The ending of "The Plague"

 For me, the ending of "The Plague" was a bit anticlimactic. The story seems to fall apart, in my opinion. Firstly, because Tarrou dies just as everyone is recovering from the plague. Tarrou, who had been keeping the account that Dr. Rieux uses throughout his narration, dies just as the plague ends. We meet him at the very beginning of the book and it seems as though his job is completed with the end of the plague. I was kind of disappointed by this because I wanted to see a happy ending for all of the characters; however, that did not happen in this case. 

Additionally, Cottard seems to go insane when the plague ends. This part confused me because neither Grand nor Reiux reacted in the way I would've thought. They weren't really worried about Cottard or inquiring as to what was happening. They just laugh at him and continue on. I feel like this scene is a little messy because there isn't enough explanation as to why Cottard has "gone mad." I get that there's a plague going on; however, he and all the other main characters have made it sane up until this point. I just think it seems like a bit of a loose end. 

Rieux's sick wife dies before they could reunite; the only people who seem to have a somewhat happy ending are Grand--who recovered from the plague--and Rambert--who reunited with his wife after the gates opened. Other than that, the people of Oran just return to the routines they entered the story in. I guess the overall message of the routines is humanity's ability to forget and move on. However, I just thought that the ending was a bit gloomy, but maybe that was the point.