Albert Camus The Guest
The story The Guest, by Albert Camus, read on page 381 of Perrine’s Literature textbook, contains many symbols. Perrine describes symbols as “Something that means more than what it suggests on the surface.”(Perrine 300). This could be any person, place, thing, action, name or situation that the story presents us with, as long as the story also supports the symbol. Perrine writes that there are four ‘rules’ to identifying symbols. The first is that “the story itself must furnish a clue that a detail must be taken symbolically” (Perrine 305). This means that the story, either by repetition or some prominence that is given to the description of the symbol in question. “Symbols always signal their existence by emphasis, repetition or position.”
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This confluence mirrors the intertwining paths of the three characters in this story. The fact that the rivers drawn on the board are rivers in France, and the schoolhouse is in Algeria, continues to present a symbol of the oppression that Algeria faced during this time, being forced to learn about french culture in their homeland. As Perrine puts it “[A symbol] may suggest a cluster of meanings”(Perrine 307). On the subject of the chalkboard, school supplies can symbolise learning. It is interesting then, that this is where the death note appears at the end of the story. An intriguing juxtaposition of growth and its near opposite, death. The story first presents us with the chalkboard near the beginning, before his guest arrives: “The four rivers of France, drawn with four different colored chalks, had been flowing toward their estuaries for the past three days.” (Camus 382). These four rivers that symbolise the four characters in this story; Daru, Balducci, The Arab man, and the unseen person who writes the ominous message on the board. This symbol appears at the end, when Daru sees the message, with “Behind him on the blackboard, among the winding French rivers, sprawled the clumsily chalked up words he had just read: “You handed over our brother. You will pay for this.”” (Camus
This confluence mirrors the intertwining paths of the three characters in this story. The fact that the rivers drawn on the board are rivers in France, and the schoolhouse is in Algeria, continues to present a symbol of the oppression that Algeria faced during this time, being forced to learn about french culture in their homeland. As Perrine puts it “[A symbol] may suggest a cluster of meanings”(Perrine 307). On the subject of the chalkboard, school supplies can symbolise learning. It is interesting then, that this is where the death note appears at the end of the story. An intriguing juxtaposition of growth and its near opposite, death. The story first presents us with the chalkboard near the beginning, before his guest arrives: “The four rivers of France, drawn with four different colored chalks, had been flowing toward their estuaries for the past three days.” (Camus 382). These four rivers that symbolise the four characters in this story; Daru, Balducci, The Arab man, and the unseen person who writes the ominous message on the board. This symbol appears at the end, when Daru sees the message, with “Behind him on the blackboard, among the winding French rivers, sprawled the clumsily chalked up words he had just read: “You handed over our brother. You will pay for this.”” (Camus