The Plague - epidemic literature

Introduction:

The 21st century is known as the age of technology where people have forgotten to live their lives peacefully, everyone is in a hurry to make their own life. And suddenly one day our fast-growing life has come to a halt, and like the blink of an eye our life has changed. It is like a pinch of Thanos( a movie character),  the world is in danger of an epidemic. Covid - 19 which won't be written in history but it will become a history.

We all have a lot of questions - how, when will we get out of this? And no one knows the truth. What will happen after this epidemic? Will everything be okay one day? Are we going to forget everything after getting out of this pandemic, and going to live our life normally? Well nobody knows anything about what next will happen. Well, history repeats itself over time and it is literature which connects that history. What we are suffering from once the world has faced this in the past. 

It is literature which leads us into the past. The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus, which reminds us of an epidemic of Plague in the past. It was a horrible epidemic for the people as we feel terrible in the time of covid 19.

About the Novel :

Writer : Albert Camus 

Original title : La Paste (The Plague)

Set in : Oran, French Algeria

Published : 1947 in French, 1948 in English (Hamish Hamilton)

The novel represents French Algerian city of Oran in the time of pandemic. It shows a clear picture of how people faced the time of the Plague epidemic. In the present time it is a well known novel as an epidemic literature. Nowadays it is come back to the discussion, as we are also in the epidemic of Covid 19. The novel is very helpful to understand the current situation.

About the disease:

Plague is an old infection disease that took millions of lives in Europ. It is also called

Black Death

It spreads from person to person through the air or by any other means of contact. 

Humanity - human self - centeredness vs human sacrifice  :

Humanity is not a thing which we can buy and use it, it is an emotion which everyone has, but in front of fear and self love people first choose their own sake. But there are people for them first priority is humanity. 

In Albert Camus The Plague we can find in Oran there were people who were just thinking about themselves and there were people like Doctor Bernard Rieux and Jean Tarror who worked for not themselves but for humanity. Who never cared about their own lives. And in the epidemic of Covid 19 we can find people like doctors, police, officers, health workers and many who are not thinking for their own sake but doing for the sake of people.

In the novel there is a reporter who is from Paris and works in Oran. But when the people of Oran were in danger then he decided to leave that place and escape from that problem. On the other side there is an young boy who was just a visitor but did everything for the people.

Science vs Religion :

(The question of God and religion in times of epidemic and calamities)

As we know that when people can't see beyond epidemic and calamities, when people feel helpless in front of disease then they turn to the path of religion and God. But there are people who think logically and make decisions. We thought that India is a superstitious country but when we read The Plague then we came to know that there are a lot of superstitious countries. Like French Algerian city of Oran(in the time of Plague). There were many people like Father Paneloux, who believed that the people of Oran are being punished for sin as well as in the present time we can find there are people who believe that this is the fury of God. 

How this narrative is an archetype of  an epidemic literature : 

This narrative( The plague) is an archetype of epidemic literature. Whenever the world faces epidemic and calamities it is written in history, but everyone wants to forget that time. But there is literature which contains the event and made it lively for the people. The novel shows a clear picture of the city Oran. 

Work Cited

Barad, Dilip. “The Plague - Albert Camus.” The Plague - Albert Camus, Dilip Barad , 1 May 2020, 11:39, dilipbarad.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-plague-albert-camus.html?m=1.

Camus, Albert, and Stuart Gilbert. The Plague: Albert Camus. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1948. Print.

“The Plague.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 May 2020, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague.