The Plague Section: Book Reports
SUMMARY: PART 4 In part four of The Plague, conditions are still awful in Oran. Dr. Rieux is working harder than ever. He gets only four hours of sleep, and he and his fellow workers are always exhausted. When someone is diagnosed with the plague, they usually always die, so Dr. Rieux's job has changed from curing people to diagnosing them. Oran's inhabitants are getting restless. Numerous riots and various crimes occur daily. Although the number of deaths were no longer increasing many people close to Dr. Rieux died. After delivering a second, less hostile sermon, Father Paneloux came down with the plague. Another doctor that worked with Dr. Rieux, named Dr. Richard, died as well. A horrible death from the plague was a son of a magistrate. He was given an experimental serum that cured later patients, but just prolonged his suffering. That serum, was acclaimed as the reason for the decrease of deaths. Also the serum was accounted for the strange cases where people recovered from the plague. One positive occurrence at the end of part four was the appearance of rats again. They were healthy and running around. That's a good sign for the end of the epidemic.
SUMMARY: PART 5 The last part of the novel describes the ending of the plague, and the beginning of the life after. As winter sets in, Dr. Rieux continues to work hard. The number of deaths continued to drop until the epidemic ended considerably suddenly. At the plague's last breaths, Dr. Rieux's very close friend Tarrou died of the plague. Another close friend of Dr. Rieux, Cottard, couldn't deal with the opening of the gates of the town, and he went crazy. He shot people with a gun out of his apartment building until the authorities came and took him away. He thought they might tell the police about his dreaded crime. Later, Dr. Rieux got the sad news that his wife past while they were still in exile. He found it difficult to celebrate with the rest of the town when the gates were finally opened.
ONE SIGNIFICANT CHARACTER: One significant character in the novel, the Plague, is Father Paneloux. He is a highly educated, and well respected priest in the town of Oran. Father Paneloux is first mentioned in the novel helping the concierge, M. Michel, at Dr. Rieux's apartment building. The concierge was sick and Father Paneloux was helping him to his bed (17). Father Paneloux worked at various places during the epidemic. Utilizing his education, he helped at the Oran Geographical Society and gave educational lectures about historic plagues (92). After the first month of the epidemic, Father Paneloux gave a dramatic sermon at the town's church at a high Sunday mass (95-99). Paneloux believed the plague was sent by God on the people of the town as punishment for their sins (92). The people had different responses to the sermon. Many rebelled against the church and dropped their beliefs, and others just ignored it (100). Father Paneloux thinks the plague opens men's eyes and forces them to think. He finds a positive side to the prevailing disease (125). Up until this part of the novel, Father Paneloux is depicted as a rigid man, and is not a very pleasant character. At this point, Father Paneloux's emotional side shines through. Father Paneloux witnesses a torturous death of the son of M. Othon, a magistrate. The boy was given an experimental serum that prolonged his death. Paneloux pleaded with God to spare the child during his drawn out, discouraging death (216-219). After the child's death Paneloux had a talk with Dr. Rieux about death and grace, and the link between God and doctors (218-219). Paneloux soon joined Dr. Rieux's band of workers and stayed at hospitals and places with plague (220). Paneloux wrote an essay titled, Is a Priest justified in Consulting a Doctor? (220) He gave a sermon about the essay at a mass for men, in which he asked Dr. Rieux to attend. This sermon was much gentler and had a more thoughtful tone than the first sermon. Father Paneloux said, we instead of you, which made it easy to identify with (222-228).
Words: 698
