The Guest

In Albert Camus’ “The Guest,” a mild-mannered schoolteacher finds himself stuck with an unwanted guest and obligation: taking his guest, an Arab accused of murdering his own cousin, to prison. Through this obligation, the schoolteacher, Daru, must deal with concepts of honor, choices, and individual responsibility. Ultimately, Daru decides the choice of whether or not to deliver the man to prison is a decision best made by the prisoner and not himself. The Arab decides to turn himself in to the prison, leaving the reader with the question of why. Although Camus does not give the reader easy answers to the question of why, there are several reasons the Arab chooses the path to prison.

The character of the Arab is treated like an animal, and through this treatment, he begins to view himself as just that: an animal, one who deserves to be locked up. Camus’s first introduction of the Arab is as “the other,” separating the Arab out as someone other than a normal, honorable man right from the start (Camus 2574). Daru first sees the Arab walking behind a horse “with hands bound and head lowered,” on a rope leash, led like many animals (2575). When brought into Daru’s house, the Arab squats down instead of sitting on furniture, acting like an animal using the floor instead of sitting on the furniture like a human. The Arab’s physical appearance is described with almost animal-like terminology: “huge lips,” “obstinate forehead,” “restless… rebellious look,” “feverish eyes,” an “animal mouth,” and moving with “slithery motion(s)” resulting in an image of someone wild and untamed, like an animal (2575-76, 2579-80). The method the Arab used in committing the crime of murder is also animalistic – he killed his cousin how one would slaughter a sheep, using a billhook (2577). Throughout all of this the image of the guest, the Arab, as someone less then human is fully drawn. By being perceived and treated like an animal, the Arab’s self-image begins to become one of an animal. Animals should be kept in cages, therefore the Arab may have chosen the path to prison because he feels he should be locked up in prison (a cage) like the animal he has become.

The society at large views the crime of murder as one deserving prison and, possibly, execution. The Arab’s accused of committing this crime, and he never denies it or explain why he did it. He is viewed by the gendarme, Balducci, along with Daru as guilty of this crime. Balducci represents the interests of society, the law and acceptable behavior. Balducci’s treatment of the Arab as a criminal and prisoner reflects the view that society at large has of the Arab and the crime he committed. By being viewed and treated as a criminal and prisoner, the Arab begins to view himself as a criminal and a prisoner. Criminals and prisoners should not be free to walk amongst the population; therefore, the Arab believes he should not be free.

Should the Arab have chosen the path of freedom, it would not have been a free life. It would have been the life of a fugitive, a life constantly on the run and in fear of capture. A life that his actions show is not only unacceptable to him, but one without honor. For despite being treated like an animal and beginning to view himself as an animal, he is still a man: a man of honor. He committed the crime of murder, he never denies committing this crime, and knows whether he runs or not, eventually he will have to take responsibility for his actions and pay the subsequent price. Men of honor take responsibility for their actions. Even with the possibility of the Nomads taking him in and hiding him “according to their law,” he cannot choose that path because it is not the law he has lived his life under (2582). It is the Nomads society and law, not the Arab’s society and law. To choose to run to the nomads would also be the act of a coward, and the Arab is no coward. He chooses to head towards the prison and the possibility of execution because ultimately, he is a man of honor.

Ultimately, the Arab chooses the path to prison because he has no other choice. He would view anyone else who committed this crime as an animal, and having committed this crime, he now views himself as an animal deserving of locking up. He is a man of honor, a man who likely has lived his life respecting his society’s concepts of acceptable behavior and laws until this crime. The life of a fugitive, living with people outside his own, is unacceptable and cowardly. It is his choice to make, yet at the same time it is no choice at all.

Works Cited

Camus, Albert. “The Guest.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature: The Twentieth Century. 2^nd ed. Vol. F. Eds. Lawall, Sarah, and Maynard Mack. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002. 6 vols.

Written for Professor Stephenson's Masterpieces of Literature II class at Pikes Peak Community College, 5th May 2004.