The Plague

Throughout the course of the plague’s presence in Oran, many of the primary characters undergo substantial changes. Identify which characters demonstrate noteworthy change, the changes themselves, and what specific factors propel them. In your opinion, who changes the most?

Would you argue that the weather serves as a character in the novel? Why or why not?

Given that The Plague contains such a wealth of philosophical discourse, why do you think Camus chose to articulate his dialogue of ideas in a novel rather than a philosophical treatise or essay?

As you reflect on The Plague’s female characters and the ways in which the author depicts them, formulate a thesis as to their status in the novel. Why do you think that Camus chose to assign them the roles that he does?

Rieux repeatedly stresses that his chronicle of Oran and its people during the plague epidemic offers an objective, unadorned account of what transpired at that time. Do you see any exceptions to his claims?

Why do you think Camus chose to include so many writer characters in The Plague? What sorts of texts do these authors write, and why does Camus devote so much attention to discussing their works, words, and language in general?

How does Camus present different portraits of heroism in the novel? In comparing these portraits and how the author fleshes them out, which version of heroism aligns most closely with Camus’s own?

In novel’s final paragraph the narrator writes that “the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good” (150). In light of this statement, do you interpret the novel’s denouement and its overall message as fundamentally optimistic or pessimistic?