“There always comes a time in history when the man who dares to say that two plus two equals four is punished with death…And the issue is not a matter of what reward or what punishment will be the outcome of that reasoning. The issue is simply whether two plus two equals four. For those of our townspeople who were then risking their lives, the decision they had to make was simply whether or not they were in the midst of a plague and whether or not it was necessary to struggle against it.”
From The Plague, Camus’ writing seems connected to his experience during World War II, living in the French village Le Chambon-sur-Lignon where many villagers simply refused to turn over or expose Jews to the Nazi death program. While Camus never directly said his writing was a metaphor for the war experience, there is a clear connection. At its root then comes the Biblical question about “who is my neighbor”. (Luke 10:25-37). For the people of Le Chambon, as well the villagers of The Plague, the decision was that those around are the neighbors and they need love and protection. Or, as Camus put it, we are “obligated by the very fact of our existence” to one another.