Albert Camus` The Plague explores choosing to fight death and suffering. There are different approaches that this author has enacted towards relaying this information to his audience. For instance, the irony is evident when Camus` describes the prospect of “freedom.” The freedom being expressed by the author is ironic in the eyes of the citizens because the Oran citizens are forced into quarantine following the plague, and this is not different from their previous lives given that they had been prisoners. It is evident that their lives were entangled by unconscious enslavement to their habits. It is even questionable whether these citizens were really alive before the plague (Camus, 2012). This gives a critical perspective about the life of the Oran citizens before and after the plague. The aspect of freedom has entirely been ironic to the citizens because of their own enslavement of the mind.
Moreover, an awakening of the mind is established once the plague hits Oran. The citizens are awakened to find the true meaning of freedom and life. For instance, when they are separated by quarantine from their families and friends, they realize that they most intensely love them. However, this was not the case because they took the prospect of family and friendship for granted (Camus, 2012). This describes the segregation that existed among the Oran citizens before the plague and how the quarantine approach had awakened them and made them realize how they were important to one another. Equally, they realize that they had not been living in freedom as they had been thinking.
Camus holds on the prospects of both existentialism and humanism. He does not believe in aspects such as death and human suffering and any other intrinsic moral meaning. According to him, people have the ability to give their lives meaning and not waiting for a supreme being to intervene. In this context, Camus provides that the Oran citizens have the capability of rewriting their lives following the pandemic that has awakened them. However, the early days of the epidemic outline the citizens as divided individuals because they believe their suffering is indifferent to one another`s. The selfish thought convincing them that their pains are unique compared to the common suffering highlights the division that exists between them (Camus, 2012). A community that cannot stand together to tackle a common problem is evident through the citizens. Instead of sharing ideas and standing together towards addressing the pandemic, division, and selfishness overrules.
Change is evident among the citizens once the plague wears on for months. The common suffering reminds them of the importance of standing together. With this in mind, it is evident that the citizens are waking up from their sleep of thoughts and realizing their weaknesses. The pandemic has become a source of enlightenment to these individuals. For instance, the majority of the Oran citizens rise above their divisions to join the anti-plague effort. It is essential that the common enemy allows them to break the gap of alienation that characterizes their lives. Therefore, these citizens choose life over death because they unite to fight a common enemy that threatens to reign the nation (Camus, 2012). The Oran citizens have thus given meaning to their lives and have a different perception of what it means now. It is essential to note that fleeing the city or avoiding the anti-plague efforts is equivalent to surrendering to death that is posed by the epidemic.
Rebellion against death and suffering is fruitless. This is evident among the citizens that put their efforts into the anti-plague fight that seems to foster a negligible difference. The epidemic has fostered relentless progress, and it overwhelms the citizens that fight in solidarity. However, there are different factors that always define the unending efforts or the hopelessness that emerges from desperation. The continued rebellion by the citizens is noble because it defines their undying hope that the epidemic will come to pass. This is a meaningful struggle that leads to the infusion of the plague. To the citizens, they have tackled a problem that would have cleared humanity from their society. They can attest to the significance of unity and togetherness in society.
In conclusion, Camus depicts the value of optimism in a time of hopelessness. The unity and togetherness achieved by the Oran citizens allow them to live to see another day. They rebel against death, but unity allows them to stand a chance. Faced by such an obvious death, their choice of fighting as a community and fight for themselves becomes meaningful. Therefore, the author outlines that the freedom that the Oran citizens thought to have been enjoying was not realistic. Once they face the epidemic and are forced into quarantine, it is only that they realize their unconscious enslavement. However, the epidemic has enlightened them by fostering the importance of unity and togetherness in a community. In addition, it has allowed them to understand a divided community cannot yield its prospects of success in any given scenario.