Thursday, August 21, 2014

Did the Arab do the right thing in Camus' "The Guest?"

According to the philosophical view of Camus, in "The
Guest," the Arab did do the right thing by voluntarily walking to the jail even though
he was given the choice to avoid doing so by Daru.


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The major theme of "The Guest" is that decisions
and choices have
consequences...



In light of
this theme, the Arab must go to the jail to assume the
responsibility for the decision/choice he made in committing murder. Camus believes that
the Arab would also have chosen to face his fate because he would have realized that
death is inevitable for all men, at one point or another. The Arab knows that he has
committed murder and that he deserves to be punished.


Daru
sees only that he cannot make the decision to take the Arab to
jail, so he chooses to let the Arab decide for himself. When he
makes his intention clear, the Arab is surprised, and it would seem, unpleasantly
so:



The Arab
had now turned toward Daru and a sort of panic was visible in his
expression.



This is not what
the man expected. The Arab expects that he will be taken to jail. Perhaps he has
accepted this fact as the men have traveled toward the prison. Daru certainly feels as
if the Arab will take his chance to escape, but he is also
surprised (as was the Arab at Daru's behavior) by what he sees when he turns back to see
how the Arab has progressed:


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And in that slight haze Daru with heavy heart
made out the Arab walking slowly on the road to
prison.



While Daru may not
believe that the Arab made the correct choice, Camus' existentialist's view would allow
the character to do nothing else.

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