‘Silence’ has become the only companion of his isolation. He was asked “Why, why did you fire at a man who was already dead?”(Smith61). Again he did not know what to say. During the trial, Meursault was attacked by the prosecutor not only for his crime for killing an Arab, he was judged for some invalid reasons on the day of his mother’s funeral. He was accused of being a man who didn’t cry on his mother’s death. Finally, he was sentenced to death.Camus’s The Outsider is an attack on the accepted norms of the bourgeois society. The presentation of the trial scene and all the perspectives of judging Meursault’s guilt, has made the scene more farcical.
The Outsider is an illustration of Camus’s absurd world view. Meursault is the stranger within his society. The very sense of absurdity is found when society asks meaning behind every action and behavior of Meursault and on the other hand, society manufactures meaning behind his every action and step. When Meursault didn’t show any remorse on his mother’s death, he became a convict in the eyes of social norms. When he killed the Arab, everyone including the judge, prosecutor, lawyers and jury tried to find their own meaning behind his guilt, but the convict is here the only one who does not know the reason behind his own guilt. According to David Sprintzen, “If I accuse an innocent man of a monstrous crime, if I tell a virtuous man that he has coveted his own sister, he will reply that this is absurd. . . . The virtuous man
Meursault is eventually convicted and sentenced to death because of his inability to conform to the societal expectations of French Algeria in the 1940’s. 3. Characters: Meursault- the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Meursault is a young shipping clerk who has detached himself from the world around him. He is indifferent
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.
In the novel, The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton focuses on the theme everyone goes through trials but its how you go through them and what you take away that define you. “A true friend is an angel sent from God, he stands by your side through the good as well as the bad, and loves you when you don’t love yourself, dear friend, thanks for being my lifeline.” -Unknown. Friends are your lifeline and can get you through everything. They love you when you think your not doing so well, they’ll never turn you down when you’re going through a tough time and are there every step of the way.
Through the use of diction, Meursault perceives life is meaningless, which leads him to have the absence of strong bonding with acquaintance around him. He indicates that he lacks empathy from personal and social level. Meursault is a simple man who lives his life in a stickler type and changes annoy him. As the novel introduces Meursault mother being dead, he shows lack of concern and a burden to visit his mother for the last time. “Maman died today...
Meursault’s apathy for his mother’s death, isolation and indifference to others, and disregard for interpersonal relationships negatively impact his trial and eventually bring his demise. His character traits make him into a cold, heartless man, which serves as the basis for the prosecutor’s argument during the trial. Meursault is repeatedly condemned for showing no emotion and feeling no remorse, both for the death of this mother and killing someone. His detached attitude leads him to make little effort to defend himself in the court. His neglect of relationships with his mother provides testament for the prosecution that he is a monster.
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. In the passage the chaplain visits Meursault much to Meursault’s displeasure.
It is in these bizarre acts that the others deem Meursault a stranger. His disregard for social constructions presents the views of the existentialist philosophy. Love is known to be deception by existential theory due to one’s desire to have someone else love him or her. Also, as mentioned before, Meursault’s conviction in God’s nonexistence makes him detached not only concerning death, but also to love, morals (Meursault also befriends his neighbor, who is also thought to be a pimp by others), and other basic human conceptions. When new friend-the pimp- asks for his help to embarrass his ex-girlfriend, Meursault again with any consideration agrees to something that would have normally been thought of as insane, and does not contemplate that there may be consequences for this agreement.
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.
Introduction: In the novel The stranger, written by Albert Camus Meursault kills a man, “The Arab” in act of self defense. After Meursault is put to trial, his lawyer becomes more focused on Meursault's attitude and believes. When meursault mother died, he had a very unemotional attitude, which causes problems later on in his trail. He is later sentence to the death penalty.
Meursault notices that during the trial, “there was a lot said about [him], maybe more about [him] than about [his] crime” (98). By having Meursault 's personality be the focal point of the courtroom 's dialogue, Camus implies that Meursault 's persona plays a crucial role in his trial. Instead of focusing on the murder of the Arab, the prosecutor repeatedly mentions Meursault 's "dubious liaison"(94), his "insensitivity" (99) during Maman’s funeral, and his friendship with Raymond, who is a man "of doubtful morality" (99). Through the emphasis on Meursault 's -according to society- 'immoral ' ways, the prosecutor eliminates any sort of sympathy the jury has for Meursault. Following Marie 's testimony, the prosecutor once again exhibits his confidence that bias against Meursault will stem from hearing about his behaviour.
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.
The man behind the book, Meursault, has had many ups and downs throughout his times in this book. Living a very basic life in Algiers practically all nice and calm, until the call of his mother's death, where everything simply rolls down hill becoming bad and worse. Meursault lived as an everyday upstanding member of society, slowly his destiny catches up to him and he is soon brought face to face with his untimely execution. He never did anything particularly vile or wrongdoing to make such a dark fate be bestowed upon him, but the action of murder is something a little over the top- karma came full circle and, because of his actions, he was condemned to death. I personally believe, in the moment of the kill that Meursault committed, he mentally accepted any consequence that came his way.
The narrator has described the situations in great detail and has created a vivid picture in the reader´s mind. Meursault often describes things that are surrounding the event rather than focussing on the actual event. For example, when Meursault was pointing the gun at the Arab on the beach, he describes vividly how the light from the blade flashed into his eyes and how the sweat that gathered on his eyebrows rushed into his eyes. He then pulled the trigger and the Arab was dead. Later, when Meursault was asked in the court why he killed the Arab, he said that it was “because of the sun”.
Apathetic Demeanors Many people in today’s society view psychopaths and sociopaths as ruthless serial killers who are menaces to the peace of society. Albert Camus’s novella, The Stranger, provides another look at a psychopathic and sociopathic characteristics in a person. Meursault, the protagonist in Camus’s novella, exhibits psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies; although Meursault displays both, he is more closely aligned with a sociopath which eventually leads to his execution. Meursault’s psychopathic outbursts and feelings cause him to take radical action against an innocent man and expose feelings about his mother which eventually leads to Meursault’s trial.
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