Short 4: THE GUEST

Please use this thread for discussing the short story "The Guest."

Compared to the other stories in this book, this is one story where I could make out some meaning after reading The teacher (much like his own existence) lives in an isolated school far away from humanity. He doesn't want to get involved in the punishment of the Arab, he treats the prisoner well and even gives him a choice between the authorities and freedom. The prisoner choose the path to the prison. Though the teacher makes all this effort to stay neutral and out of conflict, in the end he finds the writing on his board which indicates that he has been drawn into it afterall.

In discussing the stories with my daughter, I've finally got a toehold. It's been a quite awhile since I spent anytime reading short stories. It is definitely different than reading a novel. I am generally drawn to character, even more than plot or style. A character is my usual stepping stone to contemplating the novel as whole. All of the stories in Exile and the Kingdom have made me feel uncomfortable and alienated from the characters. Daughter says, "Well, ya. That is the point." Camus is writing about colonialism, the ambivalence he personally feels as an Algerian born European, and the conflict between the ruling Europeans and the indigenous people.

My daughter also suggested that I read Loot by Nadine Gordimer (a Nobel Prize winner). She tells me the themes are very similar. Gordimer is writing about South Africa right before the dismantling of apartheid.

For anyone interested:
http://www.amazon.com/Loot-Other-Storie ... 0142004685

Saffron wrote:My daughter also suggested that I read Loot by Nadine Gordimer (a Nobel Prize winner). She tells me the themes are very similar. Gordimer is writing about South Africa right before the dismantling of apartheid.

For anyone interested:
http://www.amazon.com/Loot-Other-Storie ... 0142004685

Both the author and this book look interesting. You might want to list it for the next fiction vote. I recently read Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee which is set in a post-Apartheid South Africa. Again, Coetzee is another Nobel winner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_(novel)

Riven with metaphor, dilemma and irony, The Guest tells the story of the relation between France and Algeria through the lens of a French schoolteacher on the high desolate African plateau, who finds himself the host of two guests, a policeman and an Arab murderer bound for prison. The policeman draws the teacher into complicity with colonial law, insisting he deliver the prisoner to jail. The teacher is the guest in a foreign land, hosting representatives of French law and of repressed Africa. The four rivers of France on his geography blackboard mock the silent expanse of desert, even while its unseasonal snow makes Africa seem like Europe. The guest plays at host for the owner, who acquiesces in his own captivity.

Camus plays with the inversions. Here the French teacher is partly sanctified as an agent of civilization against cruel nature: "he who lived almost like a monk in his remote schoolhouse, nonetheless satisfied with the little he had and with the rough life, had felt like a lord with his whitewashed walls, his narrow couch, his unpainted shelves, his well, and his weekly provision of water and food. And suddenly this snow, without warning, without the foretaste of rain. This is the way the region was, cruel to live in, even without men

Daru seems to want to straddle the fence, to not want to commit himself in the accdeptable way. He doesn't exactly champion the cause of the Arab, who after all is a murderer and therefore diststeful in Daru's eyes. But he dosn't side with the government, either. He wants to have things his way in his isolated enclave. Camus seems to show us that we cannot set the terms in this manner, that the individual will inevitably be caught up in forces beyond his control or escape. The most significant example of the futlility of Daru's attempt to preserve his independence is his attempt to release the prisoner. He gives him a choice of going into captivity or back to people of his own kind, to be dealt with by them according to their customs. Apparently the prisoner knows how his people will deal with him--probably kill him--so he takes the option of prison. The schoolmaster, in his lack of intimate knowledge of this culture, may not realize the prisoner's dilemma--or, maybe he does and is just releasing him to two equally bad alternatives, I'm not sure.

At any rate, something about Daru's conduct smacks of an unrealistic desire to remain above the fray. The ending shows that he can't succeed and will also get no credit for giving the prisoner the option of escape. It is one of those ironic twist endings. And in being shown that that he is no part of the human landscape in this country, he suddenly feels his aloneness. He had felt as if in exile anywhere else but this country, but now one feels he may no longer have this sense of belonging to it.
DWill

DWill wrote:Daru seems to want to straddle the fence, to not want to commit himself in the accdeptable way.

Will, the dilemma was Camus' own. The Algerians needed western education and technology as represented by a teacher. The French settlers needed their homes. Once the spirit of hatred was loosened, French farms returned to desert, and the Algerians have been killing each other ever since. As I understand, fundamentalists won the government of Algerian by election but were denied office by the socialist fascists who are in power now. Camus was right, history wrong.

Tom

So far I've read this story and the Adulterous Wife. The Guest was quite interesting and I loved the twist at the end. I'll post more on this, but it is going on 3am and I'm off to bed.

How scary though....

Going back to the school and seeing that message. Daru is screwed now. The brothers of the Arab would be more pissed with their brother than Daru had they actually known how Daru treated their brother. The Arab could escape by running away. In fact we are left wondering how the Arab handled the long remaining walk to to town/prison. Did he keep going or walk reeaally slowly and eventually change his mind and run off into the desert screaming like a little girl. (this is what I would do)