Eugene Albert Olarte Javillonar

Feb. 24, 2014

IV AB POS/ Subject: PH103, Sec. I
The Plague by Albert Camus

The Plague and the Human Self:

After much reflection of the work of Albert Camus, The Plague the
researcher for this paper will sync the concept of the human self and death
with the overarching themes of the novel. In summary the novel revolves
around the perspectives of the citizens of Oran as the plague unexpectedly
unleashes itself on them. From this setting the researcher wants to analyse
the novel as a masterpiece of city as a character. Drawing from the fact
Camus has encompassed a distinct life for the city of Oran, detailing it with
generalities like the city and its people feeling similar emotions when the
plague struck, the researcher will transfigure the city and its people as the
main focus of this paper.
The thesis statement of this paper is the following:
That Camus brings to life (or to death) the collective experiences of a bustling
city and is able to showcase that a city moves and reacts like a living,
emotional human being through the lens of the five stages of grief.

Death and Grief:

Death and the reactions of people towards it is one of the most human
things there is. It is only in the realm of people that we transfigure death to
such a high degree. Throughout history we as a people have created
ceremonies, traditions and religions that have placed death as the centre
piece of our attention. And we have also developed a science to it, not so
much in our fascination to the dead but also because death means more to
the ones still alive then those who have passed. It is the grief that attaches
itself to those still alive that creates change and trauma to the human person.

With this idea, the researcher will connect this grief for death that
usually is placed towards a singular person and apply this human concept to
the very being of the city. Because the city of Oran for the researcher is not
merely a location, but once the city became quarantined and isolated from the
rest of the world the peoples fate became interconnected, combining them
and their experiences into collective experience, specifically a combined
experience for death, suffering and grief.
To operationalize the theory the researcher will use the concept of the
five stages of grief which also known as the Kubler-Ross Model. The concept
which was studied by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, she hypothesizes that a person
when faced with the reality of impending death or other extreme, awful fate he
or she will experience a series of emotional stages: denial, anger, depression,
bargaining and acceptance. Using those five stages, the novel has shown a
generality of those reactions given by the citizens of Oran, and that the
horrible fate that has befallen them was the very plague itself. The city moves
through these stages like a collective being even more solidified because of
their isolated nature.

The Five Stages:

The five stages are the following: denial, anger, depression,
bargaining and acceptance. Through analysis of the book, the city of Oran
progresses through the stages with the experiences of the collective.
Denial, the first stage is defined as usually only a temporary defense
for the individual. This feeling is generally replaced with heightened
awareness of possessions and individuals that will be left behind after death.
Denial can be conscious or unconscious refusal to accept facts, information,
or the reality of the situation. Denial is a defense mechanism and some
people can become locked in this stage. For the city of Oran denial is felt
through the initial reactions towards the dying rats. M. Michel, the manager to
one of the hotels in Oran only saw the dead rats as a prank done by
hooligans. Even when the death toll of rats rose only blame and slight panic

was occurred because it never really crossed the mind of the people that a
serious issue will affect them. Our fellow-citizens, as they now realized, had
never thought that our little town might be a place particularly chosen as one
where rats die in the sun and concierges perish from peculiar illnesses. From
this point of view, indeed, they were mistaken and discovered that they had to
adjust their ideas. If it had all stopped there, old habits would no doubt have
regained the upper hand. But others of our fellow-citizens, who were not
concierges or poor people, were to follow M. Michel down that same path.
This was where fear began and with it, serious reflection. (Camus 1948,
pg. 21)
This denial even occurred in the government with the prefect hesitant
to immediately act on the findings that Dr. Rieux and Dr. Castel found. This
plus the media was limiting itself to broadcast much news about the rise of
dying sick, all this occurs because of the human reaction of denial, the city is
unwilling to let go of its sense of peace.
The second stage is that of anger. Once in the second stage, the
individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the
person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy.
Anger can manifest itself in different ways. People can be angry with
themselves, or with others, and especially those who are close to them.
Anger can be seen in the sermon of Paneloux. A cloud fell across the
end of the first month of the disease because of a marked aggravation of the
epidemic and an impassioned sermon by Father Paneloux. (Camus 1948,
pg. 57) Since the plague is something that cant be denied any longer, his
sermon is a reflection of the plague being placed as a punishment from God.
He calls out to the people saying this occurrence is because of the sins of the
people, that they together are only to be blamed for the death and trauma.
He (Father Paneloux) had a strong, impassioned voice which carried a long
way, so when he launched a single vehement and thundering attack on his
listeners 'My brethren, a calamity has befallen you; my brethren, you have
deserved it' (Camus 1984, pg. 58)
In the novel also Ramberts experience is a showcase of anger for the
circumstance. For his case he is merely passer-by to the town for he is

originally from France, he said that he was a foreigner in our town and that,
consequently, his case should be given special consideration. (Camus 1984,
pg. 64) Because in a sense he was a stranger to the city he felt a deeper
frustration for the situation, a representation for those other strangers to the
city of Oran, like the journalist Rambert and others, whose situation was
different, and for whom the pain of separation was amplified by the fact that,
being travellers surprised by the plague in the town, they were separated not
only from the person to whom they could not return, but from their homes as
well. (Camus 1984, pg. 47)
Ramberts experiences connect perfectly with the third stage which is
bargaining. The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow
postpone or delay death. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made
with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. In the case of the
city bargaining occurs to those trying to escape the quarantined city. The
people unwilling to sustain the isolated life, they attempt again and again for
special treatment that they may leave the city to visit those they loved. Such
an example is Rambert dealing with smugglers and paying a huge amount for
him to be smuggled out of the city. These people who resort to this tactics are
bargaining what little they have for two things, to escape the threat of the
plague as well as that longing for the past.
The second to the last stage is depression which the novel portrays
with careful collective generality because in depression the person begins to
understand the certainty of death. Because of this, the individuals may
become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving.
Depression is through the novel as that moment when the people
have realized that they are like prisoners. Understanding that they are
trapped with no certainty of escape, thus to hope is almost like a dream.
Thus they endured that profound misery of all prisoners and all exiles, which
is to live with a memory that is of no use to them. Even the past, which they
thought of endlessly, had only the taste of remorse and longing. They would
have likedto be able to add to it everything that they regretted not having
done when they could do it, with the person for whom they were waiting
just as they brought the absent one into every situation of their life as

prisoners. (Camus 1984, pg. 47) Because they were locked from all sources
of communications, the isolation was almost tremendous, and though some of
the citizens took to the cinemas and cafes to pass the time, as a form of
distraction rather than recreation, the people lived through the days of the
plague like that empty bodies. Because of non-existent belief in the future,
and that they were hopeless, the people passed through the streets of Oran
like a spiritless shadows.
The last stage of grief is acceptance. Simply put the city of Oran has
come to terms with the plague. That this situation has become their situation,
they have come to realized that the plague is impartial to all, and that all
classes are affected and made equal, Because of the efficient impartiality
which it brought to its administrations, the plague should have worked for
greater equality among our fellow-citizens Of course, no one could fault the
equality
of death, but it was not one that anybody wanted. (Camus 1984, pg. 135)
This impartial justice has made the city realized that the plague is a collective
disaster, not one to solved or undertaken solitarily. This unified act to help one
another can be seen through the perspective of Jean Tarrou, who has
accepted the plague and decided to help by creating a sanitation league and
by seeking willing volunteers to help Dr. Rieux and those sick.
But apathy to misery was one of the distinct natures of acceptance.
The plague and people dying or being quarantined became routine as well to
the citizens. It no longer was a surprised, and that everyday life became fixed
to seeing the days just pass. The citizens no longer concerned themselves
with much extreme emotions.

Conclusion:
Through this analysis of the five stages of grief and the experiences of
the citizens portrayed in the novel by Albert Camus we see a cohesive
development of a collective thought. The city of Oran in the face of the plague
transforms itself from merely a location or a town where people live to that of

a living character, an organism experiencing the reality of mortality and grief.

The culture and the people of Oran is in a way a singular life, and that being
something like a human being will react with collective human reactions. The
novel The Plague in essence portrays in a large scale the human stages of
grief, suffering and death and that by analysing the reactions of the people we
are introduced to a myriad of experiencing joining together to each stage of
grief.

Bibliography:
Camus, Albert. The plague. New York: Modern Library, 1948. Print.
Ross, Elisabeth. On death and dying. New York: Macmillan, 1969. Print.
Ross, Elisabeth, and David Kessler. On grief and grieving: finding the
meaning of grief through the five stages of loss. New York: Scribner, 2005.
Print.