Camus liked the fact that, in French, the same word means both “guest” and “host”. Why might the translator have chosen to call the story “The Guest”? To what extent, If any, woud “The Host” be a better title?

There are layers to this story. Daru would have liked to consider the Arab his guest but really he was a prisoner. Daru himself longs to be considered a native Algerian but instead will forever be considered an unwanted guest by the greater Algerian population. Then we can examine what a guest means in the context of imperialism (French on Algerian soil).