The Plague #1

The Plague

Albert Camus

Part 1

The book is based on the writer's perpective, his observation of the city, and some secondary sources he obtained. Dr.Rieux saw some rats lying on the floor when he was walking out of his room. Thinking of his sick wife, he did not give great attention to it. M.Michel the concierge decided to wipe out the corpses. More and more rats were found in the city of Oran where Dr.Rieux dwelled. The number of the corpses were increasing rapidly, and people started to worry.

In the first part of the novel, Albert Camus was excellent to protray people's worried minds. Although it is not stated directly in the book, as I was reading through, the novel created an eerie atmopshere as if I was one of the citizens of Oran, watching the dead rats lying on streets. I could also found out a dramatic irony; as soon as the bunch of rats dying and bleeding, an image came up in my mind, that is, the plague. The title of the novel also foreshadows that the novel has to do something with the plauge. However, the characters in the novel did not seem to notice the disease.