How We Lie to Ourselves About Our Inherent Goodness
Albert Camus' book The Fall is a challenge to confront the worst parts of ourselves that may never be tested in the real world.
Many people who believe themselves to be good are actually sitting on some of the worst human impulses that have only remained hidden because they have not been given the power to act on them.
At least, that’s Albert Camus’ argument in The Fall. The novel follows former lawyer Jean-Baptiste Clamence as he explains how he fell from an enforcer of justice to a moral monster.
His failure to save a woman who fell into a canal and drowned was the turning point in his moral journey. After that, Clamence’s view of justice changed. So did his view of ordinary people and their capacity for good moral sense. Early on, he remarks:
“If pimps and thieves were invariably sentenced, all decent people would get to thinking they themselves were constantly innocent, cher monsier. And in my opinion…that’s what must be avoided above all. Otherwise, everything would be just a joke.”
Seemingly innocent people have become no better than the criminals Clamence used to prosecute.
The Impulse Toward Authoritarianism
One of the most common impulses within us is the belief that we would make great rulers. If everyone thought the way we did, then surely our most intractable problems would all be solved. Clamence once again sees criminals in ordinary “good” people:
“The truth is that every intelligent man, as you know, dreams of being a gangster and of ruling over society by force alone. As it is not so easy as the detective novels might lead one to believe, one generally relies on politics and joins the cruelest party. What does it matter, after all, if by humiliating one’s mind one succeeds in dominating everyone? I discovered in myself sweet dreams of oppression.”
Clamence believes the most power-hungry politicians are followed by equally dictatorial followers looking for their own paths to power. In his view, that kind of absolute power is a prize many would treasure above intellectual integrity. He also notices those shortcomings in himself.
Clamence doesn’t believe that he is morally superior because he acknowledges his shortcomings. Instead, he believes that everyone else is as flawed as he is. Seeing the worst parts of oneself is a virtue, but the absence of hypocrisy isn’t the same as the presence of character. Clamence remains a villain despite any insights he may have into the common pitfalls of seemingly good people.
Turning Criminality on its Head
Near the end of a monologue about God’s “sole usefulness” being the guarantee of innocence on Earth, Clamence has a cynical take on Christ’s crucifixion:
“There are always reasons for murdering a man. On the contrary, it is impossible to justify his living. That’s why crime always finds lawyers, and innocence only rarely.”
As a lawyer, Clamence largely represented guilty people who needed less severe sentences or a way to avoid punishment altogether. He had to marshal many defenses for crimes like theft and murder throughout his career.
So, he has come away from his legal career with many ways to defend murder, but few ways to defend life, the value of which is taken for granted and therefore needs no defense.
He went on to question the innocence of Christ, arguing that his existence was to blame for the Slaughter of Innocents. That is an unreasonable way to apportion blame. The soldiers who carried out the slaughter of children in an attempt to kill Christ as a baby carry the blame for that atrocity.
But even if Clamence was The Fall’s protagonist, he was never the story’s hero. He was a challenge to the reader to confront their worst impulses without emulating Clamence’s cynicism.