& # 8217 ; s Merely Hero Essay, Research Paper

Tarrou: the Plague & # 8217 ; s Merely Hero

In & # 8220 ; The Plague & # 8221 ; , Albert Camus pits humanity against an unstoppable force of nature: the bubonic pestilence. He creates a assortment of characters who all trade with the pestilence in their ain manner, but merely Tarrou acts heroically. Rieux comes near to a hero, but he fights the pestilence because it & # 8217 ; s expected of him and shows indifference at the terminal of the book. Besides Rieux and Tarrou, none of the other characters show any gallantry or opposition to the pestilence, except the sanitation squad under Tarrou. Through Tarrou entirely, Camus asks the reader how to heroically cover with decease. Tarrou besides provides an illustration of heroes who get crushed by destiny for rebelliousness. For these grounds, merely Tarrou can be considered a hero.

All the characters except Rieux and Tarrou can & # 8217 ; t be considered heroes. Paneloux believes in sainthood and God, but he offers no opposition to the pestilence since he believes it was divinely sent. Rambert chooses to run from the job instead than confront it. McCarthy besides points out that he neglects his basic responsibility as a newsman by neglecting to enter anything ( 109 ) ; a responsibility which Rieux and Tarrou fulfill. Grand produces two sentences and does nil to contend the pestilence, which McCarthy interprets as a lampoon of Rieux & # 8217 ; s inability to explicate the pestilence ( 109-10 ) . Cottard wholeheartedly embraces the pestilence, revels in it, and efforts to gain from it. The remainder of the people either blow their clip, waiting for the terminal ( the old adult male ptyalizing on the cats, the bean-counter, etc. ) or fall in the sanitation squad, under Tarrou. Cipher takes a base and resists decease except Rieux and Tarrou.

Rieux and Tarrou do look to demo the same degree of gallantry. Both resist the pestilence, both are symbolically cleansed in the river, and both record the events of Oran. Br? vitamin E thinks that for Rieux & # 8220 ; morality is first of all a inquiry of bring arounding people ( 150 ) . & # 8221 ; Rieux fights the pestilence merely because he sees it as his responsibility, and one has to inquire if he would hold done anything if he wasn & # 8217 ; t a physician. He views the pestilence as & # 8220 ; a ceaseless defeat. & # 8221 ; Tarrou acts for a more baronial intent: to derive sainthood. ( Paneloux might besides be considered a hero for this ground, but he doesn & # 8217 ; t fight the pestilence as Tarrou does. ) He & # 8217 ; s somewhat like & lt ;

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Dwight Towers in & # 8220 ; On the Beach & # 8221 ; , sing the clip earlier decease as a period of grace. G. Picon besides points out that Tarrou sacrifices his life, and therefore wages more for his gallantry than Rieux ( Br? e 150 ) . By the terminal of the book Rieux has been reduced to methodically naming patients, while Tarrou has died and purportedly attained sainthood. Tarrou accomplishes his end, but Rieux hasn & # 8217 ; t been able to bring around everyone of the pestilence.

What is the pestilence which Tarrou is contending? Some see it as a fable for the Occupation ( Bloom 107 ) , with Oran being France, the work forces Rebels, and the pestilence Nazism. If this is so, why does the pestilence carry off the Catholic priest and M. Othon & # 8217 ; s boy? Austin Fowler ( Dep. of English, NY province university ) says that the pestilence is decease itself, common to all work forces. Camus, so, is demoing how different people react to decease. Through Tarrou, Camus shows how to heroically cover with decease. Tarrou falls in with Deucalion and the worms in God & # 8217 ; s garden as an illustration of & # 8220 ; the cataracts of Eden & # 8221 ; . Since one of his ends was non to be a bearer of pestilence, the pestilence strikes him. Like most of the characters in this chapter, he resists his destiny even to his deathbed. Camus shows us that the changeless act of resisting, the involuntariness to accept decease, makes us saints. Paneloux, for all his spiritual beliefs, chooses non to contend the pestilence and misses out on sainthood. Rieux resists non because he hates decease but because he & # 8217 ; s a physician. He becomes about apathetic to enduring in his narrative and actions, so the pestilence doesn & # 8217 ; t & # 8220 ; penalize & # 8221 ; him.

Camus has evidently set Tarrou up to be a hero in the pestilence. He & # 8217 ; s the lone hero because cipher except Rieux comes near to contending the pestilence, and Rieux merely acts to carry through his duty as a physician. He & # 8217 ; s a saint because he resists decease and destiny and therefore attains sainthood. He & # 8217 ; s a hero because he provides a right theoretical account on how to cover with decease. For contending the pestilence, he gets symbolically crushed. Without Tarrou, & # 8220 ; The Plague & # 8221 ; wouldn & # 8217 ; t have the hero common to about all literature.

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Bree, Germaine. Camus. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. , 1962.

McCarthy, Patrick. & # 8220 ; The Plague. & # 8221 ; In Albert Camus, p.107-113. Edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989.