Death In Albert Camus The Stranger
In literature, death often serves much more than a physical purpose. It can be a means of illustrating the death of a character’s mental state, his/her love, or psychological well-being. In part one of Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Meursault, the narrator, learns that his mother has died and accordingly plans the funeral. However, the chapter is not entitled death solely for this reason. Using tone and the motif of the sun, Camus demonstrates throughout part one that death occurs in Meursault 's mental and emotional state, ultimately revealing the loss of his own humanity. It quickly becomes clear that Meursault’s tone following the death of his mother reflects his desensitized and seemingly distant state. After realizing that his mother had …show more content…
As Meursault reflects on the environment in which his mother lived, he notices “But today, with the sun bearing down, making the whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhuman and oppressive” (15). Prior to this description, the reader learns that Maman and Monsieur Perez typically walked down to the village together, as a sort of happy moment for them. Yet, as Meursault clarifies, “today”, the sun is especially evident with a scorching heat. Essentially, his attitude matches the inhuman nature of the sun with his desensitized and alienated state and is oppressive in the sense that he shows no regard for any other person or his/her emotions. He chooses not to look at his mother’s corpse and swiftly deals with the funeral process as quickly as he can. And, his apathetic state even extends to the moment he kills the Arab man. “The sun was the same as it had been the day I’d buried Maman, and like then, my forehead especially was hurting me...It was this burning, which I couldn’t stand anymore, that made me move forward” (58-59). Meursault explicitly states that the sun of his current situation is the same as it had been at his mother’s burial, and this reveals the lack of humanity in the situation because of the description of “inhuman and oppressive”. His choice to shoot the Arab man multiple times, even after a first fatal shot, reflect his emotional and psychological detachment from humanity and his inability to recognize his own
Meursault Dialectical Journal
395 Words | 2 PagesA loving elderly man who grew very close and fond of Meursault's mother at the nursing home. Thomas Perez and Madame Meursault's relationship was one of few sincere relationships that the novel illustrates and serves as an opposing view to Meursault's understanding of the world. The Chaplain- A priest who visits Meursault throughout the trial and demands that he take comfort in God.
Meursault Color Red Quotes
675 Words | 3 PagesThe heat is also very important in this novel. Both times that death was in front of Meursault, the heat was unbearable for him; his mother’s funeral and the murder of the Arab. The heat is very uncomfortable for him, because he mentions it many times. Sometimes it is so bad, he becomes dizzy and is unable to think properly. When he is in court, every time he is questioned about the murder, he alway relates back to how hot the scene was.
Was Meursault Guilty
164 Words | 1 PagesMeursault was guilty of shooting the Arab multiple times, killing him immediately. With no remorse, Meursault fired the gun at the Arab after he was already dead. When Meursault was tried for the murder, he was convicted more on the content of his character, rather than the crime itself. The prosecutor brought up the topic of his mother’s death often, which was noticed by the defensive attorney, “Come now, is my client on trial for burying his mother or for killing a man?” (Camus 96).
Evaluating The Author's Perception Of Death, By Leisel
738 Words | 3 PagesLeisel is just a girl who is growing up during the start of WW2 when a boy named Max comes knocking on her door. This book is about a German girl named liesel, and her father Hans Hubertman. Her mother left her when she was little, after her brother died. Leisel has nightmares until one day her dad found a book she had, and started to teach her how to read. Ever since then she loved to read and has stolen some books here and there.
Idiocrasy: Meursault And The Sun
462 Words | 2 PagesAt 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”.
Diction In The Stranger
932 Words | 4 PagesAs Meursault perceives life contains no meaning, he is a hollow man who can not see the reality of life. He is much ignorant and lives in the present. “whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhumane and oppressive”(Camus 15).The sun represents the intimidating power of the natural worlds over human action. The sun is not repeated once, but many times during the funeral, which distracts Meursault’s attention and prevails the emotions, Meursault is unable to deal with himself. The sun is also the driving force, which makes Meursault murder the Arab man at the beach.
Life Matter In The Stranger
747 Words | 3 PagesIn the novel, a majority of Meursault 's actions are based upon his attitude that his presence ultimately does not “matter”. “‘But,’ I reminded myself, ‘it’s common knowledge that life isn’t worth living, anyhow.’ And, on a wide view, I could see that it makes little difference whether one dies at the age of thirty or threescore and ten—since, in either case, other men and women will continue living, the world will go on as before,” (Camus 70-71). The aforestated quote captures the quintessence of Meursault’s character and illustrates the reason for his disinterest with the injustices around him. With purely factual considerations, it is true that each human life is proportionally negligible.
Essay On Death In Hamlet
935 Words | 4 PagesDeath is a common tragedy used in stories; from B.C. to now, movies, books and even songs are based on death. This may convey the impression of emotions being dark or dreary, but it seems to be a fan favorite, not only among adults, but children. In Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the story is based around death, and the same could be said for The Lion King, but it is the audience that separates how deep or complex the story line can be. In the story written by Shakespeare, King Hamlet is not in the story line at all because he was murdered before the story began.
Examples Of Violence In How To Read Literature Like A Professor
249 Words | 1 PagesDuring the beginning of the novel, Meursault goes to his neighbor Raymond’s house. The visit results into a physical fight due to insults made towards Meursault. Relating to aspects on violence, this scene was made to show simple
Meursault's Emotions In The Stranger, By Albert Camus
724 Words | 3 PagesCamus uses the motif of weather, most commonly sun and heat, to express Meursault’s emotions. Meursault often describes the weather and how it ‘affects’ him. This can symbolize his actual feelings he tries to hide. An example can be found when Meursault is walking to his mother’s funeral. On the outside he is calm and even seems a little annoyed.
The Stranger Book Review Essay
1189 Words | 5 PagesIf you don’t know what I mean, Meursault lacks any emotion, he doesn’t react to tragedy or reacts with remorse or sympathy or love. What will you do if your mother died? Wouldn’t you shed a tear or want to see her one last time? Well, not our “sweet” Meursault he attended his mother funeral: doesn’t want to see her body, falls asleep during the funeral, and doesn’t shed one tear. You may think he just copes in a different way but that’s how he is.
The Stranger Character Analysis
1437 Words | 6 PagesMeursault notices that during the trial, “there was a lot said about [him], maybe more about [him] than about [his] crime” (98). By having Meursault 's personality be the focal point of the courtroom 's dialogue, Camus implies that Meursault 's persona plays a crucial role in his trial. Instead of focusing on the murder of the Arab, the prosecutor repeatedly mentions Meursault 's "dubious liaison"(94), his "insensitivity" (99) during Maman’s funeral, and his friendship with Raymond, who is a man "of doubtful morality" (99). Through the emphasis on Meursault 's -according to society- 'immoral ' ways, the prosecutor eliminates any sort of sympathy the jury has for Meursault. Following Marie 's testimony, the prosecutor once again exhibits his confidence that bias against Meursault will stem from hearing about his behaviour.
Social Norms In The Stranger, By Albert Camus
1196 Words | 5 Pages(59) After long passages describing the painful violence of the sun, Camus’s transition into the murder is shockingly abrupt, provoking a sense of bewilderment at the unexpected randomness of the murder, conveying effectively the irrationality of Meursault’s murder of the man. However, during the trial, when Meursault reveals that he murdered the Arab only because of the sun, refusing to allow others impose their logical but false interpretations upon his life, “people laughed” (103) and even his own “lawyer threw up his hand” (103) as they are unable comprehend and accept such an irrational motivation. To protect themselves from this harsh reality of the universe, they can only fabricate and impose their own logical explanation for Meursault’s behavior. The prosecutor, for instance, is convinced Meursault murdered the man in cold blood, certain in the narrative he has constructed out of events completely unrelated to the murder, from Meursault’s “ignorance when asked Maman’s age” (99) to his association with a man of “doubtful morality” (99). In both cases, Meursault’s indifference for societal standards of morality has painted him as a man immoral and cold-hearted enough to premeditate the murder.
The Stranger By Albert Camus
185 Words | 1 PagesWe see how his thoughts and how they contrast from others. Throughout the novel, we see how society’s standard on someone could affect them. Meursault is judged by his society for being who he is, at first, he sees no problem with himself till society questions him. Meursault is an anomaly in society; he cannot relate directly to others because he does not live as they do. In the novel,
The Themes Of Death In Meursault's The Stranger
1232 Words | 5 PagesOne way that he exemplifies these traits is in his view that death is meaningless. Death is an inevitability that all life has to go through, so when someone dies, even someone as close as his mother, it is merely another death. Another way is how he sees life, shown in how he focuses on physical things in life such as touch over emotions. Because death is meaningless, he sees life in a certain regard, in the sense that he focuses less on an emotional standpoint and more on a physical one. The last way Camus explains death using absurdism is using other characters to give Meursault situations or conversations in which he shows his views in those strange ways.
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