One needs to reckon that the literary work, The Plague, is surely among the most significant works of art in the history of literature. The author of this literary work, Albert Camus, goes on to exude his aesthetic quintessence and literary appeal so as to leave the readers of the work with the echo of the emotions even after they have finished reading the work. Camus is extremely successful in hogging the attention of his readers and engaging them to the text so as to catapult the affective appeal and charm of his writing. It needs to be noted that the narrator of The Plague plays a major role in the course of the portrayal as it is through the words of the narrator that the readers get manipulated to believe in the truth as shown to them.
It needs to be noted that the narrator of the story endeavors to present the narrative in an objective and factual manner to the readers. The narrator goes on to relate the entire story in the third person. All these techniques go on to influence the perspective of the avid readers of the narrative who come to believe all the things that are explicated. In fact, the narration is so very convincing in nature that the reader are hardly left with any room to think or have a different perspective that what is being impressed upon them by the narrator of the story. There can be no doubt that the narration of The Plague is surely one of the key elements that takes the story forward and affects the intrigued readers. A very intriguing aspect of the narrative is that in spite of the attempt to give a highly objective and journalistic account, there are expressions of individuality of experience and subjectivity that are meshed in the course of the narrative of The Plague.
One cannot miss the mentions of Tarrou’s journal entries that add to the narrative appeal of the novel. Tarrou’s journal entries work as an effective plot-device that lets the stalwart author to exude to the readers the events that occur outside the knowledge of the narrator of the story. The narrator says, “From Tarou’s notes we gather” pointing to the fact that much of the information is taken from Tarrou. (Camus 117) Apart from this, the entries also serve the important purpose of focusing on the presence of a multiplicity of the perspectives presented, thus reminding the readers that there can be many versions or accounts of a number of occurrences. In the course of the narrative, the narrator opines, “Tarrou also records that he had a long talk with Dr. Rieux; all he remembered was that it had ‘good results.’” (Camus 116) Such insertions never let the readers ponder for even a single moment that Dr. Rieux can actually be the narrator of the story in context. All of these narrative techniques utilized by Albert Camus have a surmounting effect on the minds and psyche of the readers who are left to believe all that is being told.
Although the entire story of the text is told to the audience through the perspective of one of the main characters, Rieux, it is not until the last chapter of the novel that the avid readers come to realize this fact. Now, the fact that the readers are totally unaware of the narrator being Rieux till the very end shows how the author is successful in manipulating the readers. The novel goes on to portray the thematic content of isolation through the character of Rieux. Here, one comes to find that Rieux endeavors to find a personal exile from his wife. He also wants an emotional exile making him isolated. Now, this is also reflected in the text as one finds the narration of the story to be objective in nature sans any emotional link. This works to establish the theme of isolation from the explicated events with regards to emotions. Although this is a telltale sign of the commonality between the narrator and Rieux, the readers fail to understand till the revelation in the end that Rieux’s state of mind is being portrayed in the narration as well. At one point of time, the narrator says, “The language he used was that of a man who was sick and tired of the world he lived in—though he had much liking for his fellow men—and had resolved, for his part, to have no truck with injustice and compromises with truth.” (Camus 12) Here, the narrator of the story can be found to examine the language of the man so as to understand the person and his emotions. Rieux gets referred in the course of the narrative in the third person only to pave the way for the revelation at the end.
Rieux refrains from declaring him to be narrator in the course of the text as he wishes to give the entire account of the occurrences in Oran a sense of objectivity. Although the entire story is explicated and portrayed to the avid readers through the character of Rieux, he never functions as the first-person narrator. In this manner, the entire novel comes across to be narrated by this unnamed narrator. One can relate the narrative structure of Camus’ novel with the explication of Wayne C. Booth in the book, The Rhetoric of Fiction, where he goes on to opine that the narrative of a literary work is a form of rhetoric. With respect to the argument of Booth, one can comprehend that the objective and journalistic style of writing by Camus goes on to minimize the readers’ awareness of the author. The readers come to believe what is being presented to them from the perspective of the third-person narrator as well as the journal entries. (Booth 149-154) These techniques work to enhance the authenticity of the text in context, and also enhance the engagement of the readers with this literary work.
It would be correct to conclude by saying that Albert Camus truly sets a benchmark with this literary text as he goes on to exude his skills as an author and his capability to influence the perspective and psyche of the readers of the text. The supplementations of journal entries and conversations with other people make the readers totally convinced that the text portrays the truth in its unadulterated form. As such, it would not be wrong to say that The Plague is one of the finest works of literature ever in the history of arts and aesthetics. The accounts of the plague resonate in the minds with all the vivid details and the novel comes across to be an authentic historical portrayal of the events even after being a work of fiction.
Works Cited
Booth, Wayne C. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1983. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Plague. New York City: Vintage Books, 1948. Print.
