Owls In The Plague

The Plague written by Albert Camus explores how all humans are similar through the use of the animals like owls, dogs, and rats.

First, The Plague shows the similarity of humans through the use of owls. There are two points in which owls are featured, both used to describe men in Tarrou’s writing. We are introduced to owls when Tarrou describes M. Orton saying, “The top of his head is bald, with two tufts of gray hair on either side. His small, beady eyes, narrow nose, and hard, straight mouth make him look like a well-brought up owl” (Camus 27). Later, Tarrou describes the man that Tarrou’s father condemned to die as he explains, “He looked like a yellow owl scared blind by too much light. His tie was slightly awry, he kept biting his nails,

Rats play a prominent role bringing the plague to Orton. The rats are dying without discrimination due to the plague which is mirrored later by the people of Orton. And then, without warning, the rats disappear. And quickly, the people forget about the rats. This may be due to more noteworthy events occurring like the humans dying, but it also goes to show how humans collectively do not learn from past experiences. Camus highlights this as he closes the book noting that most of the people are unaware “that the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; … and that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city” (307). It explicitly says that the rats will die again but this also implies that humans will too. Furthermore, humans are slow to learn, as they are unaware of the constant threats around them and live in happy ignorance of the threats without perception, just like rats.

In the end, The Plague show the similarities of all humans through the use of animals. Owls are used to describe two different men which goes to show that all humans are similar despite their minor differences. Additionally, dogs are similar to humans and therefore all humans are at risk for the random occurrences of life. Finally, rats are shown to be the victims of plague like humans, but are quickly forgotten, which is something that humans are prone to doing. In short, all humans are animals and all humans are therefore quite