Adsurdity of War (motif)
The theme of war is developed in many other Camus’ works, though The First Man is not about war, but remarks on its absurdity are easily noticed. Jacques’s father died during the war, and it is a big tragedy as the son had grown up without the father. This “scheme” is known in every single corner of the world, too many sons have been growing up without fathers. The absurdity of war is revealed by the words “There's always been war. But people quickly get accustomed to peace. So they think it's normal. No, war is what's normal.” War bursts out too often, and bitterness of it is also supported by the statement: “And then he knew that war is no good, because vanquishing a man is as bitter as being vanquished.”
Books (symbol)
Jacques is from a very poor family, and they simply cannot afford themselves to let Jacques study because he must go working to bring home money. Jacques’s teacher Monsieur Bernard helped with this issue and persuaded Jacques’s grandmother that the boy is ingenious and clever, and he must study. Thus the world of books and education is opened for Jacques. Books for Jacques become “multiplying horizons and expanses that would take away from the cramped life of the neighbourhood”. Books are also allegorically presented through an image of a dish being “filled to the brim with words and sentences, like those enormous rustic dishes you can eat at long and heartily without every emptying them, and are all that can satisfy some gigantic appetites.”
Poverty (allegory)
Being raised in poverty himself, Camus continues returning to this topic again and again. Allegorically, he presents poverty as “a fortress without drawbridges”. Poverty in Camus’s understanding is a trap, which keeps people blind and deaf. Poverty “creates beings without names and without a past, that sends them into the vast throng of the nameless dead who made the world while they themselves were destroyed for ever”.
“Lollipop” (Symbol)
Monsieur Bernard was a supporter of physical punishment and presented guilty students with "lollipops." “Lollipop” was a thick, short wooden ruler of red color, all covered with notches and ink stains, which Monsieur Bernard had once taken from some long-forgotten student. In general, however, the punishment was accepted without resentment, primarily because almost all of them were beaten at home and they perceived flogging as a natural way of education. “Lollipop” becomes a symbol of punishment and flogging.
