ipl-logo

The Outsider By Albert Camus: Literary Analysis

1018 Words5 Pages

The acceptance of existentialism and absurdism as the machinery of the universe offers two consequential pathways: embracing the fundamentally discrete, separate nature of every life and entity that exists, or despairing over the inevitable anxiety that this nothingness causes. Camus, considered one of the founders of existentialist thought, packaged this ideology in his 1942 novella, The Outsider. Meursault’s story bears no interest in offering readers any semblance of comfort in what it believes is the nothingness and nonchalant character of the world. To achieve both a tentative understanding between Meursault and the readers, but along with it profound discomfort towards the philosophy, Camus selects a peculiar symbol: the sun. Using the …show more content…

Meursault’s trials always take place during the day, while his final meeting with the chaplain takes place “as evening [is] approaching” (110), continuing on the notion that the sun’s abstract, distant authority is giving to a more emotionally involved figure to challenge the apathetic man, and signalling a final shift in the outcome of the narrative. It is the same overbearing nature of the sun’s heat as the chaplain’s apparent misguidedness that drives Meursault to snap, at last unearthing the thoughts and convictions that come pouring out of him. Meursault is appalled at the assertion that life has any meaning because that undoes absurdism and existentialism. Accepting a predetermined path wears away at the truths that both the reader and Meursault witnessed themselves, like in the aforementioned contrast between the peaceful light and the sorrow of a funeral. To Meursault, becoming religious mean denying the reality upon which his entire lifestyle and attitude is based. Therefore, the chaplain’s offer is not one of salvation, but of elimination - of the erasure of the essence of what Meursault is, which he created through his own unique experience. With the props and stage that Camus had set to culminate to this revelation, this is meant as a clear and accessible message to

Show More
Related

  • Albert Camus The Stranger

    1353 Words  | 6 Pages

    The parallel between these two quotes strengthen, to some extent, the chaplains argument. The position the chaplain is speaking of is that of near death. Unlike his mother Meursault chooses to remain without a religion. Meursault 's mother left a big impact on his life due to the way he treated

    Read More

  • The Outsiders Literary Analysis Essay

    1367 Words  | 6 Pages

    Conflict Literary Analysis: The Outsiders and It's a Wonderful Life In the novel The Outsiders by S.E Hinton and the movie It's a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra, both characters, Darry Curtis and George Bailey, face an external conflict because of the fact that they are both always sacrificing for family. In the film It's a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra, the main character, George Bailey, faces many internal struggles that come from him sacrificing so much for his family. Starting off with George Bailey's biggest sacrifice, saving his young brother Harry's life that day.

    Read More

  • Diction In The Stranger

    932 Words  | 4 Pages

    As 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.

    Read More

  • Who Is The Absurd In Albert Camus The Stranger?

    760 Words  | 4 Pages

    Atheism is just another form of religion seeking answers to the meaning of life, death and whether or not life exists beyond the grave. This was evident in the words, “Man is nothing but that which he makes of himself”. While he believed that physical death is the complete and final end of life, the chaplain held on the religious teachings of life after death. Meursault was more focussed on himself and his environment more so than he was on society and human emotions Again, this reinforced his beliefs that life is just a fleeting moment and no regard is needed to focus on the meaning of death. In the courthouse, the crucifix that was waved at him also opposed his view of absurdity of human life and had him publicly denouncing Christianity through his word, "Then God can help you," he said.

    Read More

  • Apathy And Indifferences In The Stranger By Albert Camus

    385 Words  | 2 Pages

    I believe that apathy and indifference does not contribute positively towards productivity because having a lack of interest and no ambition does not help one to succeed in a long term goal. Even though apathy can lead to getting work done, it still is not working to someone 's advantage. In my opinion being apathetic and indifferent does not fulfill a long and purposeful life. This is because apathy has many negative connotations like low ambition, weak social life, and unhappiness. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the protagonist, Meursault is a man who has each of these qualities, and lives a very boring and uninteresting life.

    Read More

  • The Stranger Rhetorical Analysis

    731 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even though Meursault makes it perfectly clear that he does not believe in God, does not need help, and does have time to waste on him the chaplain still engages with him. He insists on Meursault giving some faith and repenting his sins, but Meursault’s defiance remains solid. He even calls the chaplain “monsieur”, explaining that he is not and never will be his father. Meursault’s resistance and refusal are almost a sort of ‘opposite reflection’ to the chaplain’s notions. Every time he proposes a religious idea, Meursault is quick to retort with a worldly alternative.

    Read More

  • Persepolis Existentialism Essay

    1744 Words  | 7 Pages

    In Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, The Stranger by Albert Camus, and the current college process that I am engulfed in, existentialism proves itself to be true. Existentialism is intimidating until an overarching lesson is learned through the choices and responsibilities, passions (or lack thereof), and the isolation of a person, such as Marjane, Meursault, or myself. On the surface, the three of us are extremely dissimilar, but we all experience relatively negative things that teach us more than we knew before. Marjane Satrapi is a real woman who grew up in Iran, Meursault is a character from North Africa, and I am a real teenage girl from a small seaside town. Nonetheless, when it comes to existentialism, the three of us stand as examples of the legitimacy of its philosophy.

    Read More

  • Meursault's Emotions In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

    724 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Religion In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

    251 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Stranger, the crucifix appears to represent Christianity, a religion that Monsieur Meursault refuses to believe in or accept. Additionally, it represents rational beliefs that the magistrate attempts to thrust upon Meursault. He wants Meursault to accept God so that his sin will be forgiven. However, Meursault rejects the notion that his life have any significance or rational explanation.

    Read More

  • Meursault Quotes

    671 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

  • Augustine Confessions Rousseau Analysis

    2244 Words  | 9 Pages

    Saint Augustine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, even though approximately fourteen hundred years comes between their existences, similarly commenced on a journey to find their respective individual truths; which are portrayed through their identically named autobiographical works, Confessions. They each relate their “eudemonistic explorations” (Naugle 1) which are alike in intention but exceedingly dissimilar in representation. Augustine’s Confessions portrays a “story of his self discovery and salvation, which traced the source of evil and searched for the truth along a life journey, in which he found himself, a sinner of God” (Lam 3). Rousseau’s confessions portray a similar path of “self discovery in which he found himself a good man and the

    Read More

  • Nihilism In The Stranger By Albert Camus

    768 Words  | 4 Pages

    In The Stranger by Albert Camus: the protagonist, Meursault, appears to be indifferent to everything throughout the book. Even on fundamentally important concepts such as death, love, and time. Because to Meursault, “we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how doesn’t matter (2.5.114).” This general lack of interest is similar to the Universe because if the grand scheme of things, our lives, and our deaths mean nothing and would have no real impact on the future of the Universe. Our deaths turn meaningless over time, eventually love will fade away, and time will blur together to the point that 100 years will seem like a millisecond.

    Read More

  • Existentialism And Absurdism In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

    1021 Words  | 5 Pages

    In his novel The Stranger, Albert Camus creates an emotionally incapable, narcissistic, and, at times, sociopathic character named Meursault to explore and expose his philosophies of Existentialism and Absurdism. Throughout the story Meursault follows a philosophical arc that, while somewhat extreme - from unemotional and passive to detached and reckless to self-reflective - both criticizes the dependent nature of human existence and shows the journey through the absurd that is our world. In the onset of The Stranger, following his mother’s death, Meursault acts with close to utter indifference and detachment. While the rest of “maman’s”(9) loved ones express their overwhelming grief, Meursault remains unphased and, at times, annoyed at their

    Read More

  • The Themes Of Death In Meursault's The Stranger

    1232 Words  | 5 Pages

    The themes of death explored using absurdism in The Stranger is shown with a general disregard for death by Meursault and the strange way he sees life based on these existentialist views. The Stranger is a perfect example of an existentialist novel that was written for that time period, as during this time around the area of France and Europe there was an existentialist movement that Albert Camus, the author, was involved in.

    Read More

More about The Outsider By Albert Camus: Literary Analysis

Open Document