Plague #4

The plague revealed itself, and the city of Oran was isolated. No interaction was allowed with any other cities. People react to the situation differently. Some paniced and some rather liked the isolation. Rambert planned on escaping the city to meet his wife. Dr.Rieux, who was in the similar siutation with Rambert, decided to stay in the city to do his duty as a doctor.
In the middle of confusion, Father Paneloux sermoned that the city was cursed with the plague because of the sin of the citizens.
I was surprised to see some of the characters' reactions to the situtation. The city is isolated and there are rumors that the government will nuke the city to wipe out the plague. People are dying out, hospitals are full of patients. I expected the characters to lose their minds. I thought the rules, moral standards and laws would vanish and slowly the citizens would turn into 'animals.' Yet, the life goes on in the city just like normal days. Although more people transgressed laws than usual, the citizens did not lose their rationality. Rather, they help each other to go through the catastrophe. I learned that men do not easily give up rationalities and moral judgements. The holocaust can be good example. Jews were in the situation where they were treated like animals, they did not give up their rationarities and moral principles. I heard that even in the concentration camp, there were rules and laws and the Jews lived accordingly. Overall, I think Camus tried to point out what makes men different from animals.

The Plague #3

Michel's death marks the starting of the epidemic wiping out the city of Oran. The number of people showing the exact physical symptoms as Michel started to increase dramatically. Suddenly, no more rat appeared in the city. The figure was yet too small to panic the residents, however, was large enough to make people uncomfortable. The doctors of the city held a meeting and decided to discuss about the new disease that visited their city. They knew it; they knew it was the plague. Yet, the doctors were hesitant to claim the disease as so. When one of the doctors suggested if it were not the plague, it sounded as if he was trying to deny the truth.

Albert Camus illustrate how people react to situations that are too shocking or too harsh. The doctors knew what the consequence would be. They knew it from the parallel case that mankind had gone through; the plague wiped out one third of Europeans during the medieval period. Seeing the disease reappeared in their town, it was too shocking not only for the doctors but also the entire city. As a result, although they did claim the disease to be the plauge in the end, the doctors tried to deny it in the beginning. I could find myself among the doctors during the meeting. In other words, just like the doctors, I had several occasions when I refused the reality. When I first arrived at America when I was in sixth grade, I acted as if I was in Korea. I visited a lot of Korean markets, and did not try to blend into the American society. I guess the cutural shock was what made me deny that I was in America, not in Korea.

In my opinion, the plague in the novel represents the fear we have. It is the fear of death, fear of future, and all the fears we have. When fear intrudes in our minds, it erase our hopes, good memories, and ourselves just like how the plague knocked down the residents of the city one by one. We don't realize what the fear is causing in our minds until the 'casuality' skyrockets. Then we see thinigs have changed. When we see ourselves in the mirror, we find out that we are not the person once we were. In my case, I feared about my future whe I first moved to TCIS. I saw my friends preparing for their future in a 'Korean' way. Then I found myself off from the 'mainstream'; I wasn't doing what ordinary Korean highschool students were doing. I wasn't going to any Hakwons, and was no more a student of a Korean school. The students of TCIS had various backgrounds, yet non of them matched mine. I was worried about my path. Then I saw the unwelcomed guest in my mind: the fear. I did not realize any change until the moment I saw a stranger in the mirror. I wasn't who I was before; I lost my passion, self-esteem, courage, and finally myself.