The Theme Of Existentialism In Albert Camus's The Stranger

Throughout Camus’ novel The Stranger, the theme of existentialism becomes evident. According to philosophers, existentialism is the philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will (Mastin). The author, Albert Camus, is often linked with the philosophical idea of existentialism. During the last years of the second World War, Camus joined an anti-nazi group and became editor of the their counteraction newspaper. During this time, Camus wrote The Stranger and introduced his altered theory of Kierkegaard’s absurdism, which dealt with the unimportance of life due to the definiteness of death. Camus stated on many occasions that he was not to be considered an existentialist. The Stranger is often referred to as an “existentialist” novel, but many critics have said otherwise. The views of an existentialist can be summarized into four main ideas. These four ideas include the senses, meaning of life, freedom, and the afterlife. Life is meaningless and therefore absurd. Therefore, the existentialist must look upon the world with a sense of confusion to truly feel and interpret the insignificance of life, and use the meaninglessness to awaken the desire to create meaning. Among existentialist “golden rules” we find “existence precedes essence”. (Mastin). To explain “existence precedes

Freedom to an existentialist means that they are completely free to do what they want (Anthonycuiterature). In The Stranger, Meursault lacks essential motivation to do anything with his life, so he spends his days “sitting outside his bedroom window, smoking cigarettes” (Camus). Furthermore, freedom means an individual can do whatever pleases them and Meursault does that to a high degree with smoking and spending his days on the porch, which he desires