The
Guest is a short story that is both attractive and inspiring through its smooth
progress of events. It brings up questioning about one's unpredictable course of
actions and destiny. Camus’ core school of thought throughout the story focuses
on choices and one's relevance in life. The dilemma brought by the story is
whether we are able to identify ourselves in our decisions. In fact certainty
is unreachable which leads to develop certain substitutes to reach acceptance
and inner satisfaction.
As the reader progress in the story.
He discover that Daru encourages the escape of the prisoner. As we can see here
the writer try to highlight the fact that Daru has an obvious emotional side
where he tried to help the Arab by his own way. In which he decides not to make
a choice and make the events go smoothly as the prisoner wishes too where he
choose for himself.
The interesting part was that the Arab chose his own fate in a
hilarious way. He chose to go to the police office where he will be punished
for what he committed. As a reader it will be difficult to predict such deviation
in the story. The Arab has chose for himself a dead-end for an unknown reason.
Here the ironic flow of actions had made
the story announce a deep and valuable lesson. If we try to manage a certain
situation such as this one or take action in a tough circumstances it will be
more wise to make a deeper decisions in which it will make the intervention we
have made less harmeful. For example lets say that Daru will help the Arab but
differently. He would have thought deeply in a way he won’t get so much in
trouble with the Frensh police. for example he could made the scene like the prisoner escaped
away from him and he couldn’t manage the situation. After all ‘’it’s not his
job’’ as he said.
The point that Daru was missing is the fact that he didn’t fight for
what he believed. He want it to help the prisoner in a lazy and incomplete
manner. He made the choice not to fulfill his mission towards what he thought
for the Arab.
Daru
is facing a painful situation of loneliness in the story, both physical and
psychological, in a desolated setting. One can understand that the main
character throughout the story is struggling between two cultures. He is trying
to be accepted by members of this new “hostile” environment where he is
alienated and threatened while thriving to be considered as a French. The title
of the text “The Guest” might be problematic itself. It may be referring to
either the Arab that is the guest of Daru or Daru himself who is a French
settler living in Algeria. The character drawn by Camus in The Guest is
complex. In a sense that he is facing struggles on different levels. One of
them is the feeling of belongingness. It is an emotional necessity in the human
nature to be part of a group as explained by Abraham Maslow in his hierarchy of
needs (Maslow A.H., 1943). This hierarchy is a psychological theory proposed in
1943 that can be represented in the form of a 5-level pyramid with the most
fundamental necessities at the bottom (physiological). Love and belongingness
are positioned in the 3rd level and it is what enhances individuals’
self-esteem and worth in a society by self-regulating oneself (Kune N., 2011).
However the situation that Daru has been put in compromised his objectives of
having satisfying relationships with his surroundings. The dilemma he faced
forced him to make a choice that endorses only one side. By delivering the Arab
to the French, he will face the wrath of the Algerians, but if he ignores the
orders, he will be considered as a traitor by his fellow countrymen. When
facing such dilemmas, people usually try to make compromises to please
everyone, but at some point it becomes an impossible task. Our personality is
what makes us perceive things differently. Therefore the choices we make may be
subject to criticism by others.
The
world’s silence towards one’s metaphysical or existentialist questions
constitutes the divorce between the man and the world as described by Camus’
school of thought. It is the sense of strangeness of nature and unpredictable
world we live in that establishes the absurdity described by the philosopher
through the character of Daru. The guest is a short story based on choices.
Choices to which the main character has not essentially find a response, either
because of an individual ethical conflict or the absurdity of life. One might
identify to the character’s struggle as it is part of life to be confronted to
questions and decisions that are not all of the same difficulty. Future is
unpredictable and control over destiny is mostly inconceivable. Indeed, it is
common to make a choice perceived to suit our needs that ends up reaching a
different outcome. As an illustration to this statement, Camus gives us a clear
example with the encounter that Daru faces. Either ways, Daru will be held
responsible by one of the two factions: by the French jurisdiction or the
Arabs. Regardless of his choices, complications will persist which highlights
both of the existentialist and absurdist philosophy of Camus. Although, both of
the lack of knowledge and meaning of life might suggest that it is not worth
living. It is fundamental to find one’s own catalyzer of happiness and
self-actualization. Camus describes three core features that need to be
developed in order to attain the stage of acceptance of life. Those are:
rebellion, freedom, and passion. Rebellion consists of taking decisions that
correlate with your needs rather than the needs and pleasures of society. It
also includes bearing in mind the certainty of death which recommends taking a
stand and fulfilling one’s own pleasures. Freedom as suggested by Camus, states
that before confronting the absurd, Man had the hallucination of being free,
but was rather a victim of his habits. The encounter with the absurd allowed
him to perceive his surroundings from a new perspective: it can only be totally
free once he becomes aware of his situation, and consequently learns to live
without claims. Passion is described by Camus as a multiplication of lucid
experiences with eager and excitement. Rather than focusing on the quality of
experiences, the philosopher insists on their quantity. He suggests that the
absurd Man (Man who accepts absurdity) is a Man who accepts the consequences of
his actions and is ready to pay for it which recalls to freedom. Though, he
highlights that Man is his own end but from his actions he is serving humanity;
a sense of humanism that will that will shape the thought of the philosopher.
The
story is also about individuals, loneliness, freedom, responsibility, and most
importantly, the difficulty of making moral choices. The guest is a story that
perfectly illustrates Camus’ inner struggle. He addresses key points that
shaped his philosophy. Its main idea was the uncertainty of life and its lack
of meaning. Although these perceived dramatic suggestions Camus highlights that
one needs to find his or her own key to happiness and success.
References:
Freefr. (2016). Freefr. Retrieved 8 April, 2016, from http://mael.monnier.free.fr/bac_francais/etranger/abscamus.htm
Kune, N. (2011). The
need to belong: rediscovering Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Paul H. Brookes Publishers.
Maslow, A.H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review 50 (4) 370–96.
No comments:
Post a Comment