Essay Topics: The Plague by Albert Camus

Essay Topics: The Plague by Albert CamusIn Alain de Botton's The Plague, the main character, David, decides to write a book about his studies, and runs into a major problem when he discovers he has no idea what essay topics to use. It's interesting that this book is about reading, yet so many of the subjects he covers are the exact opposite of reading.One day, David is walking in the park and suddenly is struck by a flying chunk of rock, causing him to be blinded in one eye. He makes it home, but not before missing an important moment at work. 'There is nothing more unfortunate than accidents,' he says to himself, 'so if my accident has taught me anything, it is the absolute uselessness of accidents.' In a brief scene, it becomes apparent that David has had a very traumatic experience, which may explain why he feels so strongly about essay topics: the plague.As David is pondering what to write on, he comes across a website for writers' groups. 'I discovered a website that offered fre e advice on how to get started in writing and to how to start writing your first piece of fiction. I thought it was a great way to meet like-minded people who would then help me with the nuts and bolts of writing, and I registered at the first meeting.'A few days later, David heads over to a restaurant to meet some friends. Unfortunately, he is plagued by a stalker and gets stabbed in the back. It turns out that David had been staking out the restaurant so he could investigate the guy's past.David goes back to the restaurant, where he finds a picture of a man who looks similar to the stalker. He is obsessed with his brother's death, and stalks David all over London. After David has a near-death experience, he begins to realize, 'The lights of the universe are but dappled glares - an ocean of nothingness, a gigantic and diffuse mist of stars.' It's almost as if he's looking at the world through a microscope.At the hospital, David meets and is comforted by a woman who has her hand cut off by a stalker. When she asks David if he's there because he wants to kill him, he replies, 'No, I am here because I want to save you.' David eventually meets another stalker, who introduces David to a new group, which consists of drug addicts and other low-lifes. He's fascinated by the group's leader, a woman named Jessica, who tells him to get lost and not come back.David goes to the meeting, but the guy behind the curtain is none other than the first stalker. The stalker and David soon begin trading insults and making fun of each other. Eventually, David realizes that what he has is a disease that is even more contagious than the plague.What David doesn't realize is that the group does not really care about his disease; they only want to protect themselves from him. 'The plague is really nothing to us,' says the leader of the group. The group seems to go out of their way to cover for David, knowing full well that he will eventually make a fool of himself in public, causing the m to feel guilty and let him go.