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American Selfishness & Camus’ ‘The Plague’ — Page 37
I am reading ‘The Plague’ by Albert Camus. Lots of people are reading the book. It is hard to find. I found a used copy and dove right in. This is the Vintage International Edition. 1948.
Scary how the book reminds me of where I am living (the United States). This is so even though Camus’ famous book is about one city in North Africa — Oran. But the selfish behavior I have witnessed up close in the U.S. from others, near, and far, is what is striking. Camus, always the one to make a point about human behavior, makes his point early in the novel.
In the book, in the city of Oran, rats began to die everywhere and Dr. Bernard Rieux, a surgeon in the city, takes it quite serious. This was especially so after he “felt something soft under his foot” on the morning of April 16, and soon learned it was a “dead rat in the middle of a landing.” Many rats are soon dying everywhere and whatever it is that is killing them soon is killing humans. No one cared when it was just rats almost like no one seem to…
