit volunteers to help the victims of the plague. He wanted to see people helping one another as a community instead of condemning themselves to death. After so many deaths, the people finally acknowledge that they are all living through the same “collective plight” and that they are all equally condemned to die. Because the people all share the same fate, they come together and support one another, waiting for the inevitable.