The main character, Dr. Bernard Rieux, is the surgeon and narrator of The Plague. In the beginning of the story he finds a dead rat on the floor. Eventually the dead rats began to pile into large masses and were burned. Soon after there were some people that got very sick, which made Dr. Rieux very curious. Since he was a doctor, he was the first to actually attempt to help one of these sick people. Madame Rieux was the mother of Dr. Rieux. She comes to visit her son during the beginning of the plague. Madame Rieux (same as the mother) was Dr. Rieux's wife, who died in a sanitarium outside Oran. Jean Tarrou is the best friend of Rieux. His notebooks are used as part of the chronicle