No Peace Henceforth
“The doctor could not tell if Tarrou had found peace, now that all was over, but for himself he had a feeling that no peace was possible to him henceforth.” ALBERT CAMUS · THE PLAGUE
This is what Rieux is left holding. He cannot know whether his friend found peace at the end. What he does know is that he will not.
It would be easy to read this as despair, and Camus does not write it that way. The sentence is a statement about what loving people costs. Rieux has spent the entire novel keeping his heart closed enough to keep working. Tarrou got through anyway. Now Tarrou is gone and the closing will not work again.
There is a bargain here that nobody offers you out loud. You can stay partly sealed and remain reasonably calm, or you can let particular people matter and lose the calm permanently. The second option comes with no way back.
Camus thought the second was obviously the right choice, and he never pretended it was free. This is a month about love and friendship, and it would be dishonest to spend all of it on the warmth. Everyone you let in is a future absence. That is the price, and nearly everyone who has paid it says it was worth paying.
Do not protect yourself from someone. It costs what it costs.
