hello everyone and welcome to our final video in modern and contemporary literature in the very final video of the year together before we dive into the last story I just wanted to take a moment to really brag on you guys and encourage you for what a great job you've done it's been a really hard few months three points to be exact and I know that and I just really appreciate how hard you guys have been working how diligent you've been and turning things on time and giving me your best and to watching all these videos and still staying engaged with the content you guys are brilliant I'm so proud of what you've done and I really look forward to seeing all of your hard work show through and shine through in your final exam so do you make sure you have finished reading this story prior to watching this video you'll find it in your literature textbook from Peters 1246 to 1257 and also for those of you who are interested there is a movie that's been adapted from this short story called far from men and it stars Viggo Mortensen he's the actor who plays Eragon and Lord of the Rings and although it definitely does take liberties right it turns a five page short story into almost a two-hour movie it does a nice job in terms of showing the the central conflict that exists because of the the colonisation of Algeria by the French before we dive in it's good that we have some background information on our author Albert Camus he's a French writer who lived in the early part of the 20th century and two of the main things that are gonna be important to know about him in order to better understand the guest is one he was a staunch a poser of oppression so he really spoke for the underdog and was a man of the people and interestingly he grows up in Algeria during the time that it exists as a French colony and he was very outspoken about the terrible treatment that he saw the French imposing on the Algerian so something that we we also see is similar for our main character in the guest daaru another thing that shows through in his just opposition of oppression is that during his time in Paris he joins the French Resistance group who actively fought against the Nazis and he was an editor of an underground French newspaper that also worked to to fight against this oppression and the second thing that's really important about our author is that he earns a degree in philosophy and this is important because he was a staunch believer in existentialism okay so this philosophical idea that there is no universal meaning in life but rather we create our own meaning in life through our personal choices and and responsibilities and again this is something that we also see shine through in our main character daaru right one last thing to note about him he receives the Nobel Prize for Literature which is a huge deal this is the biggest prize you can receive as an author and tragically his career as a writer was cut short when he died three years after receiving this prize so diving into the guest we're gonna structure our analysis just like we did for metamorphosis so beginning with comprehension we need to understand this setting and we see that the story takes place in Algeria and particularly in a remote desert area where our main character works as a schoolmaster meaning a teacher we also know in terms of time that this story takes place just prior to the outbreak of war in 1954 and this was a war that actually took place between the French troops and the Algerians a war that lasted about six years and ultimately led to the freedom of the Algerians and additionally we see that this story takes place in winter and that's going to be particularly important because the environment and the way that the narrator describes the environment definitely adds to the tone of the short story looking then at characters the story is brilliant in the fact that we only have characters that we're dealing with and really to that stick with us through the entire short story and the first is daaru and he is our protagonist and schoolmaster and the story is told through his thoughts and his emotions so just like metamorphosis we're still in third person limited and the key thing that Darwin as to deal with is his internal conflict based on a choice he's forced to make right either to take this Arab prisoner to jail as he's been commanded to by French authorities or to let him escape which is going to be symbolic of the the sympathy in general that da roof feels towards the Algerian people the second character that we have is the Arab prisoner and you should have noticed right away because this is always key and stories that he's never given a name and he's never referred to by name he's only referred to one by his nationality and then two by his status as a prisoner and he is brought to Daario by about duty who will get to you in a moment but we also find out through the discussion of these two men that the Arab prisoner is a member of a local village and that he's been imprisoned by the French right not by his own people but by the French for killing his cousin in a dispute and ultimately see by the end of this story that very strangely he makes the choice to turn himself in and then finally we come to Balducci and he is the gendarme or the police officer and he's a friend to daaru and he informs daro that he's been ordered to take this Arab prisoner to the police station and essentially taru then has no no choice in order to in terms of rather refusing this as a French citizen he would have been responsible for following through on these orders even more so because of the the looming presence of war in this story but ultimately we see that a rift occurs between daro and Balducci and in a sense when daaru sort of criticizes him for for his role in all of this and also at the same time distances himself from any sort of symbol of the French and including Balducci himself moving then to our analysis or looking at making inferences ok the same thing that we did when we read foul so we're looking at the dialogue the narration seen what main things can I infer or understand from the story and the first focus in terms of our entrance making is the environment so literally looking at nature but also the tense political environment that exists and the first thing we're going to look at is the fact that the nature of the environment around our it was very harsh lonely and isolated and remember we're still talking about modern literature so one of the central characteristics of this is the focus on anxiety and alienation so one quote from the story says this thick snow was falling amidst unbroken darkness with little gusts of wind that rattled the double door of the classroom so automatically we see if this is an unwelcoming environment that da who lives in right there's thick snow so you know that it's hard to you to move about outside so he's pretty trapped and this idea of unbroken darkness so a very dark environment that he lives and with very little Sun in fact Sun is mentioned very little in this story and what it is mentioned it's mentioned as a source of pain as it causes drought and and famine for the people the second quote we're gonna look at for environment is besides he had enough to resist a siege for the little room was cluttered with bags of wheat that the administration left as a stock to distribute to those of his pupils whose families had suffered from the drought and so here we see this environment is not just difficult for daaru but also difficult for the locals who live there as well and you also read through the story that because of this harsh winter weather even his students are prevented from from coming to school and that the French administration is forced to give up these bags of wheat as a way to sustain the people in the surrounding area because the environment has destroyed everything but interestingly we see that Dario is strangely comfortable with the environment that he's in so in this sense that he is alienated and isolated from those around him he actually enjoys this right he says this is the way the region was cruel to live in even without men who didn't help matters either but daro had been born here everywhere else he felt exiled and so this is a key example of how we see daaru self isolating and doing that in terms of emotional isolation as well right it's it's strange that he feels oddly at home in this environment where it's very hard to survive and you and I definitely could admit that we probably wouldn't feel comfortable there either but at the beginning of the story daaru really has this sense of thriving in this harsh environment another thing we noticed in terms of environment going back to that political discussion is the contextual significance of colonization what do I mean so context is what the story is set in where it's said it and we understand that the French have been colonizing this area and we see it shine through in the story as well on the blackboard the four rivers of France drawn with four different colored chalks have been flowing toward their estuaries for the past three days so this is just referencing that for the past three days the students haven't been able to come to school but we see what do they learn they're not learning about their own history but rather the history and the geography of their occupiers right so this subtle hint that French presence is always there and that it dominates the society okay but the orders exists and they concern you two things are brewing it appears there's talk of a forthcoming revolt we are mobilised in a way and so immediately we see this distinction between we and them right this us amendment that is in part what creates the the environment for war and for conflict and so from the very beginning this is a quote from bill du chí when you see hints that tension is coming to a head meaning that not just the fact that the villagers are upset that the French have taken this prisoner from their midst who knew were protecting but also they're upset with the French presence in general and we need to remember that significant because right when this story is occurring we're on the cusp of the actual war that takes place you know G RIA and this is also significant in the fact that it's it's from the very beginning the conflict that is going to exist in the story between the Arabs and the French and we see also in terms of environment that the world of Dario is living in thrusts him into this conflict really without any say-so from from him he has no control over this every bit of this disgusts me and first of all your fellow here but I won't hand him over fight yes if I have to but not that and so here we see that Dario greatly resents being placed in this conflict meaning having to make a choice of turning in the air prisoner or letting him go because really there's no good choice to make if he turns him in he's essentially going against what he values right he doesn't think that this occupation is a good thing but if he doesn't write as a French citizen he's meant to follow orders so he would be disobeying the the country where he comes from in terms of his his nationality but also we see that the nature of the world that he lives in right this absurd world where he's thrust into this decision and he's forced to make sides is a reflection of what we talked about in the metamorphosis with Gregor and now he lives in this absurd world where you're not always able to have control over your mind and your body and in the same way daaru is unable to have control over the choices that he makes turning men now away from environment to garner himself we're gonna look at inferences we can make about him as a character and the first thing you should have noticed is that daaru feels great sympathy for his students who are the Algerians and we see that in the way that he talks about them actually they had all been victims because they were all poor but it would be hard to forget that poverty that army of ragged ghosts wandering in the sunlight and so we see how the harsh environment impacts the locals as well right they're very poor they are prone to starvation and malnutrition and we also see that Darwin pities them and he worries about their welfare additionally we also see that dar was satisfied with his life in Algeria and as a schoolmaster right again he's very comfortable and content in his position in contrast with such poverty he who lived almost like a monk in his remote school house felt like a lord so even though Darwin have lunch he's content with what he has and again this is going to link back to that philosophy Camus buys into in terms of existentialism that you create your own meaning right and then the absurd world that we live in which is a concept that many 20th century writers held that you need to create meaning through your own personal choice and responsibility and so here he has this choice to be content with what he has and he sees his responsibility as enriching the lives of his students and their families looking further at Dara's character we see that just as he has sympathy for his students he also has sympathy for the Arab prisoner as well we see this here when he notices that the Arab is still still tied up mind he's trying to offer him tea so he himself removes the rope and we also see that he goes really above and beyond in terms of making the air prisoner feel welcome right remember but Lucci hasn't commanded him to take care of him and we see that Daario sets table for two so he eats with him he also brings back a folding bed from outside he sets it up he puts it in a place where the air prisoner has been sitting the whole time so essentially a place where perhaps he feels comfortable but in addition to that sympathy we also feel that or see that he has feelings of hatred towards the air prisoner not because of who he is but because of the choice he's forced Dario to make this internal conflict the narration tells us narrow felt daaru felt a sudden wrath against a man against all men with a rotten spite their tireless hates their bloodlust so what Darwin cannot stand is the fact that war and conflict has placed him in his own internal conflict right and again this is a reflection of existentialism that he is forced to make this choice but it's not a choice that he believes in right it's too awful choices that he is forced to now make looking further dar we can see that he also is afraid of gain some sort of brotherhood with the prisoner and again this reflects towards his internal conflict and the fact that he has this impossible choice to make and not feeling any further sense of sympathy or even camaraderie with the air prisoner will only make that worse he says but it bothered him also by imposing on him a sort of brotherhood he knew well but refused to accept in the present circumstances so remember daro doesn't want to have to make this decision in the first place we're gonna see in the story that he tries to avoid it as best as he can and so he feels that if he becomes closer to the prisoner it's going to make things harder for him and we see this is true right because the closer he feels towards the prisoner we see the more alienated he feels from France and again this this tug of war in terms of loyalty in says without knowing why he felt strangely empty and vulnerable and so this comes after he sort of severs his connection to France through about Gucci and in criticizing him and and sort of making him feel less and this also comes in function with his growing fears of becoming more connected to the Arab prisoner and we can infer that his fears are valid because he already feels an attachment to the local people through his students so his character shows that he's already inclined to you to feel this camaraderie towards the Arab prisoner and the final thing we're gonna look at in terms of dark air achter is we see like he attempts to solve his internal conflict strangely by avoiding having to make any decision at all that's the way to sin we'd you have a two-hour walk acting we'd you'll find the police they are expecting you that's the trail across the plateau and a day's walk from here you'll find pasture lands in the first nomads they'll take you in and shelter you according to their law so this is important for two reasons one it shows that daaru is still trying to cling to this philosophy of I make the world better by my own personal choices and my own personal responsibility and so he's trying in a sense to shed this responsibility that's been placed upon him by the French and by Balducci by giving the choice back to the air and prisoner and additionally we also see that darl has knowledge of the local customs so he is not someone who is naive in terms of the way their culture works and functions and then ultimately we see the the world that he lives and makes this type of escape impossible right and and this comes to a head at the very end of this story when he sees the following message scrawled across his chalkboard you handed over our brother you will pay for this in this vast landscape he had loved so much he was alone and so this is a vast 180 from the beginning of the story because remember he feels comfortable in the environment that he's in he likes this isolation but now this isolation has taken a dark turn in the fact that he is isolated not just from the French but from the Algerians as well and that this comes all of the cost of trying to do what he believes to be and so this inference in particular is going to point to the theme which we we're gonna talk about more later but we can initially identify as a fact that we can never truly escape the responsibilities of choice no matter how hard we try and finally before looking at scene we're gonna turn quickly to the era of prisoner and we notice that we only understand his character through the eyes of Darrow and Belle du chí which is important right because they both represent the French system in a way right in this compacted with the fact that the Arab never gets a name shows the strong presence and influence of the French which is what drives the conflict in the first place and definitely we also begin to see hints that the air prisoner feels comfortable with Dario just as Dario feels comfortable with him right he raised his eyes to sorrow again and they were full of a sort of woeful interrogation now what will they do to me so here the Arab prisoner opens up to daro in a way he never did with Belle du chí and he becomes emotionally vulnerable with Dario and additionally he says this at the end of their conversation are you coming with us come with us and so you you see this longing for for company companionship where were the air prisoners concerns but additionally we also see if we're reading very closely between the lines a foreshadowing of another presence the hens were not fluttering the guests must be on the plateau a faint sound of water reached him and he didn't know what it was into the air begins to trained in the doorway and then a short while later he says but a short distance from the schoolhouse he thought he heard a slight sound behind them he retraced his footsteps there was no one there so Dario through the night and then in the morning prior to their their excursion right to send the prisoner on his way Darwin thinks that he hears something and this comes back as important when we remember the message the dark comes back to his chalkboard and essentially we can then infer or guess VI identity of the writers of this message right the villagers from where the air prisoner was taken could they have come back to rescue him and now because of the the position door has been placed in is he going to be held responsible for the prisoner turning himself in and turning them to this really strange decision right and the Arab prisoner decides to turn himself in and in essence he makes the choice for daaru and we see that although he's given this option stream Lee chooses this and we have to wonder why and we need to look first at what he says in the beginning of his sort of being faced with these two options the Arab had now turned toward aru and a sort of panic was visible in his expression listen he said Joe shook his head no be quiet and so here Daraa was showing the prisoner either the sort of freedom I want to show in to prison and the prisoner is trying to say something and he's clearly anxious and something's on his mind but Darin never lets me explain so again thinking through and making this guess that did the Arab prisoner know what was waiting for Daario when he when he would come back for him right and then again in the slight haze daaru with heavy heart made out the era walking slowly to on the road to prison and so here we see the Arab decides to turn himself in so either because he's been moved by Darth show of compassion right and he wants at least daro not to get in trouble with the french authorities but also maybe right he's accepted his fate because who takes him and arrests him from the village in the first place the French right so maybe he fears that this will just happen again but ultimately know that daro is the one who faces these consequences and now finally we turn to identifying the theme and so here we see three main sort of topics in terms of Fame and the first is environment and how the environment shapes daaru and the conflict he find himself in right he would be in no conflict at all if not for the French occupied of Algeria the second thing we see is Darrow's intense desire to escape choice and that this is in essences desire to escape responsibility as well and then finally we see that the resolution of the conflict reveals Darrow's attempts to escape or futile right so even though he tries to avoid choice and therefore responsibility choice and responsibility right hold him accountable anyway an understanding that we can come to at least two key themes of the guest and the first has to do with that environment of alienation and isolation and we could word it like this trying to do the right thing in a conflict between large forces himi thankless and futile so Dara's decision to essentially not make a choice leave some isolated from both parties right so he feels very much alone from the French and he is now being threatened by the Algerians and this also shows that this existentialism that he holds on to proves to be futile because this personal choice doesn't lead to any sort of meaning because of the environment he lives in and then the second theme we can pick up on in terms of choice revolves around this idea that modernist authors have the implications of an absurd world and and that is that an individual's life can be greatly altered by forces beyond their control I think we can really resonate with this right we see this in the fact that dar was caught in a conflict that is not by any means of his own making right that he is simply caught in this conflict created by the French and their colonization of Algeria but in the midst of this he's forced to make a choice that he doesn't want to make and that even though daaru tries to remain neutral right but giving the choice off to someone else the nature of the absurd world he lives in is that ultimately that's impossible and even if he chooses to make someone else hold the the brunt of responsibility for a choice he still has to bear the consequences of that that is it in terms of information for the final exam so speaking of which I just want to give you some sort of idea of how it breaks down so the exam layout is going to be made up of three parts one multiple-choice with ten questions one true and false with five questions and one short answer with four questions you'll see underneath here I've told you exactly what type of information to expect so in terms of multiple choice I'll be asking you questions about characteristics of the genre we studied so for example I'm going to ask you about characteristics of Romanticism realism and modernist literature that's it and then in true/false I'll ask you historical questions so thinking about the context of those different movements that we talked about so for example true or false the following countries saw the emergence of romanticism in their literature England France and Germany everyone should immediately be able to tell me true okay this is gonna be the level of difficulty of the questions and then finally for those short answers you'll have four in total one per text included on the exam and you'll see that we're only talking about Faust how much land is a man need metamorphosis and the guest okay and I'm also gonna post more detailed information about the exam on lesson as an agenda item so that you won't be surprised in terms of layout and instructions and here I'll give you in terms of what you need to focus on for those short answer questions so for example you can most definitely expect to have to write about theme when it comes to metamorphosis and the guests okay and then finally for those who would like to I'm going to include an extra credit question on Dante's Inferno okay so you can choose not to answer it it won't affect your grade in the slightest but if you do have that knowledge and you would like to gain some extra points on the exam that will be a question I'll include okay thanks again for sticking with me through DLP honestly I don't want anyone to worry about the exam if you've been focusing you've been watching the videos taking notes and doing assignments you are going to crush the test okay as always throughout your study period I will be available by email if you have any questions or if you need to talk through some things in terms of the exam good luck and happy studying