I find the contrast of these two books very interesting.

In fact I feel as though trying to move it beyond what the story is about, to try and focus it on the here and now, takes away from the message of what it was then and there.

However the experience and reactions of the people in the book, from the priest to the doctor, I do see as base human reactions that we can look at in the modern world and just to judge off of in the speculative front.

If a modern plague were to ravage a small town, would we act the same way if it was just as vicious or disruptive after not much time? If a brand new flu came about and Essex, Connecticut had to be cut off from the rest of the U.S.A. due to this deadly mutation of the bird flu that affected humans, would we see a Castel?

A plague is a part of nature, it will act of it’s own violation.

War will act in a similar fashion, but to our horror, we will see our actions change the war, as it will hardly be affected in the way we want or in the speed we wish.

Rieux had to see his wife off to a sanatorium ( I guess she had TB); he felt helpless and perhaps some guilt for not looking after her better. The saying that Dr’s care for their own family last comes to mind. I think there would have been separation regardless of the plague. He had his rounds and responsibilities, and she would be away in the fresh air of the mountains. They would start again when she got back. There was a tenderness and love between them.

Women do not play important roles in this story. When Rambert was reunited with his love I imagined some stunning film star for the movie version. The women are very thinly or sparsely characterized-perhaps to not leave them out altogether. But note they are essential to happiness.

Good point.

There’s the important fact of Rieux’s wife dying during the plague, but while exiled from it; she’s dead, but it’s not the plague’s fault (or is it, because the plague separated her from Rieux?).

And, speaking of women and Rieux:

There’s the character of Rieux’s mother. She’s a fascinating one. I didn’t quite get my head around her, though.

I said, “Fitz, that’s the plague, man!”

But isn’t it? For that (40something) gentleman and his family, he fell victim to the worst plague in history…his own.

I said “Fitz, that’s what Camus was getting at, death is around every corner, so live your life accordingly.”

We don’t need any dead rats to tell us we might close our eyes tonight for the last time.

I think I’m gonna to hug someone today…

On finding ways to help oneself get through: in the passage about the people quarantined in the stadium, it was mentioned that they do nothing all day. I found myself thinking, “Why doesn’t somebody start a choir? Or get them all to write a story together?” The answer, of course, is despair. And I’m in my comfy sofa reading a book with grand thoughts of what could be done. How can I know what I what would do were I in the same predicament? Then, I wondered, “How the did the Katrina evacuees occupy themselves when they were in the stadium?” Funny how different bits of the story bring my mind directly to details of different pestilences…..