How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Stuart Gilbert's translation.
Quote #21
Words like "special arrangements," "favor," and "priority" had lost all effective meaning. (2.1.2)
Language is often a way to gauge reality in The Plague; because these specific words have lost their meaning, we know that the plague has leveled the town and that all citizens are now equal.
Quote #22
Even the small satisfaction of writing letters was denied us. It came to this: not only had the town ceased to be in touch with the rest of the world by normal means of communication, but also—according to a second notification—all correspondence was forbidden, to obviate the risk of letters’ carrying infection outside the town. (2.1.3)
The plague cuts off communication via letters, but how effective was communication to begin with, before the plague came to town?
Quote #23
"While we loved each other we didn’t need words to make ourselves understood. But people don’t love forever. A time came when I should have found the words to keep her with me—only I couldn’t." (2.2.18)
Words are needed for understanding, yet words are limited. Sounds like we’re all isolated as individuals without a real ability to connect, subject-to-subject, with anyone else (paging Sartre).
Quote #24
All he gathered was that the work he was engaged on ran to a great many pages, and he was at almost excruciating pains to bring it to perfection. "Evenings, whole weeks, spent on one word, just think! Sometimes on a mere conjunction!" (2.4.23)
Grand obsesses over picking the right words for his literary masterpiece when ironically, there are no right words.
Quote #25
"That’s only a rough draft. Once I’ve succeeded in rendering perfectly the picture in my mind’s eye, once my words have the exact tempo of this ride—the horse is trotting, on-two-three, one-two-three, see what I mean?—the rest will come more easily and, what’s even more important, the illusion will be such that from the very first words it will be possible to say: "Hats off!’" (2.4.42)
Grand’s struggle reminds us that words always fail to express what another person is feeling and thinking. Perhaps then, this is the point of Rieux’s striving for objectivity. Since he can’t possible express emotions, he’s going to stick to facts.
Quote #26
"Is he a saint?" Tarrou asked himself, and answered: "Yes, if saintliness is the aggregation of habits." (2.6.22)
Tarrou’s statement seems ridiculous, but not when we remember that most important words have been called into question in The Plague. In fact, the problem with language is that we have to define each term we use – using other ill-defined terms, of course. The result is that any term is rendered meaningless, as demonstrated here. Rieux then is correct to conclude that taking action is the only solution.
Quote #27
"Do you believe in God, doctor?"
Again, the question was put in an ordinary tone. But this time Rieux took longer to find his answer.
"No—but what does that really mean? I’m fumbling in the dark, struggling to make something out. But I’ve long ceased finding that original." (2.7.46-48)
At times it seems as though Rieux uses the whole "language is meaningless" thing as a defense to avoid difficult arguments.
Quote #28
But it could be expressed only in the conventional language with which men try to express what unites them with mankind in general; a vocabulary quite unsuited, for example, to Grand’s small daily effort, and incapable of describing what Grand stood for under plague conditions. (2.8.33)
Language, the narrator argues, is often an exercise in connecting with others. People use language to try to make their experiences universal. But the plague in Oran cannot be expressed this way – it is an individual experience of suffering.
Quote #29
"I’d come to realize that all our troubles sprang from our failures to use plain, clear-cut language. So I resolved always to speak—and to act—quite clearly, as this was the only way of setting myself on the right track. That’s why I say there are pestilence and there are victims; no more than that." (4.6.33)
Tarrou identifies what The Plague has been hinting at thus far in the narrative – that language is the real problem here. However Tarrou confuses simplicity of language with simplicity of thought. In trying to make clear his language, Tarrou tries to narrow the world into two very simple words: "pestilence" and "victims." This is an impossibly narrow-minded interpretation, even if the language is clear.
Quote #30
"He was a man who knew what he wanted."
[…]
"Well, he never talked just for talking’s sake." (5.5.30-32)
The Spaniard recognizes Tarrou’s control over his own expression; this suggests that Tarrou was successful in his attempt to "always speak clearly," and in fact he may be the only character in The Plague who communicates successfully.