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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who ecomes general secretary to the squads of volunteers?

2. What is the reason for cautious optimism in the town?

3. Who makes a rueful observance about the feast day?

4. Why are individual burials dispensed with?

5. What strongly motivates Rambert's plan to escape.

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way is Cottard shown to be different from other characters in The Plague?

2. Explain the poignancy of Dr. Rieux's walk through the streets.

3. What changes does the plague seem to be undergoing?

4. In what ways do Tarrou's plague symptoms first appear?

5. What is the situation in the camps for people in quarantine?

6. What is the significance of M. Grand's struggle against the plague in Part 4 Chapter 7?

7. Account for the difference tenor and content of Fr Paneloux's new sermon, compared with that he gave at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer.

8. What sort of man was Jean Tarrou's father?

9. Comment on the change in M. Othon.

10. Why is there a steady supply of workers taking care of burials?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose two characters from the novel, one appealing, the other not so. Compare and contrast these two characters, referring closely to the text.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the characters of Rambert and Rieux. In what ways do these characters develop during the course of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

'Camus' novel The Plague shows us a hero who isn't exactly heroic.' Do you agree or disagree? What is the conventional idea of 'the hero' and does Dr. Rieux fit in with that idea? Discuss the kinds of heroism depicted in the novel.

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