Tracks in the Snow: Irony and Betrayal in Camus’s “The Guest”

Abstract

The carefully placed references to the sudden snow and its persistence in Camus’s “The Guest” indicate its importance in the story’s ironic conclusion. The tracks made by Balducci’s horse and his Arab prisoner, and later by the Arab and Daru, will lead the Arab’s comrades to Daru’s schoolhouse and convince them that Daru has delivered him to the French authorities. Thus both Daru and the prisoner’s comrades will be betrayed: Daru will be punished for a crime he did not commit, and the comrades will betray their cause by punishing an innocent man.

Opsomming

In “The Guest” van Camus dui weldeurdagte verwysings na skielike en aanhoudende sneeuval op die belangrikheid daarvan vir die verhaal se ironiese slot. Die spore wat Balducci se perd, sy Arabiese gevangene, en later die Arabier and Daru in die sneeu agterlaat, lei uiteindelik die Arabier se kamerade na Daru se skoolgebou en oortuig hulle dat Daru hom aan die Franse owerhede uitgelewer het. Beide Daru en die gevangene se kamerade word sodoende verraai: Daru word gestraf vir ’n misdaad wat hy nie gepleeg het nie en die kamerade verloën hul saak deur ’n onskuldige man te laat boet.