www.iaset.us editor@iaset.us FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN CAMUS’ L’HOTE UFUK OZEN BAYKENT Besevler, Konak Mah, Yildirim Cad, BURSA Turkey ABSTRACT The present study examines one of Camus’ best known short stories, entitled L’Hote, translated into English as The Guest. The story explores the concept of freedom in terms of the choices and decisions made by man. The paper first addressesthe idea of absurd. Then existentialism is explored with reference to the leading philosophers of these movements. Finally, the short story entitled The Guest is analysed in detail; the traces of existentialism and the idea of absurd are followed and the discussion is related to the freedom of choice. KEYWORDS: Choıce In Camus’ L’Hote INTRODUCTION Albert Camus, who was born in Algeria and who has been associated with the idea of absurd and existentialism, is one of the greatest French authors. Although he denied that he was an existentialist, many of his works are claimed to manifest the existentialist ideas. The present study examines one of Camus’ best known short stories, entitled L’Hote, translated into English as The Guest. The story explores the concept of freedom in terms of the choices and decisions made by man. The paper first addresses the idea of absurd. Then existentialism is explored with reference to the leading philosophers of these movements. Finally, the short story entitled The Guest is analysed in detail; the traces of existentialism and the idea of absurd are followed and the discussion is related to the freedom of choice. Camus lived and wrote during the troubled years of the Second World War. He was a French man born and educated in Algeria, which was then a colony of France. He suffered from being an insider as well as an outsider; from being neither totally French nor Algerian. Camus was troubled by harsh conditions in his youth, which prepared him to revolt for independence, personal responsibility and human dignity. Isolation, alienation, and colonialism were experienced by Camus and the effects of each can be observed in his novels and short stories. The works of Camus represent the moral conscience of France during the 1940s and 1950s. He reaffirmed the merits of individual freedom as opposed to the evils of colonial exploitation. The idea of man in a state of hopelessness is presented in Camus’ writings because his era witnessed the slaughter of millions of people, and vandalized cities. The terror, horror and evil of his time resulted in people’s feelings of fear and insecurity. The feeling of distrust gave way to the feelings of irrational anxiety, depression and vainness. Man feels as if he is condemned to eternal exile in this world. Camus uses the metaphor of man who finds himself in eternal exile. He argues that the exile is inevitable because man is deprived of the memory of a lost native land or of the hope of adevotedland. The breaking of the link between the man and his life or the actor and his stage is just a representation of the absurd. THE IDEA OF ABSURD FOR CAMUS The term “absurd” literally means “senseless, illogical, or untrue”. Camus uses the term to claim that everything International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (IJHSS) ISSN(P): 2319-393X; ISSN(E): 2319-3948 Vol. 5, Issue 6, Oct - Nov 2016; 205-212 © IASET