Suicide

The first week of June 2018 was a climactic week for Existentialism with two celebrities, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, committing suicide.  While suicide is the ultimate individual freedom it must be considered together with the responsibility the person has to others.  Kate Spade was the mother of a thirteen year old daughter—Anthony Bourdain was the father of an eleven year old daughter. For both Spade and Bourdain love for their daughter was not in doubt.  Albert Camus, a philosopher and author, held that suicide is the central philosophical concern.  Camus in “The Myth of Sisyphus” stated “There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide.”

It is, however, Camus the author who shows the consequences of suicide in his novel “The Fall.”  The protagonist of the novel is in proximity to a woman who is committing suicide and her cries for help go unheeded.  Afterwards he experiences guilt. The protagonist continues to experience guilt and near the end of the novel he pleads with the suicide victim, “Oh young woman, throw yourself into the water again so that I may a second time have the chance of saving both of us.”  Two young coming-of-age-women may suffer, possibly for a lifetime.