Suffering In Albert Camus The Plague

The concept of suffering is a persistent motif in Albert Camus's novel, The Plague. Camus explores this notion through two different characters, Father Paneloux, a devout Jesuit priest, and Jean Tarrou, a visitor to the town of Oran who is deeply philosophical and thoughtful regarding the workings of the world. While the subject of piety and sainthood swirl around these characters, the way these two men struggle with suffering is very telling. Indeed, while both men suffer and die, Camus paints two strikingly different deaths in order to convey being a saint is not restricted to people of faith. The suffering and fatality the plague presents causes the Oranean people to resort to religion and “timidly join”(94) the Cathedral for the “Week of Prayer”(94), …show more content…
In due coarse, Paneloux joined the sanitary groups and eventually replaced Rambert at the quarantine stations. While contributing to controlling the outbreak of disease, Monsieur Othon’s jubilant son falls ill and is admitted into quarantine. As the boy’s body is “racked by convulsive tremors”(214), Father Paneloux is forced to helplessly observe him struggle. Paneloux crumbles as the boy shrieks his last “angry death cry” (216); the bewildered priest “sank on his knees,”(216) howling, “‘My God, spare this child’”(217). Moments after the child’s malicious fatality, Rieux and Father Paneloux fall into a complex dialogue concerning the workings of life. In an attempt to trivialize the suffering of Monsieur Othon’s son, Paneloux offers cliché advice relating to God about “lov[ing] what we cannot understand”(218). Rieux counters his response with the notion that human suffering such as “children put to torture”(218) means more than “ blasphemy and prayers”(219). Paneloux is seemingly inexperienced by the forward skepticism and flees the scene “lost in thought”(219). In the following weeks the priest gave the impression that