The Fall is the embodiment of high literature. If I had all the time in the world, I could never write something so brilliant and poignant. Albert Camus is the type of intellectually philosophical writer that I can only aspire to be. Initially I was going to write a single review, but I wanted to do a deeper analysis of each one of the themes Camus commentates on in this work, starting with the Matrix. (I hate myself for using millennial slang like this but it really is the simplest way to put it.) 

The Fall illustrates that civilization is still in the exact spot it was 75 years ago, attempting to solve the same problems with the exact same solutions. Disturbingly accurate, Camus begins by addressing what I like to call Death by Preordained Mediocrity (or less poetically, Being Stuck in the Matrix). The protagonist explains the majority of people are simply enduring a middle class existence rather than living in any meaningful or fulfilling way. One of my main motivations for starting this blog was my terror at the prospect of ending up as just another hamster on a wheel; existing and going nowhere. 

Pg 7: “All of them [the Dutch] moreover, both male and female are very middle class creatures who have come here, as usual, out of mythomania or stupidity. Through too much or too little imagination…”

Most Citizens in western cultures fall into the middle class trap as a result of their “lack of imagination” to move up the ranks to the bourgeois. Although western cultures don’t typically perceive themselves as having a caste system, they do. There are the poor, who are too busy surviving to think about anything else. There are the middle class, who are semi-sentient but easily distracted by pop culture drama and propaganda. Then finally at the top, there are the bourgeois; the elite; the few jerking the puppet strings. 

Pg 7: “Haven’t you noticed that our society is organized for this kind of liquidation? You have heard, of course, of those tiny fish in the rivers of Brazil that attack the unwary swimmer by thousands and with the swift little nibbles clean him up in a few minutes, leaving only an immaculate skeleton? Well that’s what their organization is.” 

The elite have arranged this caste system of society in such a way that the tedium of middle class existence prevents any significant advancements up the ladder. Power is inherently corrupting. Once you claw your way to the top, why wouldn’t you devise a system that effectively preserves the Elite at the top and the proletariat below? 

The piranha imagery could not be more perfect to describe the way pursuing the American Dream will suck the fucking soul out of you. It’s designed to sedate. Go to college for the expensive degree, build a career, buy a house, get married, maybe have kids. By your late 20s you’ll be so far in debt and so overwhelmed with the perceived permanence of your decisions you’ll be practically catatonic. If anything, with each new generation, the piranhas are evolving; becoming increasingly efficient with the rollout of mind-numbing new technologies. Just unlock a phone and get sucked into doom scrolling for hours. All that willingly wasted potential. 

Pg 140: “I am like them, to be sure; we are in the soup together. However, I have a superiority in that I know it and this gives me the right to speak… The more I accuse myself, the more I have a right to judge you.” 

Despite acknowledging the reality of life for the average person, the protagonist includes himself in this “middle-class” category as further evidence of how utterly inescapable it truly is. He understands society has been designed this way and admits that despite his best efforts, he was unable to extricate himself from this trap. This pushes the reader to fully realize that even the most valiant attempts are futile. He’s a part of the matrix just like all the rest of us to the point that his self-flagellation is a criticism of us. 

Pg 144: “When you don’t like your own life, when you know that you must change lives, you have any choice, do you? What can one do to become another? Impossible.”

Each generation considers itself separate from its predecessors; better somehow. Gen Z vehemently believes we will be the generation to resolve the world’s problems. We are idyllically using the same methods those who came before us have already tried, which will inevitably fail. 

But any attempt at solving these endemic problems is sure to fail. They are the byproduct of human nature, and without eradicating humanity, any attempts to resolve them are essentially futile. Life will never be fair. All can never be equal. There will always be greed. There will always be jealousy. There will always exist the distinctly human, deep-rooted urge for revenge. But like a true absurdist, I believe the search for a solution is in itself necessary. Victory is not possible, but balance is necessary. Pushing against those who succumb to villainy, is crucial for maintaining balance. It’s the eternal struggle between equally matched opposites: the good of humanity and the worst it has to offer.

1. Is believing there is an escape from this particular brand of purgatory in itself elitist? 

2. Does anyone escape from this type of mindless existence outside of the elite?

3. Can civilization’s system and enduring problems be solved or are they side effects of human nature? 

4. If an act is futile, are there any benefits to pursuing it anyway?