The modern novel The Plague by Albert Camus shows us the inner workings of human emotions when confronted by a universal life consuming plague. The story follows Dr. Rieux as he attains the status of healer during the
entire episode. The book brings up a ton of religion versus science questions. One of the questions takes the form of a serum that is created by another doctor. This serum plays a major role in the question of religion versus science in this novel but is also a relatively major character overall.
The serum is talked about from the very beginnings of the plague outbreak. Right from the get go there is not enough serum once plague is suspected. The good doctor must then request additional specimens sent in from Paris. When the shipment arrives from Paris it is pretty much non-effective in healing patients diagnosed with the now familiar symptoms. This starts Dr. Castel on his never-ending quest to concoct a serum to battle the plague and put it into submission once and for all. "Thus it was only natural that old Dr. Castel should plod away with unshaken confidence, never sparing himself, at making anti-plague serum on the spot with makeshift equipment at his disposal" (133). Dr. Castel starts using local specimens of the plague in hopes to make a more effective cocktail.
A pivotal scene for the serum is when it is administered to a young helpless boy whose case is determined to be helpless. This in effect makes the boy a test subject for the most up-to-date version of the serum. The serum has a profound effect on the boy. It fails to cure him but instead actually makes the boy suffer a longer more heat wrenching death. "For moments that seemed endless he stayed in a queer, contorted position, his body racked by convulsive tremors; it was as if his frail frame were bending before the fierce breath of the plague, breaking under the reiterated gusts of fever" (214).
The serum is talked about from the very beginnings of the plague outbreak. Right from the get go there is not enough serum once plague is suspected. The good doctor must then request additional specimens sent in from Paris. When the shipment arrives from Paris it is pretty much non-effective in healing patients diagnosed with the now familiar symptoms. This starts Dr. Castel on his never-ending quest to concoct a serum to battle the plague and put it into submission once and for all. "Thus it was only natural that old Dr. Castel should plod away with unshaken confidence, never sparing himself, at making anti-plague serum on the spot with makeshift equipment at his disposal" (133). Dr. Castel starts using local specimens of the plague in hopes to make a more effective cocktail.
A pivotal scene for the serum is when it is administered to a young helpless boy whose case is determined to be helpless. This in effect makes the boy a test subject for the most up-to-date version of the serum. The serum has a profound effect on the boy. It fails to cure him but instead actually makes the boy suffer a longer more heat wrenching death. "For moments that seemed endless he stayed in a queer, contorted position, his body racked by convulsive tremors; it was as if his frail frame were bending before the fierce breath of the plague, breaking under the reiterated gusts of fever" (214).
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