Jean Tarrou In The Plague

Albert Camus’ The Plague, which is set in modern times in the Algerian city of Oran, is a fictional account chronicling both the mundaneness of the Black Death and the devastating effects of this epidemic on the lives of its residents. The characters Father Paneloux, Jean Tarrou, Raymond Rambert, and Cottard who each represent a different aspect of the plague – the role of religion, the fight against death and suffering, social responsibility, and the need for security, respectively – are coagulated by the protagonist and narrator, Dr. Rieux, who does so through his interactions with the characters and the use of Jean Tarrou’s notebooks to give more insight and greater comprehension to his narrative. Early during the epidemic, the residents

Tarrou just happened to be in Oran when the plague hit and the epidemic caused the city to be quarantined. As a foreigner, his observations on the society of Oran are objective and offer minimal personal input. His notebooks are used by Dr. Rieux to give more insight to the story. Tarrou has a strong sense of social responsibility and despite not being from Oran, he joins the volunteer teams and does his best to help victims of the plague. Tarrou does not believe in God and believes that murder (in any form) is the greatest evil in the world and he refuses to take part in it directly or indirectly. This explains why he contributes to the anti-plague effort because doing nothing and idly watching the plague claim hundreds of casualties a week is just as bad to him as murdering the people himself. In the words of Dr. Rieux, “when you see the suffering and pain that it brings, you have to be mad, blind or a coward to resign yourself to the

Rieux. He is one of the first people in Oran to insist that strict measures should be taken to fight the epidemic and has little patience for the authorities’ hesitation. Dr. Rieux follows a strict social code of ethics similar to that of Jean Tarrou. He continues to exhaust himself battling the plague despite the fact that his efforts make little to no progress, and although he is separated from his wife, he does not let this distract him from his work. As one of the leading doctors in the effort to fight the plague, he works closely with his colleagues Father Paneloux, Jean Tarrou, Raymond Rambert, and Cottard. Through his interactions with each of these characters as well as with the use of Tarrou’s notebooks, we get more texture in his narrative of the plague. In conclusion, each of these characters represent a different aspect of the plague, tied together by Dr. Rieux’s narrative. Father Paneloux representing the role of religion, Jean Tarrou and Dr. Rieux representing the fight against death and suffering, Raymond Rambert representing social responsibility, and Cottard representing the need for