Dr. Rieux The Plague
You hear the moaning. Hopelessness drifts in the air as it whiffs by you. Next to you in a bed is a little boy. He is whimpering until you slowly see the life drip out of him. This image is what Dr. Rieux faced everyday as he tried to contain the plague. He had no way of saving the unlucky souls and was forced to see patients die over and over again. The standards and way of life that the plague brought to the town caused Dr. Rieux to have to harden his heart and face the ordinary circumstances of hundreds of people dying everyday. The plague drastically affected the town of Oran as people drifted into hopelessness or death. The plague affected everything and anyone. The effect that the plague had on Oran was similar to a completely militarily
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controlled town. There was not one day that went by in which the people were not thinking of the plague. Some people choose to stay inside to avoid being contaminated by others. Other people choose to keep going to work and their daily lives, but the monotony of the depressing days as the plague increased weared on everyone’s souls. People “drifted through life rather than lived, the prey of aimless days and sterile memories, like wandering shadows that could have acquired substance only by consenting to root themselves in the soiled earth of their distress” (Camus 73). The people became like zombies, wandering forever, searching for anything that might give them some joy. People dreamed of going back to a plague free town, or seeing their departed loved ones once more, but the realities of the plague made dreams seem impossible and the future bleak. The town of Oran was suffering. These sufferings escaped no one as the plague controlled everything. Life and death was at the mercy of the plague. Those who lived through the plague had seen their old selves killed as no one who has seen death has ever escaped it. Dr.
Rieux is changed by the plague as he must suffer through seeing hundreds of innocent people die each day. The plague caused infected hundreds per day. As a doctor, it was Rieux’s job to take the infected victims away from their families and take them to a contained building. Once infected, it was certain that the people would die. In order to take away the infected person, Dr. Rieux had to be accompanied by soldiers, who would often scream and cry for their loved one to not be taken away. Not only did Rieux have to see his patients die each day, but he had to see the grieving families. Eventually, he had no choice “but to tighten the stranglehold on his feelings and harden his heart protectively. For he knew this was the only way of carrying on. In any case, he had few illusions left, and fatigue was robbing him of even these remaining few” (Camus 192). Seeing all of the suffering became routine in Rieux’s live. Things which once had been rare to him, such as the death of patients, were now commonplace. The juxtaposition of Rieux’s calm life before the plague, to his dreary and torturous life afterwards emphasises the dramatic changes in Rieux’s mental state as hopelessness and monotony enveloped and ate his old happy lifestyle. When Rieux’s closest partner, Tarrous, was taken by the plague Rieux’s heart was forever shattered by the plague as he watch the life escape out of him like the many other people he had watched before. The plague causes Rieux to see things no
one wishes to see, and these images haunted his every living moment. The plague caused people to succumb to the realities of life as the deaths caused despair and disillusionment in everyone, including Dr. Rieux. The cycle of life always ends in death. The beginning of life brings joy to all, where as death leaves incompleteness and dissatisfaction in its wake. The past haunts people. There is always one thing wish people wish that they could have said to the departed before they left. There are actions, which people wish that they could have done. Death eliminates the future. Rieux was forced to see futures destroyed. The past filled with deaths and regrets ate away at Rieux, until he no longer could no longer dream of his own future.
controlled town. There was not one day that went by in which the people were not thinking of the plague. Some people choose to stay inside to avoid being contaminated by others. Other people choose to keep going to work and their daily lives, but the monotony of the depressing days as the plague increased weared on everyone’s souls. People “drifted through life rather than lived, the prey of aimless days and sterile memories, like wandering shadows that could have acquired substance only by consenting to root themselves in the soiled earth of their distress” (Camus 73). The people became like zombies, wandering forever, searching for anything that might give them some joy. People dreamed of going back to a plague free town, or seeing their departed loved ones once more, but the realities of the plague made dreams seem impossible and the future bleak. The town of Oran was suffering. These sufferings escaped no one as the plague controlled everything. Life and death was at the mercy of the plague. Those who lived through the plague had seen their old selves killed as no one who has seen death has ever escaped it. Dr.
Rieux is changed by the plague as he must suffer through seeing hundreds of innocent people die each day. The plague caused infected hundreds per day. As a doctor, it was Rieux’s job to take the infected victims away from their families and take them to a contained building. Once infected, it was certain that the people would die. In order to take away the infected person, Dr. Rieux had to be accompanied by soldiers, who would often scream and cry for their loved one to not be taken away. Not only did Rieux have to see his patients die each day, but he had to see the grieving families. Eventually, he had no choice “but to tighten the stranglehold on his feelings and harden his heart protectively. For he knew this was the only way of carrying on. In any case, he had few illusions left, and fatigue was robbing him of even these remaining few” (Camus 192). Seeing all of the suffering became routine in Rieux’s live. Things which once had been rare to him, such as the death of patients, were now commonplace. The juxtaposition of Rieux’s calm life before the plague, to his dreary and torturous life afterwards emphasises the dramatic changes in Rieux’s mental state as hopelessness and monotony enveloped and ate his old happy lifestyle. When Rieux’s closest partner, Tarrous, was taken by the plague Rieux’s heart was forever shattered by the plague as he watch the life escape out of him like the many other people he had watched before. The plague causes Rieux to see things no
one wishes to see, and these images haunted his every living moment. The plague caused people to succumb to the realities of life as the deaths caused despair and disillusionment in everyone, including Dr. Rieux. The cycle of life always ends in death. The beginning of life brings joy to all, where as death leaves incompleteness and dissatisfaction in its wake. The past haunts people. There is always one thing wish people wish that they could have said to the departed before they left. There are actions, which people wish that they could have done. Death eliminates the future. Rieux was forced to see futures destroyed. The past filled with deaths and regrets ate away at Rieux, until he no longer could no longer dream of his own future.