Rats
The rats don’t simply symbolize the plague. They are symbols of people. They die in the streets, on playgrounds, in businesses…and then people follow suit. Although they seem ominous, t...
War Imagery
Oran is quickly made parallel to a war zone after the outbreak of the plague. The mass graves, the militaristic occupation of Oran, and even the "deratization" vehicle that rattles through the town...
The Difficulties of Communication
Letters, telegrams, books, diaries, sermons, etc. Writing and words are an important form of communication, and yet they all fail to communicate human warmth. OK…so what’s the symbol? I...
Weather
The symptoms of the plague and its spread are linked to the weather. When it is hot, the disease gets worse. When it is cold, the disease gets better. Great – that’s rational, right? Ex...
Owl Imagery
No, we’re not kidding. Tarrou describes a man he sees dining as "a well brought-up owl." Several chapters later, we discover that the "owlish paterfamilias" is in fact M. Othon, the magistrat...
Jacques and General Christ Imagery
Jacques’s death gets so much text time, we can be pretty sure it’s about a little more than a boy dying (not that a child dying is insignificant; we’re not cold-hearted, we promis...
The Red Robes
When Tarrou describes the big courtroom scene of his youth, he repeatedly refers to the red robes that his father, the prosecutor, wears while condemning a man to death. Besides the trite and obvio...