Absurdism In The Stranger

A full stream of emotional development takes place in Albert Camus book “The Stranger” and is demonstrated through the protagonist, Meursault. From the beginning the audience realizes the lack of empathy in Meursault and watches as his morals start to develop and take place.

It is in these bizarre acts that the others deem Meursault a stranger. His disregard for social constructions presents the views of the existentialist philosophy. Love is known to be deception by existential theory due to one’s desire to have someone else love him or her. Also, as mentioned before, Meursault’s conviction in God’s nonexistence makes him detached not only concerning death, but also to love, morals (Meursault also befriends his neighbor, who is also thought to be a pimp by others), and other basic human conceptions. When new friend-the pimp- asks for his help to embarrass his ex-girlfriend, Meursault again with any consideration agrees to something that would have normally been thought of as insane, and does not contemplate that there may be consequences for this agreement. Without the presence of God, there is no real need to be morally correct and there is no way of knowing what truly is righteous in terms of ethics, as there is no other creed that dictates such.

In Camus’ novel, The Stranger, the main character Meursault depicts the absurd man and consequently shows the somewhat negative effect that has on a person. Throughout the novel Meursault is apathetic, detached, and a stranger to society. He embodies the meaninglessness of life through his indifference, he shows the atheistic aspect of absurdism, and indirectly lives by a quantity of experience. The beginning of the novel shows this acceptance and embracement of the absurd. The story starts with, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: ‘Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.’ That doesn’t mean a thing” (Camus 1). He is introduced by his absurdist attitude and detached place in society

Existentialism is the philosophical notion which highlights the existence of a person as free and responsible. Their actions are their own and will be the determinant in what course their life will take. Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger has been considered an existentialist novel, however, Camus would argue that his novel is in fact an absurdist novel and not an existentialist novel. His belief was that “the radical confrontation with the absurd was an absolute necessity in the 20th century, but only as a first step toward a fuller version of human meaning and value.” An absurdist novel focuses on characters who believe there is no purpose to life, and the experiences they go through can seem unrelated and random. This paper will cover instances within Camus’ novel which support the absurdist point of view as well as Victor Brombert’s article

The Stranger, written by Albert Camus, It follows the story of our tragic hero, Meursault, shortly after his mother dies through the events that lead to him being sentenced to death. Camus uses the motif of weather to express Meursault’s emotions. The Stranger shows how even when a person does not explicitly express emotion they are shown in some way. How emotions are expressed is a window to a person's personality. I will first discuss how Meursault appears emotionless, than how Camus uses the motif of weather to express Meursault’s emotions for him and lastly what impact this makes.

Existentialism is a philosophy that invites us to find purpose and meaning in life by thinking independently and acting deliberately, without overt influence from social norms. This philosophy manifests in Albert Camus’s novel The Stranger in the strange character of Meursault, who defies many major social norms throughout the novel. He places no faith in justice or authority figures. He does not pretend to grieve for his dead mother. He finds no logic or rationality in the universe. By exposing the meaninglessness of these social norms in society, Camus invites us to challenge the social norms that dictate our daily lives and to create our own meaning in the society.

What if life contributed to no meaning and the only point which matters is the existence happening during the present? To make things worse, as humans live, they breath, but as they die a salvation is received to their soul, and their existence is over. The Stranger by Albert Camus illustrates that the human soul exists in the world physically, therefore the presence or absence does not contribute to any particular event in life. Through, this thought the novel introduces Meursault, who alienates himself from society. He lacks concern for social conventions and is deprived of the physical bounding from people around him. Through the use of diction and symbolism; Camus reveals Meursault’s is apathetic towards his bonding with others and unable

Later on in the book after Meursault 's mother has been dead, Meursault was not having a good day the sun was draining him from energy, he wasn 't feeling good when Meursault saw the Arab. The Arab pulled out a knife on Meursault, the sun blinnded Meursault from the reflection off of the Arabs knifes. Meursault pullrd out his gun and shot the Arab, “Then I fired four more times at the motionless body...” (pg.59) Meursault shows an act of evilness here because when Meursault shot the Arab he killed him on the first shot, but Meursault shot the Arab four more times and that was evil because there was no need to shoot the Arab that many more times because he the Arab was dead after the

This generally signifies that Meursault understood why he got the punishment he did. He was satisfied with what was happening with his life at this point and he knew everything was happening for a reason. The jail cell on the other hand was also a place where he got to understand his mother’s perception better. For example he concludes that he begins to understand his mother 's feelings and emotions towards the end of her life. He sees the end of his life coming immediately and feels strangely prepared. After he attacks the chaplain, it is almost as if he is ready to welcome death and understand Maman. Meursault passes the time in prison by observing his surroundings again. He especially thinks during dawn, when the sun is over the horizon,

People laughed.” This sentence depicts the sun as the cruel which pushed Meursault to kill the Arab. Following this action, according to Meursault he only “[…] shook off the sweat and sun.” Again, Meursault first insight was only about the sun, and paying less attention to the morality of his action. As well as the State 2 of my project shows the hostility between our subject XY and the sun, the page 59 of the book reflected the same hostility between Meursault and the sun. At the beach, the sun “slap[ed] [him] in the face.” and started “[…] to burn [his] cheeks, […]” to remind him “the day […] [he has] burred Maman”. At this point, Meursault experienced dizziness and disturbance he has already experienced during his mother burial. As if to annoyed him more, “The light shot off the steel [of the Arab] and it was like a long flashing blade cutting at his forehead”. Forthwith, the sun’s treachery shows the immoral role of Meursault’s idiocrasy in killing the Arab. The sun tormented, pained, compelled, stressed, tensed and mercilessly drove him in jail. The sun then symbolizes the leading stick in this inherent absurdity of

The meaninglessness of life is a major theme in The Stranger. Meursault seems to have no reasons for his actions such as marrying Marie even though he’s never thought about it before she mentioned it, writing the letter for Raymond, and killing Raymond’s mistress’ brother. Everyone around him tries to rationalize Meursault 's actions. At the court they try to figure out Meursault 's reasoning for killing the Arab man. The prosecutor and Meursault 's lawyer come up with explanations based on logic and reason, yet Meursault doesn’t really seem to care about what he has done and doesn’t want to think about it either.

Albert Camus was one of the leading thinkers and believers of the Absurd. The philosophical movement shares much of the same traits as Existentialism. For a long time humans have tried to find the meaning to life and have examined the purpose and objective of our existence. Either they have concluded that this life is meaningless, or they have taken comfort in some faith and religious belief such as the existence of God or a higher power. Camus concluded that a life has no purpose. He refused to accept that there is meaning beyond any existence and successfully conveys this belief through Meursault.

Camus already had severe lifestyle since he was a boy. His family’s extreme poverty affected his writing style and his views(Howard). During his year in highschool, severe attack of tuberculosis made Camus unable to continue his education(Howard). When Camus left the university, he ran into a world of political journalism which later influenced his writing. The Stranger by Camus was a portrayal of Camus’s absurd world view. Camus’s absurd philosophy signify that there is no such thing as moral orders and natural basis(. In 1942, the same date that The Stranger was published, and he also published The Myth of Sisyphus which established Camus’s reputation as important literary figure(Gillis and Ward 3-4). Throughout his career, he also wrote more plays, essays, and

I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” There are some things that we can read, firstly Mersault tells the reader about a question Marie asked him; he answers the question completely and honestly. Secondly as we know Mersault is a character that never alters what he is going to say to be respectful or to fit in societys box or norms and this answer to the question reinforces our knowledge, the way he answers also shows us the ignorance that can come from complete honesty. Finally we can see how a trace of the absurd or existentialism can be seen in the fact that Meursault sais that love does not mean anything and by this foreshadow the idea he later comes to understand; the fact that life has no meaning. Also by placing a full stop after the first part of the sentence, Camus makes the reader fell Mersaults indifference towards Marie’s feelings and by the use of words like “I didn’t think so” the writer emphasizes the indifference that Mersault feels .

All mankind must live free and happy realizing that all must die. In Albert Camus’ novel The Outsider, Meursault is portrayed as a man with tragic hero qualities and heartlessness because he has no emotions to show the world which will cost him his life. Meursault is a detached and deathly honest guy who refuses to lie about himself to save his life. Meursault is interested far more in the physical aspects of the world around him than in its social or emotional aspects. Meursault implies that there is no higher meaning or order to human life. Some believe that we were put on this earth for a reason, to make a difference. Meursaults mentality is that there is no meaning to human life, we were not meant for anything greater than what we are.