The Unlikelihood of the Inevitable | by Emory Cooper

In Part One of Albert Camus' Plague, one can clearly see how the epidemic takes everyone in Oran by surprise. And no wonder, when the whole of society is structured to disregard death and suffering! "Think what it must be for a dying man, trapped behind hundreds of walls all sizzling with heat, while the whole population, sitting in cafés or hanging on the telephone, is discussing shipments, bills of lading, discounts! It will then be obvious what discomfort attends death, even modern death, when it waylays you under such conditions in a dry place" (Camus, page 5). Yet death and suffering is inevitable: "it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Why then does Oran disregard the inevitability of extreme sickness and death? Because it has trained itself to act as if extreme sickness and death, for the present, is unlikely to happen. The society has a concept of the unlikelihood of the inevitable.

To demonstrate this fact, the narrator of The Plague provides a parallel between plague and war. Both are types of hardship that seem unlikely, but in a historical context have proven inevitable. "There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise" (Camus, page 37). The Bible gives another example of such a mindset in Jesus' parable of the Rich Fool. "I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luke 12:19-20). Do you find yourself acting like the inevitable is unlikely?

I commented on Abigale and Madalyn's posts.

Comments

  1. I personally think a bit of the opposite. I see your points, but i think in today's age, our society has become desensitized to war and death. It is not that we think it is unlikely, but we see it everyday which becomes normal.

    -Madalyn Dillard

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