Camus' The Plague Identification

The passage being analyzed in this essay is taken from Albert Camus' novel, The Plague, originally published in French in 1947 under the title of La Peste. Created in the existentialist philosophical mode, this post-World War II novel highlights the French situation in Algeria, a country which would ultimately reject French colonial rule. The novel describes the effects of a plague that affected the port city of Oran. It examines the psychological, social, and political implications of an epidemic as perceived by those most directly affected by it. More significantly, Camus used this medical crisis to illustrate the existential crisis of man's search for meaning and value in his life. The ennui of existence is balanced against the expectation of death.

The passage under analysis herein is found at the beginning of Part III of the text. Up to this point, the citizens of Oran have become aware of the existence of plague among them, taken some steps to prevent its transmission, and dealt with the dual effects of rampant illness and quarantine. The story begins in April when the first suspicion of plague emerges. In Parts I and II, the townspeople, the doctor who is a central character, and tourists stranded in Oran begin to cope with the knowledge of their situation. They become "prisoners" of the plague cut off from the outside world and facing the possibility of a painful death. The narrator, a physician, pr

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this task include cities with less than 100,000 population (small cities), Cities with more than 100,000 but less than 1,000,000 and larger cities with 1,000,000 or more population. According to the Associated Press (2004), convergence awards were given in 2004 to three cities in these categories. In the under 100,000 circulation category, an award was given to the Winston-Salem Journal in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The media entity operates both an online and print version of their daily and Sunday papers. The entity won for an eight-part series titled "Murder, Race, Justice: The State vs. Daryl Hunt," that showed how an investigation into a 1984 rape and murder resulted in a man's wrongful incarceration for 18 years. In the 100,000 and above circulation category, Associated Press (2004) reported that an award was given to the Wilmington, Delaware, News Journal, which also operates an online newspaper site and publishes a daily print version as well. A five-day series by the News Journal linked Delaware's high cancer death rate to late diagnosis and inadequate treatment, especially among poorer citizens with limited health care and access barriers to treatment. The newspaper's publishers stated that the serie

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