Daru's Choices In Albert Camus The Guest

In the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, one of the main characters is Abigail Williams. Many people point the finger at her, blaming her for everything that went wrong in Salem. However, there is plenty of evidence that indicates Abigail didn't deserve the responsibility of the outcome of the play. Abigail was simply the victim of circumstance.

In The Stranger, Camus portrays women as unnecessary beings created purely to serve materialistically and satisfy males through the lack of a deep, meaningful, relationship between Meursault and females. Throughout the text, the main character, Meursault, creates closer, more meaningful relationships with other minor characters in the story. However, in his interactions with females in this book, Meursault’s thoughts and actions center on himself and his physical desires, observations, and feelings, rather than devoting his attention to the actual female. Living in Algiers in the 1960s, Meursault originates from a post-modernist time of the decline in emotion. Meursault simply defies the social expectations and societal ‘rules’, as

By refusing to follow Balducci's orders Daru conveys his desire to pursue his own path and desires. Daru lives in a place where "nothing had any connection with man" (Camus 2314.) This implies that he has no connection with man as well and that he is as removed from society as his cold and hard environment. Daru also feels "unmixed joy...that he would be alone" (Camus 2316.) The fact that Daru feels joy and pleasure at the thought of being alone or "separate from other people or things" indicates Daru's pleasure at alienation. Daru shows his estrangement as integrated members of society do not usually want to be alone. Daru also refuses to follow orders regardless of where they come from. Instead he opts to follow his own wishes and ideals. For example, Daru states that "I won't hand [the Arab] over" (Camus 2315.) He repeats this many times. By not following those orders Daru distinguishes and separates himself from the rest of society as it is expected of people to follow orders. For example, Balducci’s strong belief in following orders causes him to come to Daru: “I have an order to deliver the prisoner and I’m doing so” (Camus 2316.) Daru also says that he will "wait for the declaration of war" (Camus 2314) before acting on anyone's orders. This indicates Daru's desire to follow is own ideals, pursue what he believes is right or

In The Stranger, Albert Camus describes the life of the protagonist, Meursault, through life changing events. The passage chosen illustrates Meursault’s view during his time in prison for killing the Arab. In prison, one can see the shifts in Meursault’s character and the acceptance of this new lifestyle. Camus manipulates diction to indicate the changes in Meursault caused by time thinking of memories in prison and realization of his pointless life. Because Camus published this book at the beginning of World War II, people at this time period also questions life and death similar to how Meursault does.

Flat characters play a significant role in all novels. For instance, the brother of Raymond’s mistress is a key flat character. The Arab never grows throughout the novel; rather, he remains a stalker, stalking his prey, tempting a fight. Without the role of the Arab, Meursault, would never have gone to prison, and never be tried for murder.

In The Stranger, Camus portrays women as unnecessary beings created purely to serve materialistically and satisfy males through the lack of a deep, meaningful, relationship between Meursault and females. Throughout the text, the main character, Meursault, creates closer, more meaningful relationships with other minor characters in the story. However, in his interactions with females in this book, Meursault’s thoughts and actions center on himself and his physical desires, observations, and feelings, rather than devoting his attention to the actual female. Living in Algiers in the 1960s, Meursault originates from a post-modernist time of the decline in emotion. Meursault simply defies the social expectations and societal ‘rules’, as

At the start of this realization, Camus displays how the French whites, have a racially segregated perspective towards the Arabs and blacks. Camus first starts of this differentiation by having Meursault dehumanize “ the Arabs” as they were “backing away” from the colonists (56). By not giving the arab men names, Camus demonstrates the idea of “othering” them to reduce the impact of their being from the impressions of their brain. In describing the nameless men, Camus goes further to only express how the Arab men were “ lying down in greasy overalls;” demonstrating the classist view in society between races, and how the only description of the Arab men is to

In his novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, translated by Matthew Ward, irony within the protagonist’s ( Meursault ) contrasting perception of the human condition is used to illustrate and invoke the reader to question the contradictory nature of societal expectations. His indifferent and unprecedented reactions to experiences - relative to the characters that Camus laid before him - aid in displaying the absurdity of a world constrained by the chains of conventional wisdom. The contrasting nature of Meursault's demeanor in defying conventional wisdom in experiences such as love and death not only reveals the underlying hypocrisy of the human condition but further illustrates the arbitrary essence of defining a human life.

this by his refusal to turn the Arab in, and the conflict he goes through when

In the short story "The Guest" by Albert Camus, Daru's predicament goes hand in hand with France's difficulties and Camus' self-appreciation. In the short story “The Guest” we are introduced to see Daru’s concern to attend the political situation in the French North

"Albert Camus." Bookmarks (Issue 14). Jan./Feb. 2005: 26-31. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 01 Jan . 2013.

In the short story “The Guest”, the main character Daru battles to come into a conclusion on whether to turn in the Arab prisoner or not because of his values. Daru valued the loyalty of his French culture and his friendship with Balducci, but on the contrary, he believes in the idea of free will. He demonstrates a caring concern for Balducci’s emotions by carefully stating his words before finishing, he says that, “The orders? I’m not…” (Camus 4) with a slight hesitation, “... not wanting to hurt the old Corsican.”

Through this character Camus challenges the reader to look through this lenses to see aspects of our culture that exemplify Clamence’s observations. These observations project back to the reader alienation from culture, conflictions, needs and wants. This could also lead back to Camus’s absurdist ideas because it represents a balancing of our pleasure and guilt. We can feel on top of the world with our privileged lives but how could we be happy when we know that others in the world are less fortunate?

Furthermore, Camus uses family and personal relationships as a way to develop the protagonists’ isolation in the novel, working in providing context for the developing plot. In The Stranger, the author uses this methodology

The novel The Stranger, by Albert Camus, translated by Matthew Ward, follows the story of a man, Meursault, and how his emotionless way of living and his one grave mistake ends up killing him through a court of law. Throughout his journey, there is tension in him, and between him and other people and groups. This tension is represented throughout this novel with the motif is heat. And as tension can grow and is part of everyday life, it is part of Meursault’s as well. Furthermore, through tension and it growing, it can result in a conflict of multiple varieties. This motif comes up at scenes such as the trial in the courtroom, the conflict on the beach with the Arabs, and the magistrate and his heated argument. And due to Camus specific placement of the motif during these scenes, it also foreshadows conflict and trouble throughout the novel. Camus’ motif of heat shows a tension between opposing sides to foreshadow various types of conflict which demonstrate the theme that tension leads to conflict.