After reading The Plague, how does Camus use existentialism to cope with the displacements (social, moral, religious, individual, cultural) caused by the aftermath of World War II and/or French colonialism in North Africa? Does physical displacement become a metaphor for other forms of displacement? How and why/why not?

Whether it was due to bombs and artillery that destroyed towns or concentration camps that became home to so many people during the war, many people's homes were gone. In Cultural History we talked about the logistics of displacement, how there was a specific group called 'displaced persons' and how they spread all over continental Europe to find places to live. In the media element to the left, I've included a picture of people carrying their belongings and moving. It's hard to say what happened to their homes or where they'll end up. 

In this blog post, I wanted to talk about the toll that any sort of isolation has on a group of people. On page 177, Camus wrote that "There were no longer any individual destinies, only a collective story of the plague and the feelings that everyone shared." Replace the word 'plague' with 'war' and it still rings true. Society at the time was going through a collective hardship, everyone at some point had been affected by parts of the war no matter what country or side they were on. The physical distance that people had to go, far from their homes and their loved ones, being separated into refugee groups or worse, concentration camps took a toll. 

A longer quote from The Plague sums up my thoughts fairly well: "Had our fellow citizens, at least those who had suffered most from this separation, become accustomed to the situation? It wouldn't be quite fair to say so. It would be more precise to say that they were wasting away, both mentally and physically," (page 192). People had to put their own meaning into life, that is the main idea of existentialism. In basic terms, life is what you make it. When the people in the Plague created their own habits, they were putting just the tiniest bit of life back into their world that was ravaged by an illness. In WWII times, this could be focusing on rebuilding, reform, or even remaking a sense of community that had been previously destroyed. 

If COVID tought me anything it was to find the little things that matter, that keep you occupied, that give you hope, and cling to it.