The Renegade (Camus short story)
Encyclopedia
"The Renegade" is a short story written in 1957. It is the second short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom
by Albert Camus
.
After the opening pages in the desert which are set in the narrator's present, the narrator recounts events from his past which begin to explain his present nature and situation. The narrator, a French catholic
from the Protestant
Massif Central
region, left his home to work as a Christian missionary
to the Tribes in the closed city
of Taghaza
, Mali. His mentor warns him that he is not yet ready for such a task but in his self-confessed 'pig-headedness' he decides to go anyway. Upon arrival, his guide turns on him and robs him leaving him in the desert.
The narrator has more misfortune in store as he arrives at Taghaza and is imprisoned and beaten by the men and women of the Tribe. After several days of isolation he is taken to the House of the Fetish
where the tribe's priest and several men and women engage in worship rituals in front of Fetish. During the rituals the narrator and several others are physically and mentally abused. Eventually the narrator is converted by the tribe that he came to convert. He disowns Christ, refusing to believe in his righteousness and declares that the Fetish and the power of hatred are the only true and flawless powers in the world.
The narrator relates of one day when the priest without his mask brings a woman in to the House of the Fetish. The woman has a tattoo across her face in the image of the Fetish and is left prostrate on the floor in front of the fetish itself as the priest leaves. It is implied here that the narrator engages with the woman but nothing explicit is described. As the narrator leaves the woman the priest returns with several tribesmen and they remove his tongue causing him to pass out on the floor.
Some time later the narrator learns that another missionary is to be sent to look after the children in Taghaza but that a garrison of twenty French soldiers is to be maintained to ensure the missionary's safety (possibly a result of the narrator's disappearance). Upon learning this, he decides to escape the day before the missionary is due to arrive, steal a rifle and kill him.
In killing the missionary, the narrator intends to instigate a conflict between the French and the Tribe. Although it seems this is not to effect revenge on his captors but to give the tribe a chance to conquer and spread throughout Europe.
Eventually the missionary and his guide appear on the horizon and the narrator fires on them. Wounding his target, the narrator closes in and beats the missionary to death. The narrator comments on how good it feels to strike the face of goodness with his rifle butt. As soon as the new missionary is dead the tribesmen come for the narrator; alerted by his gunfire.
The story ends with the recapture and torture/execution of the narrator. The narrator compares himself to the martyred Christ; asking why the Fetish has forsaken him and declaring his love for the nails which crucify him. When the narrator realizes that the Fetish is not coming to save him and the powers of "good" are winning, he wonders if he's made a mistake and chosen the wrong side. He hastily tries to convert back to the side of good and mercy, but as he babbles his narration ends. The narrative switches to a third person point of view for the closing line: "A handful of salt fills the mouth of the garrulous slave."
", Camus states that religious faith is a form of suicide; a distraction from the real in which the individual embraces the Absurd and abandons reason and logic. In "The Renegade", Camus portrays the Absurd
nature of religion. The events which cause the narrator the most suffering: the loss of his tongue, his presumed execution and his decision to leave his home and travel to Taghaza are all results of him making decisions which to him seem right according to his religious beliefs at the time.
There is also the Absurd juxtaposition between the perceived right of religion and the violent and harmful means which the tribe and the narrator use to achieve it. Present also, is the Absurd notion that virtue creates sin. In the house of the Fetish, the Tribe present the woman to the narrator, the woman submits to him and the tribe do not attempt to stop him but after the narrator has acted on his urges he is immediately and severely punished.
At the end, when the narrator compares himself to Jesus on the cross, there is also the parallel that the narrator's actions will be the cause of further bloodshed; just as the crucifixion
of Jesus led to large scale warfare which continues today.
Exile and the Kingdom
Exile and the Kingdom is a 1957 collection of six short stories by French-Algerian writer Albert Camus.These works of fiction cover the whole variety of existentialism, or absurdism, as Camus himself insisted his philosophical ideas be called...
by Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
.
Plot summary
"The Renegade" is one of the most obscure and confusing of the short stories published in Exile and the Kingdom. The story begins with the narrator, who we are told has somehow lost his tongue, waiting in the desert with a rifle. Much of what the narrator says at the beginning of the story is not explained until much later.After the opening pages in the desert which are set in the narrator's present, the narrator recounts events from his past which begin to explain his present nature and situation. The narrator, a French catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
from the Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
Massif Central
Massif Central
The Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaux....
region, left his home to work as a Christian missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to the Tribes in the closed city
Closed city
A closed city or closed town is a settlement with travel and residency restrictions in the Soviet Union and some of its successor countries. In modern Russia, such places are officially known as "closed administrative-territorial formations" ....
of Taghaza
Taghaza
Taghaza is an abandoned salt-mining centre located in a salt pan in the desert region of northern Mali. It was an important source of rock salt for West Africa up to the end of the 17th century when it was abandoned and replaced by Taoudenni. Salt from the mines formed an important part of the...
, Mali. His mentor warns him that he is not yet ready for such a task but in his self-confessed 'pig-headedness' he decides to go anyway. Upon arrival, his guide turns on him and robs him leaving him in the desert.
The narrator has more misfortune in store as he arrives at Taghaza and is imprisoned and beaten by the men and women of the Tribe. After several days of isolation he is taken to the House of the Fetish
Fetishism
A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
where the tribe's priest and several men and women engage in worship rituals in front of Fetish. During the rituals the narrator and several others are physically and mentally abused. Eventually the narrator is converted by the tribe that he came to convert. He disowns Christ, refusing to believe in his righteousness and declares that the Fetish and the power of hatred are the only true and flawless powers in the world.
The narrator relates of one day when the priest without his mask brings a woman in to the House of the Fetish. The woman has a tattoo across her face in the image of the Fetish and is left prostrate on the floor in front of the fetish itself as the priest leaves. It is implied here that the narrator engages with the woman but nothing explicit is described. As the narrator leaves the woman the priest returns with several tribesmen and they remove his tongue causing him to pass out on the floor.
Some time later the narrator learns that another missionary is to be sent to look after the children in Taghaza but that a garrison of twenty French soldiers is to be maintained to ensure the missionary's safety (possibly a result of the narrator's disappearance). Upon learning this, he decides to escape the day before the missionary is due to arrive, steal a rifle and kill him.
In killing the missionary, the narrator intends to instigate a conflict between the French and the Tribe. Although it seems this is not to effect revenge on his captors but to give the tribe a chance to conquer and spread throughout Europe.
Eventually the missionary and his guide appear on the horizon and the narrator fires on them. Wounding his target, the narrator closes in and beats the missionary to death. The narrator comments on how good it feels to strike the face of goodness with his rifle butt. As soon as the new missionary is dead the tribesmen come for the narrator; alerted by his gunfire.
The story ends with the recapture and torture/execution of the narrator. The narrator compares himself to the martyred Christ; asking why the Fetish has forsaken him and declaring his love for the nails which crucify him. When the narrator realizes that the Fetish is not coming to save him and the powers of "good" are winning, he wonders if he's made a mistake and chosen the wrong side. He hastily tries to convert back to the side of good and mercy, but as he babbles his narration ends. The narrative switches to a third person point of view for the closing line: "A handful of salt fills the mouth of the garrulous slave."
Style
The style Camus employs in "The Renegade" is representative of the fictional narrator and can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The story is written in the first person perspective and just like the narrator, the language is muddled, disjointed and disorganized; leaving the reader to piece together the facts from the hysterical and neurotic monologue.Religion
Camus himself was an atheist. In his essay "The Myth of SisyphusThe Myth of Sisyphus
The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus. It comprises about 120 pages and was published originally in 1942 in French as Le Mythe de Sisyphe; the English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in 1955....
", Camus states that religious faith is a form of suicide; a distraction from the real in which the individual embraces the Absurd and abandons reason and logic. In "The Renegade", Camus portrays the Absurd
Absurdism
In philosophy, "The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any...
nature of religion. The events which cause the narrator the most suffering: the loss of his tongue, his presumed execution and his decision to leave his home and travel to Taghaza are all results of him making decisions which to him seem right according to his religious beliefs at the time.
There is also the Absurd juxtaposition between the perceived right of religion and the violent and harmful means which the tribe and the narrator use to achieve it. Present also, is the Absurd notion that virtue creates sin. In the house of the Fetish, the Tribe present the woman to the narrator, the woman submits to him and the tribe do not attempt to stop him but after the narrator has acted on his urges he is immediately and severely punished.
At the end, when the narrator compares himself to Jesus on the cross, there is also the parallel that the narrator's actions will be the cause of further bloodshed; just as the crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
of Jesus led to large scale warfare which continues today.
Power and oppression
Throughout the story there are themes of dominance and oppression. The narrator travels to Taghaza with the intention of converting the natives to his own beliefs. Once captured by the tribe the narrator is oppressed physically and mentally by his captors until he bends to their will. At several points, the narrator also says that he wants to be offended, he wants to be oppressed, so that he can fight back and take control of his actions and his life by overcoming the adversities set against him.Source
- The Plague, The Fall, Exile and The Kingdom and Selected Essays (Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics) (Hardcover) by Albert Camus (Author), David Bellos (Introduction), Stuart Gilbert (Translator), Justin O'Brien (Translator) ISBN 1857152786, ISBN 978-1857152784
See also
- TaghazaTaghazaTaghaza is an abandoned salt-mining centre located in a salt pan in the desert region of northern Mali. It was an important source of rock salt for West Africa up to the end of the 17th century when it was abandoned and replaced by Taoudenni. Salt from the mines formed an important part of the...
- MissionariesMissionaryA missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
- FetishismFetishismA fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
- Exile and the KingdomExile and the KingdomExile and the Kingdom is a 1957 collection of six short stories by French-Algerian writer Albert Camus.These works of fiction cover the whole variety of existentialism, or absurdism, as Camus himself insisted his philosophical ideas be called...
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- The Silent MenThe Silent Men"The Silent Men" is a short story written in 1957. It is the third short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus.-The Common Fate:...
- The GuestThe Guest"The Guest" is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus. It was first published in 1957 as part of a collection entitled Exile and the Kingdom . The French title "L'Hôte" translates into both "the guest" and "the host" which ties back to the relationship between the main characters of the...
- The Artist at WorkThe Artist at Work"The Artist at Work" is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus from Exile and the Kingdom .- Synopsis :...
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