ipl-logo

Meursault's Emotions In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

724 Words3 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.
Meursault is not an emotional person. Meursault often seems not to react to major events that happen to him. For example when his mom dies, he says, “Really, nothing had changed”(24). There is an obvious emotional disconnect. Either he was not close to his mother or her death had little to no effect on him. This relates back to the idea that he’s an emotionless person. Another example is the way he responds when his girlfriend proposes to him. Meursault responds to her by saying, “It didn’t make any difference to mean that we could if she wanted to”(41). He is agreeing to mary Marie despite his lack of emotional attachment to her. An example of …show more content…

Camus 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. Meursault describes the heat as, “inhuman and oppressive”(15). If you look at how this could reflect his feeling at the moment, you could infer the sadness and grief of losing his mother was too much for him. it was ‘overbearing’. This language is very strong and harsh. The harshness creates a tone of

Show More
Related

  • Albert Camus The Stranger

    1353 Words  | 6 Pages

    (3), suggest that Meursault was not very close to his mother. These two sentences are the first impressions of Meursault. This point it is where readers can notice something is indeed wrong with him. The disconnection between Meursault and his mother provokes a hatred towards Meursault, especially from the prosecutor. The prosecutor argues against Meursault for his relationship with his mother than for his actual crime.

    Read More

  • Nihilism In Holden Caulfield

    2595 Words  | 11 Pages

    Meursault constantly has varying thoughts dancing around his mind, one of which is the environment. The environment is behind all of Meursault’s struggles and problems in his mental world and interferes with his physical world as well, causing him to think that the world is irrational. Holden’s attitude toward the world is particularly similar to Meursault’s because nihilism and absurdism are quite similar. Both believe that the world is irrational and out to get them. The only difference between the two is that Meursault discovers that even though he believes that the world manipulated him and demanded to kill the

    Read More

  • Absurd Worldviews In Camus's The Outsider

    1365 Words  | 6 Pages

    The novel begins with the simple, impassive statement, “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know” (pg. 8), portraying the indifference of Meursault towards the death of his mother. This indifference is shocking because, as considered by the general society, the death of one’s mother should evoke grief, yet Meursault does not show

    Read More

  • Essay On Meursault's Injustice

    542 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Albert Camus’s The Stranger, Meursault’s apathy drives a large portion of the plotline. The man appears to have no emotions, and this only adds to the representative heuristic those around him have of a heartless killer: the idea that he was willing to smoke and drink coffee during his mother’s vigil was a more defining factor of his crime to the court, which in the book is a manifestation of society, than the fact that he accidentally shot the gun into the Arab. And given that the court finds Meursault guilty because of his failings as a member of society and because of his apathy instead of the life that he had taken, the verdict it dictates on Meursault is a definitive injustice. Meursault from the very beginning of the book has shown to be unaffected by emotion and yet he is content with his state. However, after his court hearing, where he comes upon the realization that a large part of his society hated him, Meursault despairs at his own inability to feel emotion and thereby, confronts emotion for the very first time in his life.

    Read More

  • Obstructions In 'The Stranger' By Albert Camus

    1120 Words  | 5 Pages

    This is also a reflection of the time frame in which the story was written. When Camus composed the novel, he created a philosophy of absurdity that is reflected upon Meursault and his actions. Since the 1940’s, the era of absurdity, being seen as indifferent really had an impact on the way one was looked upon and had an effect on the individual for being looked as strange. Up to this point, Meursault carried on with his existence without the acknowledgment of himself or his voice. This huge change demonstrates Meursault's start to appreciate himself, his perspectives or beliefs, and his life as he is in jail.

    Read More

  • The Stranger Research Paper

    1075 Words  | 5 Pages

    The juxtaposition between the constant sun and the life-changing event of burying his mother emphasizes Meursault's disengagement from the typical emotional reactions connected to death. And also foreshadows that something bad is going to happen. Regarding the sun present in the courtroom, it transforms into an all-seeing being, emphasizing the power imbalances in the courtroom. By giving the sun a human form, Camus not only amplifies its

    Read More

  • Death In Meursault's The Stranger

    1232 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” (Camus 1) If someone were to say this in our world, it would be condemned, and the person would be thought of telling a sick joke or having even a mental problem. In reference to an absurd world, though, this usage of extremist ideals about death can better explain the concept and how it is seen by the writer.

    Read More

  • Heroism In Albert Camus The Stranger

    1157 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the author’s absurdist views of life are reflected through the main character Meursault. The reader follows Meursault from his mother’s funeral to his own death, as he exerts his indifference to the world around him. Camus’s employment of motifs represent Meursault’s consciousness of absurdity in a world where everything fails to retain meaning. Nevertheless, humans still seek value in their lives from surrealalities; absurdities that are incapable of immortalising humans. The motifs of religion, judgement, and death inspire Meursault’s heroism through his sincerity and rejection of these absurd social norms.

    Read More

  • Absurdism And Absurdism In Albert Camus's The Stranger

    803 Words  | 4 Pages

    Meursault’s treated his mother’s death with a casual demeanor almost seeming uninterested. Another example of the theme passivity being portrayed throughout the novel was when a lady in church was explaining to Meursault the effects of working outside. She had explained to Meursault that, “If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church” (Camus and Ward 78).

    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

  • Interpersonal Relationships In The Outsiders In The Outsider By Albert Camus

    1210 Words  | 5 Pages

    Meursault’s interpersonal relationship with his mother’s friends causes him to be accepted in by society meaning that he will no longer be treated like an outsider. He meets his mother 's friends after his mother 's death. From the way he describes his mother 's friends as having "a nest of wrinkles...their lips sucked in because they had no teeth.. (pg. 9)" we get the impression that his mother 's friends are old and that Meursault being young so we see a big gap in there age difference. Then the seating arrangement of the wake has Meursault by himself facing his mother’s friends on the other side of his mother’s coffin.

    Read More

  • Meursault: The Absurd Hero

    141 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the story The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault, the absurd hero is put on trial. Meursault is put on trial first of all for his senseless murder, but that is not the only reason. The main reason he was put on trial, was for his Maman’s death and his act of senselessness. From Meursault 's point of view we see that the bailiff questions people like Perez Maman’s fiance. The bailiff asked Perez, “Had [you] at least seen [him] cry?”(Camus 91).

    Read More

  • The Stranger Albert Camus Analysis

    761 Words  | 4 Pages

    “As Meursault pulled the trigger, he could feel the heat from his cheek from the sandy bright beach.” In The Stranger, the author Albert Camus uses different methods of mood and atmosphere in the novel which heightened the understanding of the novel and contributed to the descriptive patterns of the book. From the heat symbolism that creates a certain atmosphere in the book, to the specific mood he portrays in the novel. This all goes into the pattern that Camus blatantly put in the book to show a specific mood and to add an atmosphere to the novel. 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...

    Read More

  • Essay On Meursault In Albert Camus 'The Outsider'

    1416 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout most stages of ‘The Outsider’, by Albert Camus, the readers create the label of Meursault as portraying an anti-heroine like personality as they may derive through the parts such as Meursault showing no emotion whatsoever in the light of his mother 's death, the killing of the Arab, etc. The often displayed apathetic nature of Meursault throughout the entire book simply illustrates Meursault’s somewhat introverted-self and throughout this essay, The quote, said by the chaplain in the final chapter, “I 'm on your side. But you can’t see that because your heart is blind. I shall pray for you.” suggests that Meursault is a cold and indifferent individual.

    Read More

  • Meursault Murder Quotes

    655 Words  | 3 Pages

    During his own mother’s funeral at the beginning of the book, Meursault shows both antisocial behavior as well as a lack of sadness for her death. After being asleep for a while and finally waking up, Meursault notices a man near him, “…he was staring hard at me, as if he had been waiting for me to wake. Then I fell asleep again” (Camus 11). After he is sentenced to death, Meursault never feels guilt for killing the man. When he is nearing his execution date, all he hopes for is “that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with cries of hate” (Camus 117).

    Read More

More about Meursault's Emotions In The Stranger, By Albert Camus

Open Document