How Would You Deal With Knowing You Were Bound to Catch the Plague?

If I were a citizen of Oran during the time of the plague and I knew it was inevitable for me to catch it I would feel very depressed. I would feel like I was just sitting around waiting for my death every day, and that’s no way to live. I probably wouldn’t have any motivation to do anything since there wouldn’t be much of a reason to anymore; I’d probably be dead in a couple days. I guess it’s not a good attitude to have to just wait around to die, but it would be hard to feel like doing anything else. Most people probably wouldn’t actually feel like making the most out of the little bit of time they had left to live if they knew they were so close to death. That’s why it’s better to not know when you’ll die. Knowing that your death is so near is very discouraging. Many people would be likely to do horrible things if they knew they were almost going to die, since it wouldn’t matter anymore. Others would just become depressed and not do anything, or just spend some time with loved ones. But in the case of the plague, it wasn’t even easy to be around your loved ones. So many families were separated due to the lockdown of the town. If you happened to be out of town before the lockdown you weren’t allowed back in, and if you were already in you weren’t allowed out. The characters in the story are facing a horrible situation and if I were there I would not be able to cope well.

Why Do People Ignore Obvious Tragedies?

People ignore obvious tragedies for many reasons. Some people just don't want to face the truth. They feel like if they ignore the problem, it will magically go away and they won't have to deal with it anymore. They can't cope with the issue and they need to repress it so they can get on with their lives. This of course, is not a healthy way of dealing with tragedy. Ignoring something does not make it go away. People don't want to let certain problems they have interfere with their lives. This is why the characters in The Plague are so hesitant to refer to the illness as a plague. The word "plague" sounds so deadly and serious, which is why they want to ignore the warnings. They don't want to have to change their lives to accommodate for this dilemma. As they will soon find out, being in denial will not solve anything. It will only put them at a disadvantage and make them less prepared to deal with the problem at hand. It's easier to ignore something than it is to come up with a solution, but that only works temporarily. In the long run, not facing tragedies will only make them harder to deal with later.