The Plague Truth Quotes Page 2
Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Stuart Gilbert's translation.
| Quote #4 The present narrator has three kinds of data: first, what he saw himself; secondly, the accounts of other eyewitnesses (thanks to the part he played, he was able to learn their personal impressions from all those figuring into this chronicle,); and lastly, documents that subsequently came into his hands. He proposes to draw on these records whenever this seems desirable, and to employ them as he thinks best. (1.1.9) |
The narrator uses terms like "data" to give the illusion of factuality and objectivity. This is ironic, since the narrative quickly proves how useless language is with its flexible definitions.
| Quote #5 When leaving his surgery on the morning of April 16, Dr. Bernard Rieux felt something soft under his foot. It was a dead rat lying in the middle of the landing. On the spur of the moment, he kicked it to one side and, without giving it a further thought, continued on his way downstairs. Only when he was stepping out into the street did it occur to him that a dead rat had no business to be on his landing, and he turned back to ask the concierge of the building to see to its removal. (1.2.1) |
The use of dates is yet another tool to give the narrative credibility and the illusion of journalistic integrity.
| Quote #6 Personally, he had thought the presence of the dead rat rather odd, no more than that; the concierge, however, was genuinely outraged. On one point, he was categorical: "There weren’t no rats here." In vain, the doctor assured him that there was a rat, presumably dead, on the second floor landing; M. Michel’s conviction wasn’t to be shaken. (1.2.1) |
It seems the truth is always up for debate: false convictions are hard to shake.
