The+Guest

An important complexity of Camus’ story “The Guest” is that in French the title “L’Hôte" can translate as both “The Guest” and “The Host.” The main character of the story is like Camus a French Algerian or a “guest” in the country even though he was born there. Daru is a schoolmaster and a French civil servant. His situation is symbolized by what is on his blackboard: “the four rivers of France, drawn with four different colored chalks, had been flowing to their estuaries for the past three days.”

Daru didn't just take the prisoner to prison, instead he offered him a choice between freedom and prison. Since existentialism is about human actions, choices that were set up in "The Guest" made the story more based on existentialism just as Camus' intended.

Daru is a schoolteacher who is forced to let an Arab murderer stay in his house for the night. In the morning, he must lead the Arab to police headquarters. On the way there, Daru shows the Arab the direction towards the prison and the direction towards freedom. In the end, the Arab walks toward the prison. At the end of the story, Daru is all alone at the school house and it told he will pay for handing over the Arab when in reality the Arab was given the choice and Daru was forced to shelter him

The Guest can be interpreted in many different ways, one of the larger topics in this short story is the integrity of fate. Everyone has a different interpretation of how fate truly works or if it even exists. Through the actions of Daru and the Arab we see what could be "fate" having vital effects on more than one life. Some might argue that fate isn't real and that the actions taken by the Arab were indeed his own decisions, while others might feel that the Arab's decision was set in stone, as were the repercussions Daru may have encountered because of his interactions with the Arab.

Daru, who frees the prisoner, only frees the prisoner to go back to supporting a society similar to the one that Daru is trying to disassociate himself with.
 * LITERARY DEVICES IN "THE GUEST" (from Wikipedia):**
 * Symbolism**: The specific location of Daru's home is symbolic of the colonial conflict in Algeria. He requested to be placed at the foothills, between the desert and the dark plateau. However, he was placed upon the plateau where he would be—a schoolmaster. In this symbol, the desert represents the Arabs and the plateau represents the French. He was placed upon the plateau, or in other words, he was forced to join up with the French (though he wanted to remain neutral, as was his character).
 * Irony**: Balducci was the "bad guy" character in this story. Though he was callous and rude to the Arab prisoner, in the end he will just return to his post and live a normal life. On the other hand, Daru was the only person to treat the Arab kindly, and yet he will most likely die for "handing him over."
 * Foreshadowing**: Frequently throughout the short story, the reader is hinted to that trouble might come to Daru. The author says that the village was beginning to stir, and that was the reason for the transportation of the prisoner. Also, Daru hears sounds of footsteps around the schoolhouse, but he found nothing to materialize from them.

Existentialism: The belief that philosophical thinking comes from humans, not the subject of thinking. The thought comes from acting, feeling and living as a human being.