¶ … Guest, with its existential feel, is a Camus classic. The short story's setting is stark, as the author's words evoke the Algerian desert in the midst of a snowstorm. Sweeping landscapes of desert winter and stark, unpopulated terrain are part of what makes "The Guest" a story about isolation. However, the protagonist, Daru, has chosen to live here as a teacher. His only contact with the outside world seems to be through his bags of grain, which symbolize civilization. Even his Corsican friend Balducci cannot rend Daru from his self-imposed solitude. Daru appreciates his secluded state and relishes the simple life. Therefore, the prisoner whom Balducci delivers to him is treated with kindness and compassion; like Daru, he too is a guest. But Daru does not identify with either the Arab or the French cause and therefore he cares not for the political implications of the prisoner's fate. Instead, he demands that the Arab decide for himself whether or not to turn himself in. As people without a sense of belonging, both Daru...
With "The Guest," Camus elucidates the theme of isolation through his use of scenery, self-imposed isolation, and stern self-determination.
One of the distinguishing features of "The Guest" is Camus' use of imagery. The Algerian desert springs to life with the author's words, which paint a picture of a desolate landscape, a "solitary expanse where nothing had any connection with man." Devoid of all types of life, animal, plant, and human, the remote outpost at which Daru lives is several miles from the nearest town. Camus uses such phrases as "abrupt rise," and "fields of stone" to paint the surreal atmosphere. The snow seems strangely out of place, a foreigner on the dry soils of the desert's "eternal summer." Beyond his descriptive prowess, Camus uses the landscape of desert Algeria to suggest personal isolation. The desert is a relatively uninhabitable region of the earth; it is inhospitable and Daru requires the shipments of grain and other foodstuffs from…
