At the beginning of Part IV we get a discussion of the exhaustion that has taken over the town, and the way that without a cure for the plague, Rieux’s role has gone from that of “a healer” to that of “a diagnostician.” He has “just enough heart” to “use it to bear the 20 hours a day in which he saw men dying who were made for life.” An exhaustion has set in that numbs them all, against the suffering but also against the very precautions that are meant to protect them against the plague. An eery statement, in our moment: “It was the very struggle against the plague that made them more vulnerable to the plague.” An interesting piece about Cottard, too, whom we spoke about in our meeting on Sunday: a character who is thriving, in a way, under the Plague, because he is no longer isolated, instead united with everyone else in the condition of hardship. 

FOR TOMORROW: Next 7 pages, up to “Tarrou looked at him and smiled suddenly,” in the second section of Part IV. 

At the end of Part III Camus explores the flattening of the plague, the way “exile and separation” leads the townspeople into “the very system of the plague,” which is  “mediocre.” “No one among us experienced great feelings any more, but everyone had banal feelings.” His description of how everyone is reduced to the present tense is so resonant; I have been thinking about that myself these last days, faced with impossible decisions about a family member. How do we make decisions when we don’t know the future? “In other words, they no longer made choices…Everything was accepted as it came.” This statement too is a frightening one, a warning, a reality we must fight hard against, as we can: “The truth must be told: the plague had taken away from all of them the power of love or even of friendship, for love demands some future, and for us there was only the here and now.”

MEETING TOMORROW AT 2 EST! Visit https://narrativemedicine.blog/blog/narrative-medicine-book-club/ to register. 

FOR MONDAY: First 7 pages of Part IV, through with the paragraph that begins “It often happened that Tarrou would go out…”

The first pages of Part III are eerily back on track with our world again, as the narrator gives a sweeping summary of the way things are in the late summer of the plague in Oran. The highest numbers of victims are in the areas with the closest quarters – the less affluent districts, the prison. Revolts start to happen. The narrator spends a while telling us about the grim reality of burials, the details of which are not too different from what we are seeing: victims dying alone, families unable to attend the funeral. And then another chilling and prescient statement, when more “immediate concerns” prevents the town people from fixating on the burials: “Taken up with queuing, pulling strings and filling forms if they wanted to eat, people did not have time to worry about how others were dying around them and how they themselves would one day die. So these material difficulties which seemed like an affliction would eventually be seen to have been a boon.” 

FOR TOMORROW: Read to the end of Part III! And our next zoom call will be Sunday at 2pm – keep your eye on the blog for the zoom link to register!

At the end of part one (apologies for the missed post yesterday!) we have a very interesting conversation between Rambert, Tarrou, and the doctor. Rambert, who is still trying to escape the town, says he’s “‘had enough of people who die for ideas…What interests [him] is living or dying for what one loves.'” Rieux answers him, in a statement so important for our moment: “‘Man is not an idea.'” Rieux argues that the only way to fight the plague is through “decency,” and that in his case decency consists in doing his job. I appreciate the way the doctor makes clear that acts of decency are not the same for each of us, though the overlaying category stands. It is the collective decency, all of us acting together in tandem from wherever we are, that is our greatest weapon. “…The epidemic was everybody’s business and they all had to do their duty.”

FOR TOMORROW: Read first 7 pages of Part III, into second section, ending with Rieux’s statement “‘No one can deny that we’ve made progress.'”

In today’s pages we continue to follow the journalist Rambert’s attempt at escape from the town. I think this may be the longest section of the book so far where we remain in one scene; this makes me wonder about its significance to the novel’s larger project. Rambert’s supposed coming escape is complicated, involving many people and lots of moving parts. I suspect it will be thwarted somehow, but to what end, I wonder, and why is it important to the book as a whole? 

FOR TOMORROW: Read to the end of Part II! 

In today’s pages we begin to explore what feels like the next inevitability of the situation as Camus is unfolding it: the existence of a blackmarket, back-alley system for getting goods and services. Rambert, who is still wanting to get to his love in Paris, teams up with Cottard, who takes him to a café to see a man who can possibly arrange for his escape. To me this scene felt inevitable; if you set a ball rolling down a hill in a certain direction, you can be sure of certain outcomes. As we spoke about yesterday in our meeting, this is how Camus’ allegory seems to stay so closely aligned with our actual moment: because it is true that in any moment of large and systematic societal crisis, these themes (of good and evil, of communication, of love and death) inevitably arise, and they play out in both predictable and unpredictable ways.  

FOR TOMORROW: Read next 7 pages (in section 9 in Part II), up to “‘Very useful,’ said the journalist, drinking in his turn.” 

It was difficult to choose a quote from today’s pages because there are so many that resonate. The narrator discusses Tarrou’s “health groups,” made of civilians risking their health to take care of those suffering. He says he doesn’t want to “attribute more significance” to these groups because he believes that “by giving too much importance to fine actions one may end by paying an indirect but powerful tribute to evil, because in so doing one implies that such fine actions are only valuable because they are rare, and that malice or indifference are far more common motives in the actions of men.” We are all so heartened, in America, by the “fine actions” we see by so many around us — and of course we must continue to give them significance! — but it is against the backdrop of so much seeming indifference that we must not accept as more common. “…There always comes a time in history when the person who dares to say that two and two make four is punished by death. The schoolmaster knows this quite well. And the question is not what reward or punishment awaits the demonstration; it is knowing whether or not two and two do make four.” This quote speaks to us of the struggle between facts, science, and lies and spin. And finally: “…the conclusion was always what they knew it would be: one must fight, in one way or another, and not go down on one’s knees.” 

FOR MONDAY: Read next 7 pages, to the line (in dialogue), “‘That man…is Enemy Number One.” 

TOMORROW: JOIN OUR SECOND ZOOM CALL! 4pm Eastern. Register here: https://narrativemedicine.blog/blog/narrative-medicine-book-club/

The narrator does interesting work in today’s pages – we disappear into Tarrou’s notebooks, referencing a conversation with Dr. Rieux that we then see in scene a few pages later, again causing us to question who is telling the story. Again the need for “imagination” is raised; Tarrou says, in reference to the Prefecture asking for volunteers to help: “‘What they need is imagination. They never rise to the challenge of a disaster.'” Interesting that we have heard this call now from two different characters. I was moved, too, by the loving interaction between Rieux and his mother, who says, “I don’t mind waiting for you if I know that you will be coming. And when you aren’t here, I think of what you are doing.'” Such a simple statement, but so very touching in this moment. 

FOR TOMORROW: next 7 pages, to the end of the paragraph that begins “This is also why it was natural for Grand…”

AND JOIN OUR NEXT ZOOM CALL SUNDAY AT **4 PM**! Please note you must register in advance for this meeting! Link to register on the main Book Club page: https://narrativemedicine.blog/blog/narrative-medicine-book-club/

In today’s pages we see more of the townspeople adjusting to the new reality of life under the plague. Rambert, telling his “case” to everyone he can find as a way to pass the time, ranking their reactions into categories; the man who spits on the cats finding even his pastime is cut off; police patrolling to make sure people stay indoors. I was particularly moved by the paragraph that begins: “In the terrified minds of our fellow-citizens…everything became more important. For the first time, all of us became aware of the colors of the sky and the smells of the earth which mark the passage of the seasons.” Many of us now are experiencing something similar, as we long for the simplest things that we took for granted – the cup of coffee from the corner food cart, the hug from a friend. On another note, is anyone else surprised that all the cafés seem to still be open? That seems one thing that Camus didn’t correctly predict…

FOR TOMORROW: Next 7 pages, up to the line, in dialogue, “‘I’d rather it was done by free men.'” (This is page 95 in my edition!)