Skip to main content

How does "The Guest" by Albert Camus relate to existentialism?

While Camus himself did not identify as an existentialist, his works have had a significant impact on existentialism, and there are many elements of this philosophy to be found within "The Guest." In order to understand the importance of existentialism to this short story, it is necessary to dissect the major elements of existentialism and discuss how they present themselves throughout Camus's work.


Essential Nature


According to the tenets of existentialism, there is no essential nature in the world. This means that nature is entirely constructed of the choices each individual makes rather than the result of some inherent order in the universe. Another way to explain this concept is that nothing inherently has meaning other than the meaning and value the individual ascribes to it. Daru laments how little he and his unwanted guest matter to the harsh landscape of the desert, and yet neither of them would have any significant meaning outside of its barren context. While the prisoner seems to have the choice between freedom and imprisonment, fleeing would mean giving up all the meaning of the life he has created for himself.


Alienation


Both Daru and the prisoner are alienated from society by their own design. Alienation is a major theme throughout existentialism. Daru is alienated because he holds no allegiance to his country or to the society around him. The prisoner became alienated from society when he chose to commit a criminal act. Both men are alike in their alienation and the story's desolate setting reflects this.


Freedom


Freedom in existentialism is typically an illusory concept. The individual has the freedom to make his own decisions, but that comes with the burden of accepting the consequences of those decisions, which prevents him from being entirely free. The more freedom the individual obtains, the greater his isolation from society becomes. Daru illustrates this concept in his initial refusal to help the police. By refusing to take sides in the conflict between the French and the Arabs, he is cementing his own isolation from society. Existentialism leads to the realization that all restriction is self-imposed and, as the prisoner chooses to turn himself in at the end of the story, all individuals choose their own metaphorical prisons.


Choice and Consequence


Choice is a theme that runs throughout existentialism and the narrative of "The Guest," and it is related to all the other existentialist elements in the story. Daru makes an unusual choice to refuse to follow the orders of authority over his own morality, even though it will ultimately cost his life. Camus and the existentialists viewed morality as a construct of personal choice, and this decision marks the triumph of personal choice over obedience to authority. This choice comes with consequences, including Daru's almost inevitable execution at the hands of the Arabs who blame him for the prisoner's self-imposed isolation. This consequence can be seen as an existentialist metaphor for what can happen when rational choices are made in an irrational society.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more