The Plague - Epidemic Literature

The Plague : Epidemic Literature

 In now situation We all are passing through the toughest time of CORONA(covid 19) pandemic.The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest challenge we have faced since World War Two. We have now reached the tragic milestone of one million deaths, and the human family is suffering under an almost intolerable burden of loss. Most of us have never lived through a pandemic like the coronavirus before, but we have heard or learned about them, from the Spanish flu to, more notoriously, the plague, like the Black Death ..so now we discuss about plegue …

The Plegue by Albert Camus 

The Plague (French: La Peste) is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story from the point of view of a narrator of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. The narrator remains unknown until the start of the last chapter, chapter 5 of part 5. The novel presents a snapshot of life in Oran as seen through the author's distinctive absurdist point of view.  

According to an academic study, Oran was decimated by the bubonic plague in 1556 and 1678, but all later outbreaks (in 1921: 185 cases; 1931: 76 cases; and 1944: 95 cases) were very far from the scale of the epidemic described in the novel. 

Now there are some points that we discuss…..

(1) Huminity- Human self-centeredness vs Human Sacrifice

After reading this novel and also see this panadamic situation this question coming to my mind so let's discuss about that...Humans are a social species where survival and wellbeing depend upon cohesion with the social group. People are programmed from a young age to see that when they do bad or are bad according to the social group, their survival and needs are threatened. The only way to survive and to get one’s needs met is to do and be good according to the social group. These opinions about rightness and goodness become morals and ethics we all are also self centred .

(2) Power Politics- Fascist forces of 1940s vs Surveillance society of 2020s  

One charismatic leader has absolute authority. Often the symbol of the state. Advisers to Government are generally picked by merit rather than election. Cronyism common and this is the fascism 

Can coexist with different political systems. Most socialists advocate participatory democracy, some Social Democrats advocate parliamentary democracy, and Marxist-Leninists advocate "Democratic centralism this is the socialism 

(3) Science vs Religion - the question of God 

Both science and religion are complex social and cultural endeavors that vary across cultures and change over time.Most scientific and technical innovations priority to the scientific revolution were achieved by societies organized by religious traditions.

Public acceptance of scientific facts may sometimes be influenced by religious beliefs such as in the United States, where some reject the concept of evolution by natural selection, especially regarding human beings. Nevertheless, the American National Academy of Sciences has written that "the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith" a view endorsed by many religious denominations.