The Guest Injustice

The Great Injustice This story, “The Guest,” by Albert Camus displays many injustices to me, because there is the presence of unfairness and taking away a person’s choice. What is an injustice? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, injustice means the evidence of unequal treatment. Injustices have been going on for years and years, and they are still present today. For example, in the world today we see injustice in the way people are treated based on their religion, age, ethnicity, or sexual preference. I have even received injustice before in my lifetime. The LGBTQ community, for instance, is a group of people who receive injustice all of the time. It is evident that these people are not treated as fairly as others in society are. They are disrespected in public and on various media outlets all of the time. This is clearly injustice, because other citizens are not treated as poorly as the members of this community just because of their sexual orientation. Even though this is one example of
injustice, as stated earlier, it is not the only one. In “The Guest” there are various injustices that can be seen clearly by the readers. One injustice is the way that certain people were handled in the story. It almost goes without saying that taking the life of another human being in an unjust action. When the readers and the protagonist, Daru, find out that the criminal that is tied up by Balducci killed his cousin, there should already be a sense of unfairness for the cousin whose life was taken (93). It does not matter what happened or who was upset, because it is unfair to take the life of anyone. (CITE) In the story it says that the cousin of the prisoner owed him some grain, so the prisoner decided to kill his cousin to somewhat even the score. This is the first example of an injustice where the option of choice was taken away. When one really sits back and thinks about it, they are able to see that it is not right for someone to compare grain to the worth of a person’s life. This injustice can easily be related to violent crimes that are so popular in today’s time. There are so many people who are killing their own kind, people who are somewhat like a family, for some really absurd reasons. Growing up and even now as a young adult, I have always been taught that it is not right to take someone’s life for any reason. Another form of injustice is the mistreatment of a person because of the wrong choices or mistakes that they have made, or just because you have a higher authority over them. In the story the author paints a pretty vivid picture of the way the Arab prisoner was tied up (88-89). Unequal treatment can be clearly seen as the way the Arab was tied up. Human beings, no matter the mistake or crime committed, do not deserve to ever be tied up like animals and be so mistreated. Having little to no control over the way your own body is treated is one of the ultimate unfairness one can handle. I know from personal experience that the mistreatment of someone’s person is not only disrespectful, but also an act of inequity. Once when I was a bit younger, I had someone physically handle me in a way that made me feel like less than a person. It was a horrible feeling and I truly would not want anyone to go through that. Another example that relates to the injustice displayed in this story, is the way that citizens are treated by certain law enforcement in not only today’s time, but for years now. Because people like Balducci have certain powers, they are able to treat people like the prisoner unfairly. One of the most obvious injustices in The Guest is the fact that the protagonist, Daru, had to make a huge decision with only a little bit of time that would impact his life greatly.
When Balducci came to Daru at the schoolhouse and told him the instructions that were given to him, is what changed Daru’s life (91). To be completely honest, the most unfair part about the entire situation is that Daru really never had much of a choice. Regardless of what Daru’s decision what have been, Balducci was not going to take the prisoner back, so ultimately Daru was forced to make his choice from there. Having the free will to do what one pleases is one of the most important aspects in life. There are many people who do not have the free will to do much of anything because of their culture, religion, society, or because of the choices someone has made for them. How would you feel if someone took your free will away? That is honestly one of the biggest injustices of
all. One of the maybe less obvious injustices of this story took place at the very end. Right after the climax of the story as Daru left the prisoner on top of the hill and headed back to the schoolhouse, the surprise that awaited him was something very crucial. On the blackboard at the schoolhouse, “You handed over our brother. You will pay for this.” Written in French was the message left for Daru in his return. This injustice for Daru goes back to him not having the free will to really make his own decision. Because Balducci only left him with a little bit of leeway in his decision to do either what he was told, or what he wanted to do, Daru would have been left to face some type of consequence. It is not fair for Daru because he has to deal with this and pay the price for a decision he barely had a say so in. Also, he probably will not be able to explain his side of the story and why he took the actions that he took to the people who left him the threatening French message on the board. This injustice is similar to people who have to deal with consequences because of the unjust actions of others. Albert Camus’ work in displaying many injustices throughout this story was spot on. The injustices, sometimes not so easily seen at first, still was easy to connect it to situations of the present day. The readers should be able to relate it to either a personal experience or some situations of injustice recently. This is mainly because there are so many injustices in our world today, it is not too difficult to choose one.