Story 1: THE ADULTEROUS WOMAN

[Chris OConnor]

Do you think Camus, in this particular story, deliberately used the desert as a symbol?

Definitely. The desert is bleak and empty and harsh and devoid of color and life. If Camus wasn't purposely trying to instill in the reader a sense of helplessness then his subconscious mind did it.

[WildCityWoman]

When I look for symbolism in a writer's work, I like to put myself in his shoe's . . . think - is the writer telling a story, deliverying a message, or both.

Subconsciously, well . . . maybe looking at the desert from a high place would make him 'feel' something like this. And maybe it could make him feel happy - like rain . . . rain can make a person feel moody, pensive, introspective.

Unless Camus has actually admitted this in an essay somewhere - maybe he wrote something 'on writing', taught a class - maybe he's told students in an essay/paper to use the desert and sea in this way.

Then I'd be sure of it.

But to me - he's just telling a story.

[DWill]

Definitely. The desert is bleak and empty and harsh and devoid of color and life. If Camus wasn't purposely trying to instill in the reader a sense of helplessness then his subconscious mind did it.

It seems that is Janine's reaction to it when she and Marcel first arrive. I get a strong sense, though, that the desert is instrumental in the epiphany that Janine has at the end and in the feelings she has several pages earlier. The experience is at least partly an esthetic one, which is believable because the desert can indeed be beautiful.

I'm not really sure whether Camus would have used the desert as a symbol, consciously or unconsciously. His thought seems to be that we decide on and forge our own meanings, and this might preclude the desert standing for some intrinsic meaning.
DWill

[WildCityWoman]

Well, let's put it this way - if I were to use a view of the desert in order to express an emotion, it would be 'consciously' . . . not subconsciously.

I'd have to be looking for something to use for a metaphor - and if the desert was 'there' (or the ocean), I'd use it.

But only if I felt I absolutely 'had to' use a metaphor. If, for instance, I was doing a course where the teacher assigned me to do it.

If I were telling a story of an emotion I had, or somebody else had, I'd just tell it - wouldn't matter if I had a desert or not.

We're walking around in circles with this one.

[Robert Tulip]

Thinking further about The Adulterous Woman, and other stories in Exile and the Kingdom, this theme of divided loyalties is a recurring motif. Those who demand loyalty are jealous of anything else that commands the attention of the loyal. Yet, Janine's husband does not meet her needs for spiritual fulfillment, so she adulterates her love for her husband by secretly also loving the desert.

[Chris OConnor]

Very interesting perception, Robert.