History and Analysis of "The Plague" by Albert Cam
Uploaded by sls465 on Apr 19, 2007
History and Analysis of "The Plague" by Albert Camus
The Plague by Albert Camus proved to be a very interesting and original view as to what could be interpreted as the effects of the occupation and resistance of the Holocaust that he shows resulting from the Nazi Party during World War II. According to one source: “(Camus) soon became involved in the Resistance movement against the occupying German forces”(Encarta). This was a major influence on him when writing this novel. Albert Camus uses events in his novel The Plague to represent events of the Holocaust and World War II.
When comparing The Plague to the Holocaust it is easy to find resemblance’s. The first few chapters of The Plague provide evidence to show the similarities of what happened in Germany and the surrounding countries with the extermination of millions of Jews. No one in Oran, upon hearing of the death of hundreds of rats wanted to admit that there might be an epidemic sickness. Once the true severity of the sickness became apparent, denial still prevented people of asserting the public that a plague had infested their society. This is similar to what happened at the Holocaust in that initially no one wanted to admit to the brutality of the Nazis to annihilate the Jews. This idea of what you don’t know can’t hurt you also happened to the French during World War II. They ignored the German arms build-up, and even their annexations of Austria and Poland. France was not very well prepared for the German attack as the people of Oran were for the plague.
Just like the plague infected people, the Nazis infected people with their ideology. They had people all over the world that were Nazi supporters. The first thing done after extremely large amounts of people had died, was closing the town. The plague cut off citizens from their loved ones. The Nazis did the same thing to France, whether it was killing French soldiers or separating Jewish families. Oran, just like France, had become separated from the rest of the world.
People were quarantined for their sickness, which led to an eventual isolation from the rest of the citizens, which also occurred during the Holocaust with the Jews in the concentration camps....