Who is Fooling who?
This article first appeared in the Star and online at http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/opinion/poor-deserve-more-than-theatre-2085857 “Why, shortly after the evening I told you about, I discovered something. When I would leave a blind man on the sidewalk to which I had convoyed him, I used to tip my hat to him. Obviously the hat tipping wasn’t intended for him, since he couldn’t see it. To whom was it addressed? To the public. After playing my part, I would take the bow. Not bad, eh?” These are the words of Jean-Baptiste, the key character in the Albert Camus novel The Fall , which explores the existential crises of a successful lawyer, who through three key events comes to see himself as duplicitous and hypocritical. The realisation that his whole life has been lived in hypocrisy and denial precipitates an emotional and intellectual crisis. Jean-Batiste initially resists the realisation that he has lived hypocritically and selfishly. He argues with himself over hi...