Albert Camus' the Guest

Comments on "The Guest"

Albert Camus' The Guest is about a schoolteacher named Daru that lives by himself in a schoolhouse out on a plateau somewhere in France. Daru is given the responsibility of transporting an Arab prisoner to a nearby city to face judgment. Daru was to have none of it. He wanted to lead his simple, uninterrupted life and be left out of the war that was evidently looming. Unfortunately for Daru, this was not an option for him and the man named Balducci left the prisoner at the schoolhouse despite Daru's objection.

In the beginning of the story, Daru was obviously very reluctant towards taking in the Arab, never mind having to then transport him to Tinguit. However, it became rather obvious that even though at first Daru was very opposed to the whole idea, it was different and maybe even comforting to have another person there. Of course, Daru was sure to keep an eye on the Arab during the evening for fear of his own life, but he soon came to the realization after the Arab went outside to go to the bathroom, that he really had nothing to fear. In fact, Daru started to feel a sense of comfort. The Arab represented a companion, or a friend to Daru which are both things that had been missing from his life for what seems to be quite some time. However, Daru dismissed those thoughts when he came back to the realization that this man was a killer and further realized he had a long walk the next day to deliver this man to Tinguit.

When Daru left the Arab, you could almost hear him talking to himself, wishing that the Arab would go nowhere and that he would have to bring the Arab back to the school house. Now I don't really believe that Daru wanted this prisoner to hang around all of the time at the schoolhouse, or even live there. But Daru was left with an empty feeling because he knew that the Arab was not going to face his death, he was going to another tribe that would take him in an care for him. It was Daru that was going back to imprisonment in his lonely schoolhouse on the plateau.