Dr. Rieux

Aakash Vasireddy | 20th Century Blog Post #6 | November 24th, 2020

Today's post: Dr. Rieux

Happy Thanksgiving break! As with all my posts, this one will be a bit long. Thanks :)

In today's post, I'll be discussing my thoughts surrounding Albert Camus' Dr. Rieux in his novel The Plague, including some of his important character traits and where how crucial his puzzle piece is to the novel.

Throughout the story, I have regarded Dr. Rieux as a complex character. There are many characters in this town riddled with plague like Tarrou, Ramon Rambert, Cottard, Father Paneloux, and more. However, here, at the center of all this mayhem, is the doctor Bernard Rieux . There have been many points in the book where Rieux has described his key principles of keeping transparency and being very down-to-earth. This element of his character I find really interesting. As a doctor, Rieux seems to always remain conscious of where his priorities lie, and he keeps his duties straight. He does not seem to indulge in these powers beyond him and I think elements of existentialism lie within him. Rieux does seem to be in tune with the "nature of his existence" and experience all aspects of life for what they truly are. 

To illustrate a few examples, early on, Dr. Riuex has this interaction with Ramon Rambert about making sure that the news Rambert would report would be truthful and nothing but the truth. During a potential plague, not having honest journalism would most likely be frustrating with Dr. Riuex who is a man of the scientific, factual world. Relating to today's media, there are stories that don't report on the actual truth, but instead spread misinformation, and are generally blown way out of proportion (especially when it comes to news regarding the progression of Covid in the United States). 

There is also this exchange between Dr. Rieux and Tarrou later down the line where Dr. Rieux and Tarrou are having a discussion about motives behind doing what they are doing. He realizes that is asked what drives him to complete the work he needs to do; what motivates him to keep going through all the pestilence and death. Tarrou asks, "Why do you yourself show such devotion, considering you don't believe in God?" to which the doctor replies by saying, "that if [Rieux] believed in an all-powerful God he would cease curing the sick and leave that to Him" (127). The doctor does not leave his and the world's fate up to God, but instead tells Tarrou this is what they should be doing - "mightn't it be better for God if we refuse to believe in Him and struggle with all our might against death, without raising our eyes toward the heaven where He sits in silence" (128) - and knows what he must do - "For the moment, I know this; there are sick people and they need curing" (127). 

This down-to-earth nature of Dr. Rieux I find really interesting and an essential part of his character. I also think it relates to Camus' principles of Camus central question: responsibility - set with all these circumstances, what are you going to do? What are human beings, collectively and individually, going to do about it? What is to be done?: Dr. Rieux knows what he must do.

In terms of Rieux's role in the world of plague, one can definitely see how much the plague affects him mentally. As a doctor, he must go to all these houses and families day-in and day-out and look upon a lost soul who would die of the plague, and yet still muster the effort and courage to reassure the family. It's a part of his job, but that does make the "suffering" and the "never-ending defeat" any better (128-129). I'd imagine that's the hardest parts of being doctors in real life. It may not be seeing hundreds of people painfully dying without any hope by the plague's hands, but that part of the job must be truly horrifying. To tell someone they have Covid and their mortality is at risk, to tell someone they have cancer... terrible. I apologize for getting dark, but I think it is an important detail in Dr. Rieux's narrative that we must consider.

To wrap up here, by the end of the novel, we finally get the confession that Rieux was the narrator all along (except I think most of us already came to that conclusion). However, I find it interesting that Rieux chose to take the role of an "impartial observer" in the novel (301). As someone said in class, "Especially if the narrator was very involved in the plague (like Dr. Riuex), keeping their identity hidden would allow them to keep more distance from the narration so that the reader isn't influenced by the identity of the narrator." I could definitely agree with this theory. However, I think we all weren't too surprised when we heard this "confession." 

Anyhow, that's the conclusion of the novel and that's all I got for today. If you got to the end, I appreciate your patience :) As always, let me know if you got any thoughts on anything I've said or if you have anything else about The Plague. Enjoy break. Peace

~Aakash V.