Why does Mersault say "Hello image!" to his girlfriend?

Question

I have read the novel *A Happy Death* by Albert Camus. In this novel Mersault (the absurd hero) at one point says to his girlfriend, "Hello, image!". I am wondering why he calls his girlfriend "image". I am quoting here the relevant part from the novel.> After making love, at that moment when the heart drowses in the> released body, filled only with the tender affection he might have> felt for a winsome puppy, Mersault would smile at her and say, "Hello,> image."

Answer 1

Alas, I have not read A Happy Death. But allow me to speculate. It might be helpful.

The word "image" is full of many meanings. You might call your lover an image because he is your "image and likeness," your reflection, you. This meaning is rooted in the King James' use of "image" (eikon in Greek), as the copy or facsimile of God.

"Image" can also mean fabrication. A wax figure is an "image" of a person, so is a doll. And each night we are the wax-carvers and doll-makers of our own private, bizarre universe; for we dream, and in our dreams we fabricate images of people we know and do not know, and they can seem very real; they can even give us pleasure or make us feel pain--but what they are in reality is just images, just figments of our imagination. And perhaps the real world--the waking, physical world--is just such a figment, as well. As Calderon says, "La vida es sueño," "Life is a dream." And dreams are absurd.... So perhaps Mersault is recognizing that his lover is merely a figment of his imagination, for is not the imagination--the instrument at work in all our dreams--simply absurd?

But "image" also has a metaphysical meaning: It can mean "illusion." In metaphysics, a distinction is drawn between the image of a thing, and the thing itself. For example, the moon makes an image of itself in the water of a pond, but the moon is not that image--the image is just an illusion. So, is Mersault saying to his lover that she is just a mirage? Perhaps, if Mersault realizes that all we can ever possess of other people is the mirage that they cast on our senses: Mersault can feel his lover, and see her, but who (or what) she is BEYOND that--beyond what he sees of her and feels from her, beyond the illusion of sense imagery--Mersault can never know. So maybe Mersault has acknowledged this sober truth, as his heart starts to slow down in the wake of intense passion.

Answer 2

In French Camus wrote : "Bonjour, apparence." So something like :"Hi, appearence"

But French "apparence" is also close to French/English "apparition" in the sense of "Ghost".

Hope this helps!