Albert Camus The Guest

In “The Guest” by Albert Camus, setting is used to explore characterization and themes of alienation and individual choice. In the short story, Daru’s alienation is reflected in the environment where he lives. In this alienated condition, choice becomes an existential burden that the individual must bare. Setting is discussed and wielded as a tool of enhancement in many aspects of Albert Camus’ short story, “The Guest”. In “The Guest” there are many examples of the way in which setting influences character. The prisoner is impacted by the war and pressure placed on him and his countrymen. Camus explains the political setting within a conversation where Daru asks Balducci for more information about the prisoner: “Why did he kill?”

Daru’s setting has a negative effect on his decision making in this story. When he has to decide whether or not to let the prisoner go free or take him to prison, it is harder for him to make his decision because of his setting. If he had had like-minded people to talk to - not the French colonizers nor the Algerian community that he was surrounded by - he may have been able to make a decision and would not have had to hand his decision off to the prisoner. For him the decision to let the prisoner go free or not is a burden. As he lies in bed and wakes from his half-sleep he thinks “‘He is running away… good riddance! (Camus 7). He hears the prisoner leave ant thinks that he is running away. He realizes how much easier it would be to just let the prisoner escape and not have to make any decision. In his political setting, Daru has to make his own individual decision which could lead to the confinement or loss of someone’s life. Daru’s choice can only be his own. In the end he lets the prisoner decide which way to go, giving him the option of freedom or imprisonment (Camus 8). The prisoner does not seem to welcome the option of individual choice that he is given. When he is forced to choose between freedom and imprisonment, he chooses the fate he believed had already been decided for him. He does not want to have to make an individual decision. This mirrors Daru’s desire for someone else to make the decision about the prisoner’s future for him. Camus uses setting to reveal to the reader the weight of the burden of choice on the