| Chapter 1: | The Fall |
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information to his listener when he states, “If you want to know, I was a lawyer before coming here. Now I am a judge-penitent” (8). This brief description is followed by his introduction: “But allow me to introduce myself: Jean-Baptiste Clamence” (8). As the section ends, Clamence’s narrative foreshadows a topic of later conversation:
With that cryptic statement, Clamence leaves his new acquaintance until the next day.
The second section begins with the interlocutor’s reoccurring question, “What is a judge-penitent?” (17). Clamence avoids answering the question and begins to tell his own story. He shares that he was a lawyer and that “I didn’t tell you my real name” (17). As a lawyer, he was always “on the right side” (18). He was motivated to practice law by the “feeling of the law, the satisfaction of being right, the joy of self esteem” (18). Not only was he a respected lawyer, but “I was considered generous … I gave a great deal in public and in private” (22). Clamence’s past generosity was an intentional effort to position himself higher than the others he encountered. “Yes, I have never felt comfortable except in lofty places. Even in the details of daily life, I needed to feel above” (23). This feeling of being above his surroundings “cleansed me of all bitterness toward my neighbor, whom I always obligated without ever owing him anything. It set me above the judge whom I judged in turn, above the defendant whom I forced to gratitude … I lived with impunity” (25). Being above the punishment or judgment of others is only the beginning of Clamence’s story. “To tell the truth, just from being so fully and simply a man, I looked upon myself as something of a superman” (28). Again foreshadowing an important element of his own story, he begins to elaborate but stops himself: “I soared until the evening