The Stranger

The necessities of social norms is to behave in an acceptable behavior to fit into society. One seems to have to wear the up to date fashion in clothing, and act as others do, standing out to much brings to much attention to oneself and can be considered deviant behavior. Family background, experiences, and childhood shape everyone 's life. Many individuals deviate from acceptable norms from what they have experienced, and seen. In the Stranger, society views Meursault as a cold -hearted killer and moral “blank.”

Camus interest in exploring “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd” was evident through the main character, Meursault as he took us through the phases

Sartre Freedom and Anguish: In their belief system we are created for the sole reason that the

Minor characters are characters that author used to portray the protagonist's characteristic or personalities in the story to the readers. Although, minor characters are unlikely to be focused on by the readers, but they do served an important role in the story. The Stranger by Albert Camus, basically talks about a man’s death due to the society’s misunderstanding. Therefore, this essay will discuss how the author used Meursault’s relationship with minor characters to show that Mersault is a common man with a tragic end. First of all, old Salamano is one of the minor characters in the novel, where the relationship between he (Salamano) and his dog found special yet complex, he act as a symbol to reflect the relationship between Mersault

The mysterious Meursault While reading the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, I immediately noticed the main character Meursault’s and how odd he acted. His lack of emotion and desire towards physical aspects of life caught my attention. I never really heard or read about someone with such a meaningless attitude towards life. I began to think that it was my fault and I wasn’t interpreting the text right, but I wasn’t crazy after all. I understood that Meursault wasn’t your everyday character and I couldn’t quite understand why he was this way.

The paper “Existentialism 101,” goes into detail about the beliefs and ideals that Sartre made the public more familiar with. The idea that humans make choices according to their morals and standards that is explained in “Existentialism 101” is displayed in the story “The Guest.” The schoolmaster—or teacher—Daru, can be described as both a quietist and existentialist; he both refuses to choose what to do with the fugitive, and chooses to let the man make the decision. Daru felt humiliation because “[the] man’s crime revolted him, but to hand him over was

Living with the absurd is a matter of facing the fundamental contradiction and maintaining constant awareness of it. Living a life that has no meaning does not make suicide and option, but, it allows people to live life to its fullest. He identified three characteristics of the absurd life: revolt, where people shouldn't accept any answer or option during their struggle, freedom, where people are completely free to think and act however they want to, and passion, how people have to follow a life full of exciting and different experiences. He also gave four examples of the absurd life: the seducer, someone who pursues the passions of the moment; the actor, the person that compresses the passions of hundreds of lives into a stage career; the conqueror, or rebel, are those people whose political struggle

“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.

Perhaps Sartre 's obscure way of thinking can be traced back to his childhood - he was a small and cross-eyed little boy who generally did not fit in with the “ordinary” children. The way that he was treated and viewed by others forced Sartre, at an early age, to view people, thoughts,

Introduction In this paper I will be investigating Sartre’s (Cahoone, 2003) ideas on freedom and responsibility against the backdrop of his theory of existentialism. Firstly, I will explain what atheistic existentialism is. The three themes central to this theory are, anguish, despair, and abandonment, so I will also be discussing these concepts, and the roles they play in, and understanding existentialism, and later on, freedom.

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.

People often question the meaning of life, whether it be based upon religion or if life itself contains any meaning at all. The views of the famous novelist Albert Camus contributed to the philosophy known as absurdism. Absurdism is the key component in the story, The Stranger, and is the belief that human existence is purposeless and that is evident by the way the protagonist behaves throughout the novel. A significant event from the novel would be when the magistrate in the story brings out his crucifix and revealed it to the protagonist, Meursault. The crucifix represented the afterlife, society’s acceptance of it, and the main characters search for a higher order.

The statement of Jean Paul Sartre (2004) we led with offers a way out of such misguided thinking, words that can remind us of the immensity of human potential and what that signifies for every person. Admittedly, Sartre’s existentialism is a harsh landscape barren of faith or hope beyond this world, yet even in his Godless realm the philosopher has found ground for exercising human freedom in a way that, though atheistic, contains profound insights and wars against any compromise of the human capacity that lies within each of us. The first insight involves Sartre’s conviction that every individual through conscious choice must determine who he or she will become. While Christianity would assert that we would have no choice at all were it not for a God who created us with free will, it would agree that each person, by virtue of that freedom, is called to fashion his or her own truest identity. As Peter Kreeft (1988) delineates, “God makes our what, we make our who.

This would include tracing back his life starting from his childhood, his relationship with his parents, his years as a student, most particularly during his pre-teen years, his love life, the lifelong relationship he had with the Beauvoir or commonly known as the Beaver. Such knowledge of Sartre’s genealogy will serve as the foundation in which why he came to think in the manner that he did. Giving attention on his love life most particularly with Beauvoir, I will draw from there such notions that he had towards love. Love not as filia way but love referring to romantic love, love as eros. In addition to this, his influences on how he formulated his philosophy is important as well.

By questioning Meursault about his own life’s meaning, the examining magistrate is implying that God is the source of rationality and meaning, so without God, one’s existence is meaningless. The word ‘unthinkable’ shows that it is unheard of and quite offensive for one to reject the existence of God, for rejecting God is like rejecting one’s own existence. It is widely known that God is the “creator” of all mankind, so God has put humans on earth with a purpose. However, Meursault denies the thought of life having true purpose. Camus, through the examining magistrate and the popular belief in God, demonstrates that individuals use God as a rational explanation for life and for human existence.