Abstract：The Plague is an existentialist work written by the French existentialist master Albert Camus. It expresses the author's reflection and understanding of the existence and development of human beings in the absurd world. In the face of the COVID-19 epidemic raging around the world，China's idea of "a community with a shared future for mankind" is a powerful explanation of the truth：only the collective spirit can lead the anti-COVID-19 campaign of all countries to the ultimate victory. In the face of major epidemics and disasters，it is all the more important for mankind to build a sense of "a community with a shared future for mankind"，truly realizing the beautiful vision of sharing a common destiny and building a harmonious home of the human world.

Key words：The Plague;Absurdity;A community of shared future for mankind;Humanistic Value

I. Introduction

"The Plague" is an existential work created by the French existentialist，Albert Camus，in 1947. The novel tells about the various situations of the small town Oran under the plague invaded by the quarantine after the plague. The process of various people such as Tharu fighting against the plague expressed the author's reflection and understanding of the state of human existence and development in the absurd world.

Literally，the word "absurd" means "unreasonable and conventional;incongruous，unreasonable，and illogical"[1]45. In existential philosophy，the term "absurdity" is used to describe an irrational survival situation commonly faced by modern people：being thrown into an absurd world that lacks beliefs，violates conventions，and is illogical，and has nowhere to escape. As a result，the behavior has become nihilistic. How to face the absurdity and exist in absurdity becomes the only thing he can do. Such absurd behaviors in turn aggravate the existence of absurdity in the human world.

It is through The Plague that Camus implies such a universal feeling of human destiny：the absurdity of human society，and the "absurdity" is derived from the depression，emptiness and even despair of human experience. When creating The Plague，Camus wrote in his "Notes"："I tried to use the plague to express the suffocation we suffered and the threatened and exiled environment we experienced. At the same time，I also want to put this expression to the overall concept of survival. The Plague will describe the images of those who have experienced thought，silence，and mental pain during the war."

II. The "Individual Absurdity" in The Plague

Existentialism believes that the objective world is a "free" existence，and people in this world have existed "for themselves"，and everyone has the right to make "free choice". People who are "for themselves" live in this "free" world can only encounter obstacles，restrictions and misfortunes，and often feel disgusted，sick and painful. When the plague occurred，different people had different reactions and psychological changes. Father Pajolu is a religious fatalist. When he preached，he passionately preached that the plague was God's punishment for unfaithful believers，calling on people to accept God's arrangements，give up fearless efforts and follow God's will. It can be seen that he completely ignores precious human life，denies human subjective initiative and value，thereby obliterating human nature. Lambert is another character with a little "absurdity" in the novel. The young reporter said：“ I came to Oran by accident. I have nothing to do with this place，and there is absolutely no reason to stay here." [2]59 When the plague spread，he always thought that it didn't matter to him，because he was just an outsider. For him，as a foreigner，this strange city has never overlapped with him. He had thousands of reasons to leave. Outsiders like him should not be stranded in the city. It was Oran's own business which was none of his business. Furthermore，his beloved girlfriend was still looking forward to him in Paris，but the plan to get married at the end of the year was affected by the current "closure of the city" in Oran and the turbulent situation of the plague;therefore，he used his professional advantage as a reporter to communicate with all levels of government agencies，trying everything possible to escape this plague-ridden city.

The novel also focused on a typically negative character who gloated for misfortune and took advantage of the fire — the "co-conspirator" of the plague and the profiteer，Kotar. While most people were suffering from the physical and mental torture brought to them by the plague，Kotar applauded the arrival of the plague. He had a case before the epidemic. After the plague，the materials in Oran were severely lacking due to the "closure of the city"，but Kotar took the opportunity to speculate and made a fortune. He also tried his best to hope that the plague would survive forever in the world;When the fight against plague was triumphant，the more the citizens rejoiced，the more sad and frustrated he was. In the end，he shot the crowd frantically，and was eventually arrested in accordance with the law. The ravages of the plague not only failed to curb his crimes，but made him worse off. The victory of the war against the plague deprived him of hope and illusion. It can be seen that the plague has caused the upside-down and collapse of the system of good and evil，causing the original rational order of the world to collapse. In this environment，people can only suffer from feelings of depression，alienation，and sense of absurdity.

III. The "Collective Absurdity" in The Plague

In addition to expressing the "individual absurdity"，The Plague also focused on portraying the "collective absurdity" represented by the Oran government. When the Provincial Health Committee held a meeting under pressure，the wishes expressed by most people were neither seeking a cure for this suspected disease nor informing the public as soon as possible to prevent it，but taking a calm and wait-and-see attitude on the one hand，but arrogant and optimistic on the other hand. This kind of fear and escape from reality，completely apathetic to prevent the tragedy from happening，was really absurd and ignorant. They actually lived in the world of their own subjective conjectures，sat and waited to die，gained a kind of psychological comfort by deceiving themselves or spreading false facts to others without making any resistance，which intensified the absurdity of tragedy. At the beginning of the plague epidemic，when deaths occurred in every hospital one after another，"plague" was a taboo term in Oran City，and even the word "rat" had to be kept silent. The upright and authoritative doctor Rieus was distraught and hurriedly called Richard，the chairman of the local medical association，but got the answer："Sorry，but I can't do anything. Such orders can only be issued by the province."[2]22 Although Rieux insisted again and again，Richal repeatedly buckled，emphasizing that this was outside of his authority and all he could do was to report the matter to the province. As the chairman of the Medical Association，Richier was both a professional authority and an administrative leader. His dodge and refusal here reflected to a certain extent the ineffectiveness and inaction of the functional departments，which was originally their jobs. Castell was a true epidemiological scientist in the novel，but he was not seen by the government because of his unrestricted and unrestrained speech，although he had repeatedly warned that "it happened in Paris almost 20 years ago"，"I hope this time will not be worse than then" [2] 26，but no one paid attention and listened to him. Not only that，but the news media as government spokespersons were also lagging behind："For mouse news，local newspapers that do not hesitate to page are now silent. Because mice die on the street;people die in their own homes. Newspapers only care about what's on the street. At the same time，the government and administrative officials are meeting and discussing....No one will consider taking action." [2] 25-26 In a sense，the media that helped conceal the epidemic became an "accomplice" in disguise of the plague ravaged. What pitiful and innocent people of Oran City！ They suffered the slaughter of the plague because of the bureaucracy，absurdity，and ignorance of the Oran City government，paying the price of their lives.

The small town of Oran surrounded by the plague described in The Plague itself was the epitome of another collective absurdity，symbolizing a living environment that gave people a sense of absurdity：before the plague hit，the city of Oran was a city without temperature. A lifeless city. Oran people "look at life，work and love with a fanatical and inattentive attitude. The truth is that everyone is bored，so they focus on cultivating their own hobbies. Our citizens work hard，but the only goal is to get rich."[2]3 Their main interest is in business，as they said，the main purpose of their lives was to do business. Getting rich was the only goal of the Oran people. They advocated "money first"，which was morbid，distorted and absurd in nature. At the beginning of the plague，the citizens of Oran ignored it and still went their own way. When a large number of rats died abnormally，people even lacked basic precautions. No one believed that disasters would come to their own heads. "Everyone understands that the plague has a way to recur in the world;however，it is difficult for us to believe that disasters will fall on our own. On the head"[2]27. "They thought that the plague was impossible and continued to do business，continue to arrange travel，continue to do their own things." [2] 29 When the plague raged，the Oran City instantly became an isolated "island"：the economy stagnated，and the number of unemployed people increased dramatically. To survive，people took risks without hesitation. Panic，fear，and malaise flooded the city. Plague patients might die，or they might be forcibly isolated. People were used to the roar of ambulances，cold statistics on death toll，and even random piles of corpses that were difficult to distinguish. They just allowed the plague to run wild. Living people avoided meeting even seeing each other in order to save their lives，gradually becoming cold，numb，and ignorant;family love was indifferent，trust was nothing，no one cared about other people's affairs，everyone is worried，trapped in loneliness and couldnt extricate themselves. The entire society had lost the warmth that could comfort all suffering，and life had lost its original value. As a result，the original system of good and evil in society was reversed，morals and ethics collapsed，and the real world lost its rationality and harmony and became absurd and ridiculous. In the face of this absurd situation，people can only feel confused，depressed，helpless and desperate. It seems that people are alive and have no practical meaning. This sense of loneliness，alienation，and strangeness caused by the closedness of existence is exactly the common survival dilemma faced by modern people.

IV. The reflection behind the "absurdity"：the humanistic value of the "community with a shared future for mankind"

The plague may have been lurking around mankind，and it may erupt at any time. It symbolizes the survival dilemma faced by mankind. The "absurd" living beings in The Plague can not help but make readers reflect：The plague is about life and death，and is a major common history facing mankind. It is the common duty and responsibility of everyone to face and defeat the plague，which just powerfully proves that the idea of a "community with a shared future for mankind" put forward by the Chinese government is very reasonable，scientific and forward-looking. General Secretary Xi Jinping said："The common historical experience，common development tasks and common strategic interests bind us closely together." [4]16 In the difficult time of fighting the new coronavirus plague，with a highly responsible spirit and attitude，the Chinese government has taken strong measures to fully implement the idea of "community with a shared future for mankind"：deploy the national health system to strengthen on-duty duty，keep a close eye on the work across the country，resolutely implement epidemic prevention and control measures，treat patients with all-out efforts，do a good job Information issuance and international cooperation，and intensify the scientific research on epidemic prevention and control. Under the effective and powerful management，rescue and support of the government，"Those who are mortals but refuse to give in to the plague，regardless of their own plight，will do their best to save the world and save others."[2]212

With the strong will，perseverance，hard work，courage，unity，fraternity，and willingness of dedication and sacrifice，the Chinese medical workers，criminal police officers，and all the ordinary people from all walks of life and all ordinary volunteers on the front line showed the heroic feats of the new era，and finally led the people of the whole country to defeat the virus without bothering about the gains and losses. They are true "heroes"，and their bodies are shining with the brilliance of "civilian heroes"，which is the new meaning of "heroes" in the new era.

"The plague is lurking in everyone，because no one，yes，no one in the world can be protected from it." [2]210 It reminds the world that it is everyone's responsibility to protect the earth shared by everyone living together. When human beings encounter disasters and face common threats，personal happiness does not exist and cannot be realized. Because in the face of absurdity，"individual destiny no longer exists，leaving behind just the collective sufferings." [3]364 China's victory in the fight against the new crown epidemic is a great victory for mankind as a community with a common destiny. The results of this collective fight against the epidemic include humanitarianism that actually saved the lives of countless infected people;spiritual optimism that overcomes and dispels human fear and pain;and mankind collectivism，solidarity，friendship，mutual help and other group values reflected in the practice of a community with a shared future. This also shows that only the collective spirit can lead the current anti-epidemic activities of all countries in the world to victory.

V. Conclusion

The plague is the earth's revenge for all kinds of human evils，but it is also kind reminders and warnings. It awakens human beings from the dream of omnipotence and the "ruler of nature"，forcing humans to reflect on their relationship with ecology and the environment，realize that humans and other animals live on the same earth，and realize that Human beings are still small and weak in front of nature and should be aware of the limitations of being human. In addition，in the process of responding to the plague，the stubborn social illnesses and institutional defects that are usually hidden are all exposed，which is just good for people to prescribe the right medicine and promote the progress and perfection of society. At present，the epidemic in China has been basically controlled and stabilized. However，the overseas epidemics，especially in the United States and the European continent，are still raging wildly. At this time，the greater challenge facing mankind is to reflect on how to rebuild the modern nature-society-human ethics relationship to avoid a repeat of the tragedy. In the face of major disasters，when Gods cannot manifest and bless，and all mankind suffer from the same deadly disease or major threat，all the people in the world should choose a common path of rebirth："Human beings should actively seek changes after thinking carefully about their own survival crisis in the natural and social fields. "[4]28 to reshape human order，rebuild a happy home，and return to world harmony. When facing disasters，human beings need to establish a sense of "community with a shared future for mankind"，remain rational，believe in science，learn to realize the value of individual subjectivity in the process of self-help，and establish mutual assistance relationships with others to jointly maintain social order and consensus. Participating in rescue，only in this way can mankind retain the hope and possibility of recovery，and truly realize the beautiful vision of all mankind breathing together，sharing a common destiny，and building a harmonious home.

Bibliography：

[1]Esslin，Martin. The Absurdity of the Absurd [J]. Trans. Chen Mei. Foreign Drama，1980，1.

[2]Camus. Plague [M]. The Complete Works of Camus：Volume 1. Shijiazhuang：Hebei Education Press，2002.

[3]Camus. Camus Collected Works [M]. Trans. Guo Hongan，et al. Nanjing：Yilin Press，1999.

[4]Xi jin ping. On building a community with a shared future for mankind[M].Beijing：Central Literature Press，2018

基金項(xiàng)目：

2020年四川省社科規(guī)劃“四川省高校外國(guó)語(yǔ)言文學(xué)學(xué)科建設(shè)與發(fā)展項(xiàng)目”“共生視域下西方瘟疫小說(shuō)中的人類命運(yùn)共同體思想研究”（SC20WY015）

作者簡(jiǎn)介：

高虹（1981-），女，四川綿陽(yáng)人，副教授，碩士。研究方向：英美文學(xué)。

（作者單位：綿陽(yáng)師范學(xué)院外國(guó)語(yǔ)學(xué)院）