Book Review: Inquiring the meaning of any human action and emotions - The Plague
Camus’ “The Plague” is a perfect read right after Covid. Absolutely stunned by the resemblance of what happened during Covid and what he described in the book, especially on the development of people’s mindset and reaction to the situation. How the situation escalated, and how a lockdown is impacting people; How some people view the plague as an “abstract” and “objective” matter, how some others are experiencing the emotions.
It was in the beginning of the plague, that everyone thought they were special and had particular and perfect reasons to get out of the lockdown. But the government knows the abstract and objective facts - that there is risk in allowing these people. It was always crystal clear for the officials that these reasons and situations that people experience are not at all special, and we see the clash of the two thoughts - in forms of people trying to escape, getting arrested or shot, etc.
As time goes by people also see everyone has their “special” reasons and soon realizes that they are in fact not special at all. Most accepted the lockdown as “for the greater good” and now really settling down to face the “unknown” plague. People uniting and fighting against the plague, by forming volunteering groups, streamlining the “objective” controls, or even finding reasons to defend Christianity’s existence and meaning.
“For who would dare to assert that eternal happiness can compensate for a single moment’s human suffering”
But everything about the plague is “unknown” - how did it come? how does it spread? when will it stop? how to cure it? what actions help? - no one ever had clue about these, not even the doctor. They were fighting against the unknown, although they don’t know if their way of fighting help or not. It’s a confused fight and more so for ones’ own psychological comfort. Did the fight have any meaning? Objectively, most likely not. All they got was a more efficient and accurate way to record numbers and publish numbers.
But why do the people fight? What was also real is people’s emotion. And that seems to be one of the dominant theme here.
“I have no idea what’s awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.”
“A loveless world is a dead world.”
“They knew now that if there is one thing one can always yearn for, and sometimes attain, it is human love.”
At the same time, these emotions fades away or become mundane for those who are distant. As how Camus described the typical letter that everyone would send to their loved ones would just converge to “Am well. Thinking of you always. Love”. Do these have any meaning at all?
The plague left, as fast and as abruptly as it came. No one knows why and everything remained unknown. Everything seems to be restored, but also it would never be the same. The only thing that we know is that the plague would come back, maybe in a different form, and we will just repeat the cycle again.
Using the plague, Camus seems to be questioning the meaning of everything - the objectiveness, the feelings, the actions, the beliefs - they all to surrender to the unknown.
Nothing has ever truly held meaning, and yet, as humans, we persist in our fights, even though it may all seem devoid of significance. But, could it be that there’s still some underlying purpose, after all?