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“I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus”
Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus establishes the Greek figure Sisyphus as the absurd hero because of his act of defiance against the absurdity that is his life. Camus makes the assertion that there is disruption between a human’s goals and purpose in life, and the indifferent nature of society. Sisyphus represents not only defiance toward the absurd, but recognition of it. His awareness of his endless struggle promotes the idea that significance can be found in the struggle itself, rather than the outcome. Through Sisyphus, Camus explains that humans can create their own meaning in an indifferent world. Therefore, the absurd hero is a person who continues to persist while recognizing the futility of life, embracing the absurd, and declaring their autonomy in every conscious act.
Through my research, I will evaluate the notion of the absurd hero through a critical analysis of Mieko Kawakami’s Heaven and Italo Calvino’s The Baron in the Trees. The novel Heaven demonstrates the concept of the absurd hero through Kojima, who takes pride in her suffering, and views it as something meaningful. This depiction of the absurd hero illustrates how a person’s conscious act of unrelenting spirit despite extreme burden is an act of rebellion. The absurd hero is prevalent in The Baron in the Trees because of the protagonists’ lifelong rebellion against the constraints of society. Cosimo’s rejection of societal values embodies existential freedom in an absurd, indifferent world. The philosophical concept of the absurd hero does not create meaning through external sources, but through the awareness of life’s futility and conscious act of embracing the absurd. This is depicted in both novels as the protagonists exemplify the various methods in which the absurd hero can be depicted.
The Japanese author Mieko Kawakami wrote the novel Heaven in 2009, which was later translated in 2021. The novel explores themes of bullying, social class, and human connection in an environment where these forces are constantly present. Kawakami’s personal experiences with poverty influenced her writing the novel as it is reflective in her characters and their response to life’s absurdity. She states, “It’s quite possible that Kojima undergoes an even bigger transformation than the narrator and has become a “hero” herself. To me, she is not a tragic figure at all” (Putri, 170). Through Kojima’s defiance, Kawakami asserts her personal beliefs regarding suffering, which supports the notion of accepting one’s suffering as meaningful. In relation to Kawakami’s worldview, she comments on social class inequality in the novel as Kojima suffers due to her lack of power within the social class.
Heaven illustrates the concept of the absurd hero through Kojima’s conscious acceptance of her suffering as something meaningful. In Kojima’s conversation with the narrator, it is revealed that she views their weakness as strength; she states, “We’re letting it happen. We know exactly what’s going on. We see it, and we let it happen. I don’t think that’s weakness at all. It’s more like strength” (Kawakami, 29). Kojima’s understanding of her situation suggests that she has transformed her suffering into something meaningful. This assertion promotes the idea of the absurd hero because she has declared her autonomy within the indifferent world. Furthermore, Kojima declares her autonomy by affirming that she is in control of her life; she states, “This is our will. We let them do this. It’s almost like we chose this” (30). Kojima’s reclamation of her life is synonymous with the absurd hero as Camus asserts that Sisyphus’s “fate belongs to him” (Camus, 2). Despite the endless suffering, Kojima has created her own meaning through it andembraces her fate.
The notion of the absurd hero is further depicted though Kojima’s refusal to conform to societal expectations. Despite being bullied for her appearance and being perceived as poor, Kojima does not alter her appearance nor change her way of life; Kojima states, “I was only making myself dirty as a way of staying close to my dad, so I wouldn’t forget him. It was my own sign, a sign that I had been with him” (21). Kojima’s willful defiance against societal norms created meaning for her, further stating that ‘Being dirty can mean something too’, which illustrates the power of reclaiming one’s suffering (21). Kojima exemplifies the absurd hero, who refuses to conform to societal expectations, transforming her suffering into individualized significance. Furthermore, her philosophy is aligned with the absurd hero as she continued to persist through her suffering, allowing nothing to change her way of life.
The novel The Baron in the Trees by the Italian author Italo Calvino portrays the life of Cosimo, a young baron who choose to physically and psychologically distance himself from society. Calvino’s literary background was heavily influenced by poetry and writers such as Elio Vittorini and Cesare Pavese, leaders of the school of neo-realism. His politically involved past, and the emerging era of enlightenment served as motifs in which he would discuss in his literature; he states, “I wrote, of course, about the only thing I had to speak of: my relationship with the problems of my own time and my own life” (MacShane). This is prevalent in his novel The Baron in the Trees as his political views are represented though Cosimo. Rather than imposing his own opinions on public issues, he distanced himself from society, much like Cosimo in the novel.
The Baron in the Trees illustrates the notion of the absurd hero through its depiction of an indifferent world and a protagonist who affirms their freedom to create meaning through action. Within the constraints of the absurd, Cosimo challenged life’s inherent meaning, living with an authenticity that rejects external sources. Whereas, in the novel Heaven, Kojima asserts her freedom through active rebellion and recognition of her suffering as meaningful. Cosimo portrayed an awareness of the absurdity that differed from Kojima, in the sense that his method of detaching from society is absurd in itself. In conversation, Cosimo discusses his situation; he states. “I too have lived many years for ideals which I would never be able to explain to myself; but I do something entirely good. I live on trees” (ch.29). Cosimo’s claim suggests that his reason for living within the absurdity is based on pure internal reasoning that is not influenced by anything else, reaffirming him as an absurd hero.
The novel further extends the concept of the absurd hero through Cosimo’s radical way of living, and rejection of social norms and expectations. Through the extreme physical boundary of never setting foot on ground, Cosimo has rejected what is expected of his life as a baron. He chooses to relish in his constraints atop the trees, and create his own meaning in life, much like Kojima embraces her suffering. Cosimo frames his societal detachment as a self-imposed banishment, declaring it as “not an exile by anyone else’s decree” (Calvino, ch.17). This conscious act is essential to identifying Cosimo as an absurd hero because he recognizes his autonomy within the absurdity. Furthermore, Cosimo reclaims his rejection of society as his own choice, without outside influence. Like Kojima asserts her own meaning in her suffering, Cosimo declares his own meaning through his self-exile. Another point that marks Cosimo as an absurd hero is his conflicted relationship with Viola. His refusal to abide by her standards of love, despite emotional pain and the loss of their relationship, shows his commitment to his self-created meaning. Cosimo’s rejection of what was expected of him in the relationship exemplifies his authenticity.
A critical analysis of both Heaven and The Baron in the Trees illustrates the distinct connection between the protagonist’s relationship with the absurdity of life. The novels make the argument that meaning can be found in an indifferent world. The methods in which each protagonist exemplifies this differ in method. Kojima persists through the immense suffering she endures because of the meaning she has created from it. Whereas Cosimo completely rejects societal expectations and creates meaning in the absurdity of his life detached from society. It can be argued that the notion of the absurd hero is not defined by a strict set of rules, but rather a methodology that embraces the futility of life and rejects the notion that life gains value through external or universal beliefs. Through my research I was able to examine what I initially perceived as an absurd life situation and redefine it as something different based on my line of reasoning. The pivotal change in my understanding came from recognizing that the absurdity of life is not defined by a chaotic situation, but rather life’s inherent lack of reasoning. Although the closure of a college is absurd, it does not align with Camus’s concept of the absurd, which arises from the conflict between human’s need for purpose and clarity, and the universe’s indifference to that desire.
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