L'Etat

I also think that La Peste is overall more effective than L’Etat. I think that L’Etat seems quite chaotic at times; I think it would work very well theatrically, as a dramatic piece, but it doesn’t allow for the exploration of human reactions and devastation in the way that the novel does. I like a lot of the powerful exchanges, though, especially one towards the end (171-2 in my edition) between Diego and La Peste. It seems La Peste is testing Diego’s resolve; he asks him to choose between his own life and the freedom of the city, attempting to implicate him in a battle of the individual and the collective. He tells Diego: “On ne peut pas être heureux sans faire du mal aux autres. C’est la justice de cette terre.” But Diego comes back with, “Je ne suis pas né pour consentir à cette justice-là.” When La Peste later mocks the lowliness and “mi-hauteur” of Diego’s people, Diego replies: “C’est à mi-hauteur que je tiens à eux. Et si je ne suis pas fidèle à la pauvre vérité que je partage avec eux, comment le serais-je à ce que j’ai de plus grand et de plus solitaire?” (174). He believes that the ‘small’, humble solidarity of the hardworking individuals that La Peste so scorns will, as a collective, defeat the supposed strength of a totalitarian philosophy, which will be weakened by its disregard for the individual.