Editing The Fall (Camus novel) (section)

=== Life in Amsterdam ===
[[Image:Ghent Altarpiece E - Just Judges by Vanderveken.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Copy of the panel from the ''[[Ghent Altarpiece]]'' known as ''[[The Just Judges]]'' by [[Jef Van der Veken]]. The original was stolen in 1934 and never recovered.]]
The last of Clamence's monologues takes place in his apartment in the (former) Jewish Quarter, and recounts more specifically the events which shaped his current outlook; in this regard his experiences during the Second World War are crucial. With the outbreak of war and the fall of France, Clamence considers joining the [[French Resistance]], but decides that doing so would ultimately be futile. He explains,

{{cquote|The undertaking struck me as a little mad ... I think especially that underground action suited neither my temperament nor my preference for exposed heights. It seemed to me that I was being asked to do some weaving in a cellar, for days and nights on end, until some brutes should come to haul me from hiding, undo my weaving and then drag me to another cellar to beat me to death. I admired those who indulged in such heroism of the depths but couldn't imitate them. (Camus 342)}}

Instead, Clamence decides to flee Paris for London, and takes an indirect route there, moving through North Africa; however, he meets a friend while in Africa and decides to stay and find work, eventually settling in Tunis. But after the Allies [[Operation Torch|land in Africa]], Clamence is arrested by the Germans and thrown into a concentration camp—"chiefly [as] a security measure", he assures himself (Camus 343).

While interned, Clamence meets a comrade, introduced to the reader only as "Du Guesclin", who had fought in the [[Spanish Civil War]], was captured by "the Catholic general", and now found himself in the hands of the Germans in Africa. These experiences subsequently caused the man to lose his faith in the [[Catholic Church]] (and perhaps in God as well); as a form of protest Du Guesclin announces the need for a new [[Pope]]—one who will "agree to keep alive, in himself and in others, the community of our sufferings"—to be chosen from among the prisoners in the camp. As the man with "the most failings", Clamence jokingly volunteers himself, but finds that the other prisoners agree with his appointment. As a result of being selected to lead a group of prisoners as "Pope", Clamence is afforded certain powers over them, such as how to distribute food and water and deciding who will do what kind of work. "Let's just say that I closed the circle", he confesses, "the day I drank the water of a dying comrade. No, no, it wasn't Du Guesclin; he was already dead, I believe, for he stinted himself too much" (Camus 343–4).

Clamence then relates the story of how a famous fifteenth-century painting, a panel from the ''[[Ghent Altarpiece]]'' known as ''[[The Just Judges]]'', came into his possession. One evening a regular patron of ''Mexico City'' entered the bar with the priceless painting and sold it for a bottle of [[jenever]] to the bartender who, for a time, displayed the piece prominently on the wall of his bar. (Both the man who sold the painting and the now-vacant place on the wall where it hung are cryptically pointed out at the beginning of the novel.) However, Clamence eventually informs the bartender that the painting is in fact stolen, that police from several countries are searching for it, and offers to keep it for him; the bartender immediately agrees to the proposal. Clamence attempts to justify his possession of the stolen painting in a number of ways, primarily "because those judges are on their way to meet the Lamb, because there is no lamb or innocence any longer, and because the clever rascal who stole the panel was an instrument of the unknown justice that one ought not to thwart" (Camus 346).

Finally, Clamence employs the imagery of the ''Ghent Altarpiece'' and ''The Just Judges'' to explain his self-identification as a "judge-penitent". This essentially espouses a doctrine of relinquished freedom as a method of enduring the suffering imposed on us by virtue of living in a world without objective truth and one that is therefore, ultimately meaningless. With the [[death of God]], one must also accept by extension the idea of universal guilt and the impossibility of innocence. Clamence's argument posits, somewhat paradoxically, that freedom from suffering is attained only through submission to something greater than oneself. Clamence, through his confession, sits in permanent judgment of himself and others, spending his time persuading those around him of their own unconditional guilt. The novel ends on a sinister note: "Pronounce to yourself the words that years later haven't ceased to resound through my nights, and which I will speak at last through your mouth: "O young girl, throw yourself again into the water so that I might have a second time the chance to save the two of us!" A second time, eh, what imprudence! Suppose, dear sir, someone actually took our word for it? It would have to be fulfilled. Brr...! the water is so cold! But let's reassure ourselves.  It's too late now, it will always be too late. Fortunately!"