Exiled in your hometown

In Professor Dalke’s Thursday discussion section, we explored the idea of solidarity in times of struggle and talked about a lot of different scenarios in which we, like Rambert, might be tempted to leave a difficult situation. The difficulty of being separated from one’s homeland because of a difficult situation, however, seems to be a problem even for the people who remain in Oran, for the place they are staying is not like the one that they knew before The Plague descended upon the city. They are transformed and develop a different relationship to the space they inhabit; the disease fundamentally transforms their relationship to their city.

The theme of exile is very present throughout The Plague; at one point, the narrator states that the only three things that people have in common during the plague is love, suffering, and exile. I’m curious to see how (or if) people see The Plague as a story of exile, considering the fact that most people are trapped in their own city rather than forced to leave it. (I know there are some people who are stuck outside of Oran because they traveled when quarantine set in, but interestingly enough this text does not focus on these characters.)