How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Stuart Gilbert's translation.
Quote #13
And lastly—this was the real trouble—Joseph Grand couldn’t find his words.
This peculiarity, as Rieux had noticed, was really the key to the personality of our worthy fellow citizen. And this it was which always prevented him from writing the mildly protesting letter he had in mind, or taking the steps the situation called for. (1.6.22-3)
The narrator identifies Grand’s inability to communicate as the source of all his troubles in life – his poverty, his stagnant lifestyle, his wife having left him, and his general passivity.