Narration of The Plague
In light of finishing The Plague, I would like to analyze our now-revealed narrator, Dr. Bernard Rieux, and how effective he is as an objective storyteller. As we all learn at the end of the story, Dr. Rieux is revealed as the narrator of this ordeal and he makes a point to emphasize that he tried his very best to portray an objective narrative of what happened in Oran. As he is a doctor, Rieux has had many interactions with various townspeople, making him a good candidate for being an informed narrator, or at least one that tells many points of view of the situation at hand. Notably, he mostly only recounts what people say and do, not adding in any of his own input. Even though he does break this neutrality when he talks about Cottard because he judges Cottard for being ignorant and self-centered, not thinking about others at all, I don’t think this is significant enough to discredit the work Rieux has done as an objective narrator. Rieux is an atheist and holds a strong set of...
