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Connor Neuhoff
Brain Morris
ENG 113
September 19, 2016
The Myth of Sisyphus
In Albert Camus book: The Myth of Sisyphus, his perspective of freedom is defined by
the term the absurd- man. The absurd man lives his life without hope for the future. This
ultimately constrains him to live life in the present putting little thought into the future and taking
lifes experiences as they come. He talks about revolt and how the absurd hero revolts
against mortality standing up to death and living life in the present not including vague hope for
the impending. Albert Camus uses his pessimistic view on life to introduce a third option to the
reader explaining how to live life as the absurd.
The Myth of Sisyphus is the last chapter of Albert Camus book The Myth of Sisyphus.
The chapter goes on to explain the story of King Sisyphus and how he overcame his interminable
destiny of torture. King Sisyphus had a strong appetite for living life in the real world as opposed
to the underworld. Due to the fact, he was then damned to an eternity of what Albert Camus calls
the life of a highwayman (489). Camuss definition of a highwayman (489) is a man who
works a life of endless and fruitless labor. In the last sentence of this chapter Albert Camus ends
with these few words One must imagine Sisyphus happy. (492). His reasoning behind ending
the chapter with such controversial words is to express that Sisyphus is truly liberated from the
endless torture by living without optimism. Albert Camus writes If this myth is tragic, that is
because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of
succeeding upheld him? In other words, King Sisyphus would only be tortured if he showed

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hopefulness that eventually his punishment would conclude. Sisyphus overcomes his battle with
hope by accepting the fact that his fate is unending. By doing this Sisyphus is unshackled from
the bleakness of hope, at last grasping freedom and spurning the life of a highwayman (489).
The chapter Absurd Freedom in Albert Camuss book The Myth of Sisyphus he
mentions certainty, he explains to truly be absurd one must only live life exclusively on
certainties without prejudgment on lifes encounters. Camus says, What I know, what is certain,
what I cannot deny, what I cannot reject-this is what counts (477). What Camus signifies by this
is that the absurd cannot live on what he does not know. The future will always remain furtive
therefor the only conception the absurd can be certain of is death. The result of this keeps the
absurd from giving any notion to what the future holds preventing them from making choices
regarding lifes experiences. We are not truly free if we hold prejudice towards lifes
experiences. Camus writes, For the mistake is thinking that that quantity of experiences depends
on the circumstances of our life when it depends solely on us. (486). In short Camus tells us that
we must take all lifes experiences as they come without developing any preconceptions that
would hinder us from having such experiences. Living life with the future in mind molds the
experiences we decide to encounter and the consequences of electing what we experience is not
an authentic form of freedom. Genuine freedom solely comes from experiencing what life has to
offer.
In Camus last paragraph of the book The Myth of Sisyphus, he writes But Sisyphus
teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is
well. (492). This introduces Camuss idea of revolting against death or in King Sisyphuss case
revolting against the gods punishment. By revolting we are standing up to the bully that is
demise. The absurd rises above death by existing in rule of his own life Camus samples this

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For the rest, he knows himself to be the master of his days. (492). Explaining that to live life in
the present snubs the dark reaper of demise. This very idea is what makes King Sisyphus the
absurd hero (490), he is viewed as a hero by altering his punishment of from the gods into his
very existence paying no attention to the completion of his eternal fate. The only way that death
could prevail is if we live a life of hope. If King Sisyphus endured his punishment with the
optimism that his suffering would someday expire, only then would death triumph.
The concept of the absurd can only be channeled by man through awareness. Being
absurd requires certainty that the future is nothing but a mere possibility. In doing so this
causes man to live in the present taking life as it comes and experiencing as much as possible. To
live absurd and to achieve these things requires man to set-forth a revolution against
bereavement by living life without sanguinity and optimism.

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Works Cited
Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. New York, Knopf, 1955. 1st American edition.