What Is Tarrou's Role In The Plague

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Throughout the novel “The Plague” Albert Camus emphasizes three characters reactions when the plague hits Oran. Each character has a different response to the initial outbreak of the pestilence and yet they all have a meaningful reaction that represents a larger image in the novel. Father Paneloux shares his traditional religious views to the community in hopes that they will turn to god in this time of devastation. Tarrou, the humanist, believes every human is worth fighting for and Dr. Rieux‘s view of personal responsibility and taking action, played a large role in the fight against the plague that seems to be gripping onto the city of Oran. They are each battling the plague for themselves and the community which makes these three characters…show more content…
He immediately assumes that the plague has come to punish the sinners of Oran. He says “you” instead of “we” in his first sermon, signifying that the plague is the sinners problem not his own. He preaches that everyone will suffer and he actually frightens people instead of comforting them. He is basically telling the people to become self reliant because no one is going to be there to help. After his first sermon Rambert was so disturbed by the priest’s words that he tried to escape the town. Shortly after Father Paneloux’s sermon, Young Jacques Othon suffers slowly in front of Father Paneloux and while the boy was screaming and dieing slowly, He cried out “My god spare this child!” This had a large effect on the way Father Paneloux looked at the plague. Father Paneloux’s second sermon had a different domineer; he supplied comfort to the community instead of scaring them off. "It gives us a glimpse of that radiant eternal light which glows, a small still flame, in the dark core of human suffering. And this light, too, illuminates the shadowed paths that lead toward deliverance. It reveals the will of God in action, unfailingly transforming evil into good. […] This, my friends, is the vast consolation I would hold out to you." (2.3.17) Father Paneloux unlike Rieux, offers words and great ideas instead of taking action. This is very important because he gives the community hope and faith in

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