The Just Ones by Albert Camus: Summary and Analysis

Extract

[...] If I were a element, I would be the fire. At the fateful moment, I would burn these figures of injustice, despotism, and make them disappear so that their loved ones would not even find their bones. They would explode in a great vacarme, signal of triumph. May these detritus ignite in a cry of pain May these filth consume themselves May their faces dry up and disappear forever. These are my dreams at night: to become the fire that will turn their infamies to dust. [...]

[...] He survives the explosion but is arrested and imprisoned. The police chief, Skouratov, then asks him to denounce his companions in exchange for his life. The Grand Duchess also assures him a reprieve if he repents, but he refuses the offers. He is executed by hanging. Dora, his companion, then decides to commit the next attack and to to join him in death. Critique: I've taken pleasure at the reading of the piece The Justes of Camus as I found that the work was rythmée without too long dialogue. [...]

[...] My abstract ideal of justice is above all, and even life. If I were a woman phase of the Moon, I would be the new Moon. Once the battle is fought, the deed done, we must be able to fade away in order to be reborn, and make room for a new cycle. When the group understands that honor is a luxury, on that day, we will be the kings of the world and the revolution will triumph, like a renaissance. [...]

[...] It's what makes our strength and determination. If I were a vegetal, I would be a thistle, a climbing plant, hardy, faithful to my ideas. Like the thistle that clings to a wall, I would embed myself in the deepest recesses of my ideals, and no one will be able to get me away from, except if one rips me away from life, like a thistle that takes the wall that supports it with it. May my revolutionary friends be against my ideals not won't stop me from killing two children to save hundreds of others. [...]

[...] The dispute between Stepan, Kaliayev and Annenkov allows the reader to question. In in effect, their exchanges expose very clearly their opposition and the problematique of means and the justification of terrorist acts. I am quite admirative of Voinov's wisdom for his withdrawal from the group. In fact, he knows he won't have the courage to relaunch the bomb and I appreciate his discernment. By elsewhere, I have been moved by their courage because they are ready to die for their cause: overthrow the despotism. [...]