metaphor for modern lives spent working at futile jobs in factories and offices. "The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious." Camus is interested in Sisyphus's thoughts when marching down the mountain, to start anew. After the stone falls back down the mountain Camus states that "It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end." This is the truly tragic moment when the hero becomes conscious of his wretched condition. He does not have hope, but "there is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn." Acknowledging the truth will conquer it; Sisyphus, just like the absurd man, continues pushing. Camus claims that when Sisyphus acknowledges the futility of his task and the certainty of his fate, he is freed to realize the absurdity of his situation and to reach a state of contented acceptance. With a nod to the similarly cursed Greek hero Oedipus, Camus concludes that "all is well," indeed, that "one must imagine Sisyphus happy." Appendix The essay contains an appendix titled "Hope and the Absurd in the work of Franz Kafka". While Camus acknowledges that Kafka's work represents an exquisite description of the absurd condition, he mentions that Kafka fails as an absurd writer because his work retains a glimmer of hope. See also Eternal return Theatre of the Absurd The Sickness Unto Death by Søren Kierkegaard References Sources The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays, Albert Camus, Alfred A. Knopf 2004, External links Complete original text (French) English text Chapter 4 of the essay The Myth of Sisyphus, by Albert Camus SparkNotes on The Myth of Sisyphus by Richard Barnett 1942 non-fiction books 1942 essays Books about metaphors Books with atheism-related themes Éditions Gallimard books Essays by Albert Camus French non-fiction books Hamish Hamilton books Philosophy essays