Part 1: Chapter 7 Summary

A medical committee made up of the doctors meets with the Prefect to discuss what to do about the illness. Rieux believes it is the plague and pressures the others to proceed as if it were the plague to assure that it does not get out of hand and kill half of the community. There is no serum in the whole district, but Rieux announces that he has already ordered it. He leaves without a decision being made to declare a plague and is driving home when he sees a woman coming towards him screaming in agony and dripping blood.

Part 1: Chapter 7 Analysis

Once more, the town's establishment is playing games with the welfare of the community by refusing to accept the reality of the situation, just as the leaders of France did in the years when Germany was building its...