To start off, when Meursault states in the book that he feels a certain way for example heat or temperature it gives way to the descriptive patterns and symbolism, for example, to quote from the novel itself, Meursault says...“ I was able to understand Maman better. Evenings in that part of the country must have been a kind of sad relief. But today, with the sun bearing down, making the whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhumane and oppressive” (Camus 15). From this quote, we can see that whenever it 's hot or he talks about heat in some way, we can see how in the atmosphere there is a certain kind of tension, or that he himself is nervous. It gives the book a pattern of sorts.When it
A connection I can make with all of these quotes is that they all affected Meursault. The color red, sun, and the heat all affected Meursault 's thought process and his actions. He does not know this, but these quotes will affect him in the current situation and in the future. The first motif is the color red. In this novel, the color red has the symbolic meaning of blood and love. The few times the color red is mentioned, it was either on Marie or on the sand. The red on Marie is a red and white striped dress that Meursault loved seeing her in. The dress appears two times in the text, before the shooting and after the shooting. Each time he sees her in that dress, the feeling of lust erupts from him. The red in the sand connects to the blood
Holden Caulfield has a Nihilist view on the world where he lives in the beginning of the novel but later develops a more ethical view. In the beginning of the novel, Holden believes that the world is out to get him, so he alienates himself for protection Holden brings forth his hunting hat as a method for protection, “‘This is a people shooting hat,’ I said. ‘I shoot people in this hat.’” (Salinger, 22) Holden’s hunting hat is the strongest symbol in the novel. It gives Holden protection from people who could be potentially harmful to him. Whenever he is afraid or anxious he regresses and puts on his hunting hat for comfort. This anxiety is triggered by memories from his past. The world has stepped on him and beat him down, so now he uses
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.
The Stranger is a novel written by Albert Camus and was published in 1942. It follows the story of Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian, and his actions leading to his eventual death. Camus, a French philosopher, author, and journalist most notably renowned for his philosophy of absurdism, distributes a recurring theme of existentialism and absurdism throughout the novel, and heavily does so in passages that serve the most significance to the story. One of the most important passages within the novel is when Meursault repeatedly defies the chaplain in the cell. It serves as a pinnacle for the entire story, and grants readers a look into the main characters state of mind. In this passage, Meursault comes to a dramatic realization of who he is through an existential epiphany, and with thorough analysis the overall significance of the passage to the story is revealed.
The battle for existence is what drives Meursault to connect more to the physical world. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, there’s a young, detached man named Meursault living in French Algiers. At the beginning of the novel, Meursault receives a telegram, which informs him of his mother’s death. He acts calm during and after the funeral and frolics around with his girlfriend, Marie. While on the beach with his friends, they are suddenly confronted by Arabs and get into a fight. This fight leads to Meursault going to a murder trial because he shoots one of the Arabs four times and kills him. Meursault shows importance of the physical world when he is at Maman’s funeral, while in a fight with the Arabs and when he is at his murder trial. Meaursault connects more to the physical world rather than to the
Morality is the cornerstone of any society and can have a major role on how well that society develops and is run. Laws are based on these basic principles of right and wrong and they are what dictate the punishment for breaking these principles of right and wrong. The problem with this system is that it does not always work, especially when an individual has a flaw in their character.
Albert Camus ' book The Stranger, is a first-person account of the life of Meursault, an emotionally detached and excessively blunt man living in the French Algiers in the 1940 's. He describes his endeavors realistically and directly with no mercy for others or himself. The novel begins with Meursault receiving a letter explaining his mother 's death, he immediately expresses that he finds the trip to her funeral as an "inconvenience". Rather than cry or grieve at the service he smokes a cigarette and is distracted by the heat. After the funeral, he goes swimming and meets Marie, a woman whom he then attends comedy movie with as if his mother hadn 't just died the day before. The couple 's relationship seems somewhat one-sided
There are multiple conflicts between the individual and their corresponding society. As an example, Meursault, from The Stranger, is set apart from society for his actions. He has a bland conscience, little to no emotion about his environment, and has odd reasonings for his judgement. Meursault is an unconventional character and lives with a melancholy cloud above his head. Meursault 's psyche is different from that of society. He has nihilist outlooks and lack of sentiment, especially towards death and marriage, all serving as a challenge to society 's accepted values. Unlike the others around him, Meursault does not take emotion into consideration when making decisions, rather he relies purely on logic. He is
Meursault is an ambitionless man who doesn’t make conscious decisions and passively allows anything including relationships and duties fall upon him. What it means to be human is to have qualities that allow you to communicate, have different emotions and characteristics. Meursault however does possess these attributes, but to the lowest point possible. He is distant from emotion, compassion and ambition. However, a positive characteristic of Meursault is that he’s a honest man. Overall he leads an indifferent life which results in poor and meaningless relationships with people such as his mother, girlfriend, and neighbours.
Meursault views the world through a lens of detachment and indifference. In his eyes, it is not important to do things in such a way that it may benefit the greater good. As with all Nihilists, he does not see any real basis to life. Meursault takes no interest in
At the beginning of the novel, the reader gets a tone of emptiness from Meursault’s reaction to the death of his mother. People would offer him condolence, but his way of interacting with others made Meursault seem a bad guy and unusual. When he explained to his boss the reason
Meursault is a distinct individual who comes across socially awkward, with awareness to sensory aspects and peoples actions. He’s very disconnected from the world. Many aspects influence Meursault, some examples of these aspects are other individuals such as Raymond, Marie and the Priest. As well as other characters and their relationship with Meursault there are sensory aspects that affect Meursault. Physical things such as the sun and heat make him become uncomfortable and act “inappropriately.” The sun is present at his mother’s funeral, when he refuses to grieve. It is also at he beach, and it is the sun in his eyes that causes him to shoot the Arab.
In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, we see the protagonist Meursault as an outcast and someone who does not fit with societies standards. He is someone who is rejected by society because of his philosophy and his way of life. Meursault is a man with a very straight and blunt personality, and is not afraid to say what is on his mind. With such a strong and independent mindset, he does not allow anyone to change his view or opinion on the world. His meaning of life is much different than the rest, he is a man with no care in the world and believes that the world has no meaning or purpose. He believes that life’s inevitability is death and that one day we are all going to die, which means that all our lives are equally meaningless. With
The Outsider by Albert Camus is a novel that revolves around the theme of the absurdist. The novel explores the character of Meursault, who is a taciturn and emotionally detached man. Meursault shows no emotion at his mother's funeral and is viewed as an individualist. In the novel, at a point in time he kills a man without any concrete motive to do so, and this leads to him being sentenced to death. The sun is a very powerful symbol in the work, it is omnipresent. At the funeral, at the beach when he is with Marie, at the time he kills the Arab, the sun is always there. It may be argued that the symbolism of the sun leads to Meursault's downfall. In this Written Assignment I will discuss the fatal flaws of Meursault, the symbolism of the sun and how this affects the