The Misunderstanding

According to Patricia Hopkins, professor of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures, Jan is the archetype of the sauveur manqué: a savior who fails in his mission to save those he loves (Hopkins, Patricia. “Camus’s Failed Savior: ‘Le Malentendu.’” JSTOR. Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, 1985, Vol. 39, No. 4, p. 251). Jan also shares the defining characteristic of the classical tragic heroes Oedipus and Antigone: Like them, he opposes the world order in the conviction that he’s justified in doing so, and, like them, he suffers the dire consequences. Camus positions The Misunderstanding as a modern tragedy. Although Jan lacks the clear-eyed resolve in the face of cosmic indifference exemplified by Camus’s absurdist hero Sisyphus, Camus still frames him as a tragic figure worthy of sympathy, justified in longing for a source of secure, unassailable meaning as all people do.

As with the other characters, Camus never physically describes Jan—an abstraction that contributes to the philosophical atmosphere of the play. Biographical details are also scant: He is 38; married to Maria, with whom he lived in northern Africa. He left home for unknown reasons as a teenager—at which time Martha was a child and his mother didn’t embrace him—and returns home after learning of the death of his father, which left his mother and sister to support themselves.