Part 5: Chapter 2 Summary

Tarrou's account takes on a different character at this point. It is harder to read and is not as well organized and consistent as it has been in the earlier parts. Perhaps fatigue accounts for this change. He writes of Rieux's mother during this portion of his diary. She reminds him of his own mother, who has died ten years earlier.

He writes mostly of Cottard in this closing portion of the diary. Cottard is agitated by the possibility that the plague is ending and that things will be getting back to normal. He insists at one point that Tarrou come home with him. When they arrive, there are two official-looking visitors who want to ask him some questions, and Cottard flees. Tarrou ends his diary on an uncertain note.

Part 5: Chapter 2 Analysis

The denouement portion of the action continues. Tarrou...