The Guest

Setting: Algeria during the waning years of French Control there (p. 315). ... snow had suddenly fallen in mid-october after eight months of drought without the transition of rain. The story was written in 1957.

Characters & Description:

Character and setting description is very clear and vivid as if you are there.

Daru- Schoolmaster; was put in charge of a prisoner. P.316 - ...he who lived almost like a monk in his remote schoolhouse, nonetheless satisfied with the little he had and with the rough life, had felt like a lord with his whitewashed walls, his narrow couch, his unpainted shelves, his well, and his weekly provision of water and food.

Balducci- Police officer who delivered the prisoner to Daru. P. 317 - From under his bristling mustache he smiled at the schoolmaster. His little dark eyes, deep-set under a tanned forehead, and his mouth surrounded with wrinkles made him look attentive and studious.

The Arab- The prisoner; arrested for killing his cousin. P. 317- ...lost as he was in contemplation of the Arab dressed in a faded blue jellaba (hooded cloak), his feet in sandals but covered with socks of heavy raw wool, his head surmounted by a narrow, short cheche (cap).

Language: The language was very easy to understand. Any foreign words were translated in footnotes.

I did not like the story that much because I really did not see the point that it was trying to get across. The story ends with the schoolmaster leaving the prisoner by himself, and telling him to walk back to prison. It was an entertaining story, but I do not believe that it has any significant value to me.