subject: Absurdity and Existentialist Suffering - Frank O'Conner's `Guests of the Nation' and Albert Camus' `The Guest' [print this page] Absurdity and Existentialist Suffering - Frank O'Conner's `Guests of the Nation' and Albert Camus' `The Guest'
Existentialist philosophy, as shaped by Sartre, is founded on three primary propositions (Brown, 1948). The first is that our lives are shaped by the choices we make and that, as a result of our choices, we can either achieve authentic being or loose ourselves. The second is that there is no meaning in the universe. People try to impose meaning upon the world but it is a false meaning which only distracts them from the reality of nothingness. The third is that even though there are no rules in the universe, there is a personal responsibility to one's self. This is the responsibility of authenticity, realizing one's being and acting in good faith (Brown, 1948). These three propositions are reflected in Frank O'Connor's "Guests of the Nation" and Albert Camus' "The Guest." O'Connor and Camus highlight the absurdity of the universe and show how the failure to make choices which reflect authentic being, leads to existentialist suffering.
The titles of both short stories express the theme of absurdity. In O'Connor's story, the two Englishmen are war hostages, the prisoners of the Irish soldiers, Donovan, Noble and Bonaparte and certainly not "guests of the nation." In Albert Camus' "The Guest," the reader questions the identity of the guest. Is it Daru, the European who has no other home than Algeria; Balducci, the military police officer who personifies French authority and colonial power; or is it the Arab, for whom Algeria is the home of his ancestors and his homeland. By making readers question the nature of the guest, host, enemy, friend relationship, both O'Connor and Camus draw attention to the absurdity of allowing politics, rather than our nature, to dictate our relationship with others. The absurdity of trying to impose political meaning on relationships is highlighted in "Guests of the Nation." Belcher and Hawkins, officially war hostages, were, however, treated as guests and as friends, a fact which makes their execution all the more absurd horrendous. As Bonaparte says, "after the first day or two we gave up all pretence of keeping a close eye on them." (Reference) They did not need to keep a close eye on Belcher and Hawkins because they had become part of the surroundings and had integrated into the community. They were not, on the human and interpersonal level, enemies. The absurdity of war had made them enemies and when they were able to leave the war behind them, even if temporarily, they became friends. This makes their execution all the more absurd because, at the end of the day, there is no reason for executing these two men. It is not the senselessness of the act which incites the existential suffering in the Irish soldiers because existentialist philosophy is premised upon an acknowledgement of the inherent absurdity of life. Instead, suffering is an outcome of the fact that their participation in the execution was not something which agreed with them. At some deep, internal level, the soldiers objected to the executions but carried them out, thereby failing to act authentically.
The futility of existence and the absurdist nature of the universe are further reflected in the theme of senseless deaths. Camus's "The Guest" is set in Algeria but of the three main characters, only the Arab is Algerian. Within the existentialist scheme, the significance of this becomes clear upon realising that the referred to "guest" is neither Dauru nor Balducci but the Algerian. In Camus' "The Guest," of the three main characters, only the Arab is Algerian. This is a commentary upon the absurdity, not just of colonialism but of the concept of `nation.' Algeria is dominated by France, by French culture and French law. Algeria no longer belongs to the Algerians but to France. Apparently, the Arab does not recognise this because he insists on acting in accordance with his cultural rules. Under the Algerian cultural code of honour, the Arab is justified in his killing of his cousin over some grain. Under French culture and law, he is not and, accordingly becomes a prisoner for whom execution and death are imminent. Absurdity stems, firstly, from the fact that Algerians in Algeria have to adhere to French culture and law; secondly, from the fact that the Arab is the guest; and thirdly, from the nonsensical nature of a life in which men die because of some grain or because they have adhered to their culture's honour code. When Daru hears of the reasons why the Arab murders his cousin, he feels "a sudden wrath against the man, against all men with their rotten spite, their tireless hates, their blood lusts." Daru is not reacting against the Arab but against "all men;" he is reacting against the absurdity of life. Indeed, realisation of life's absurdity contributes to the existentialist suffering which Daru is to later feel.
The senselessness of life and death, highlight the absurdity of existence andthe failure of the characters to realize their authentic being and to make choices which reflect their true nature and beliefs, is the source of their suffering. After they fulfil the execution order against the two British soldiers, O'Connor's narrator says, "Noble says he saw everything ten times the size, as though there were nothing in the whole world but that little patch of bog with the two Englishmen stiffening into it, but with me it was as if the patch of bog where the Englishmen were was a million miles away, and even Noble and the old woman, mumbling behind me, and the birds and the bloody stars were all far away, and I was somehow very small and very lost and lonely like a child astray in the snow. And anything that happened me afterwards, I never felt the same about again." As he failed to act in a way that reflected his true inclinations and feelings, Noble feels that the world around him has changed, as has he. Similarly, because of the role he is forced to play in the Arab's trial, Daru feels that "in this vast landscape he had loved so much, he was alone." The feeling of loneliness and emptiness expresses the suffering that the ` hosts' felt for having played a role in the execution, or eventual execution, of their ` guests.' They participated despite being opposed to doing so and, accordingly, did not act in a way that was authentic. In other words, their suffering is a result of their not having been true to themselves and of acting in a way that was contrary to what they wanted to do. It is important to emphasise, however, that in the existentialist sense, they are the cause of their own suffering since they made the choice to go along, rather than stand for what they believed in.
The foregoing analysis of O' Connor's "Guests of the Nation" and Camus' "The Guest" illustrated that the primary concern of both stories is the exposition of the absurdity of life. In both stories, the relationship between prisoner and jailer is compared to that of guest and host, motivating readers to question the circumstances which make men, who could otherwise have been friends, enemies. In reflecting upon this question, readers realize that the absurd nature of life and the failure of men to act in an authentic manner which reflects good faith, perverts relationships and leads to senseless deaths, murders and executions. Life and death are senseless and absurd because the choices that people make do not reflect authenticity.
Bibliography
Brown, S. M. The atheistic existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre. The Philosophical Review, 57(2), 158-166.
