The Stranger Essay

This Novel, by Albert Camus, traces a year in the life of a young clerk, Meursault, in the 1940s who works for a shipping company in Algiers. The first thing that happens to Meursault is that he gets a telegram that his mother has departed. He takes a bus to see her and they hold the vigil. He shows no expression of remorse or sadness. Once back in Algiers Meursault goes to the public beach for a swim. There, he runs into Marie Cardona, his former co-worker. They decide to go on a date and they see a comedy movie, which is ironic after his mother’s death, and they sleep together during the night. The next day he spends just watching people in the street. That next day Meursault returns to work and works all day and while at his apartment

“As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself—so like a brother, really” (Camus 122-123). On the dawn of his execution, the hopeless and confused Meursault understands the universal truth and meaning of life. Albert Camus’s The Stranger summarizes the themes and messages of the entire novel in these forty-eight words. In these final words, Albert Camus is able to point out many ideas and philosophies that could enlighten man. This final quote from Albert Camus’s The Stranger reveals absurdist philosophies and illuminates an universal truth that is simple yet difficult to comprehend.

Furthermore, Camus uses family and personal relationships as a way to develop the protagonists’ isolation in the novel, working in providing context for the developing plot. In The Stranger, the author uses this methodology

In society, many people will reach a stage in their life where they encounter an “existential crisis” and begin to seek answers by questioning the meaning of their existence, or whether a meaning truly exists. Absurdism is the school of thought which argues that meaning is inherently absent in the universe, but that one must embrace this to live freely. Albert Camus uses this philosophy to masterfully craft The Stranger, a novella in which the main character named Meursault blindly wanders through life because he believes that it possesses no true meaning. He is incapable of remorse when he arbitrarily murders an Arab, and thus his life spirals downhill as

Introduction:Albert Camus was a French novelist, essayist, dramatist regarded as one of the finest philosophical writers of modern France. He earned a worldwide reputation as a novelist and essayist and won the Nobel Prize for literature. He became the leading moral voice of his generation during the 1950’s. One of the greatest modern writers, he expresses the moral concerns of 20th century. His writings describe the contemporary feeling that life has no ultimate meaning beyond immediate experience and explores the various philosophical schools of thought such as absurdism, nihilism and existentialism. In this paper, we trace the evolution of the protagonist Meursault as a nihilist in Albert Camus’ The Stranger.

The fifth theme involving existentialism within Camus’ novel is individuality. An individual is a single unique member of a collectivity. Meursault lives out his individuality. The strongest display of individuality is at the end of the novel when Meursault wants a large crowd of people to witness his death, and he also wants them to greet him with cries, but those of hate. "I had only wished that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." By being hated Meursault preserves his individuality. If Meursault goes out there begging for forgiveness he would just become a member of a collective group.

Albert Camus’s use of vivid imagery and the main character’s inner voice helps give the reader a better understanding of Meursault's plight. As said in the story “the first part of which was missing, but which must have taken place in Czechoslovakia. A man had left a Czech village to seek his fortune”. Meursault by describing what the newspaper looked like, then summarizing what was on the paper puts the reader in his shoes, as if they were the ones in prison reading the newspaper article.

While at his mother's funeral, Meursault is frequently described as being in pain from the heat and glare. While at first glance this may seem unimportant as the setting is Algeria which is known to be extremely hot during the daytime but when more closely examined the reader can see that Camus is using Meursault as a vehicle for absurdism. It is heavily implied that Meursault did not want to attend his mother's funeral as he complains about the whole ordeal but instead of simply not going Meursault goes to the funeral because it's expected of him.

In Albert Camus’ The Stranger, the novel centers around the life of Meursault, a French Algerian, who begins the novel attending his mother’s funeral. Meursault does not express grief over his mother’s death, and treats the day after the funeral as just another day with no nostalgia for what came before. As the novel progresses, Meursault continuously shows this lack of emotion and connection to others in his life, making him a stranger to not only the reader but other characters in the story. When Meursault befriends a neighbor of his, Raymond, and helps him with his cheating Arab girlfriend, he unknowingly gets sucked into a conflict that will affect the rest of his life. A victim of circumstance and choice, Meursault commits a murder, and

In response to Josiah’s first post, I agree that Meursault’s “absent minded” predispositions contribute to his detached perspective. Throughout the novel, Meursault routinely focuses on the physical characteristics of the world; often, neglecting the social and emotional aspects. Primarily, Camus chronicles Meursault’s interests of the physical world with embellished sentences that contain the long sentence structure and periphrasis to emphasize his point. Notably, when he chronicles details such as the weather, the landscape, the physical relationship he has with Marie or the condition of his body, Meursault tends to focus solely on those aspects of a situation. As Josiah has previously stated, such mannerisms are “an absentminded tendency

The Stranger by Albert Camus is an analysis of the human psychosis if it was isolated and apathetic. Throughout the story, our protagonist, Meursault, tells the story of his life after his mother’s death and his experiences with everyday routines. Meursault explains to the reader only the surface of what he is feeling; despite that, as a reader, one is able to view his mind directly and closely. Meursault has all the power in this book because it is his life and mind. He is able to put things in his own perspective, not one’s. As the reader vicariously moves through Meursault’s world, we see how he interacts with others, despite his indifference with interacting with society. Being around characters such as Marie or

His isolation from nature, women, and cigarettes tormented him at first, but he eventually accepted the fact that he can live without them. As time passed, he does not notice their absence. Throughout the day, he manages to keep his mind occupied, and he sleeps most of each day. At the day of Meursault’s murder trial, spectators and members of the press filled the courtroom. The subject of the trial quickly shifts away from the murder to a general discussion of Meursault’s character, and of his reaction to his mother’s death in particular.

The first lines of Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger shows Meursault's character traits as Camus starts off the novel with a detached sort of feeling that sticks with Meursault from the beginning to the end. The Existentialist part of Meursault's character is significant in part one but as the novel progresses Meursault starts to show the absurdist attitude that he shows in part two of The Stranger. Meursault's character in The Stranger is built upon the ideas of existentialism and absurdism and how nature affected his actions.

Camus shows many non-physical aspects to express many emotions that drives Meursault through everyday tasks. Similar to the sun, society is generally thought to be a positive figure. People usually regard a good strong society that firmly establishes its members with a strong, unified code of morals as something to be desired. These morals are what drives every single person each day through difficult and challenging tasks. Morals of a society are what makes it stand out. In the same way, people tend to think of a bright, warm, sunny day as something good and positive as in for a vacation or a time to relax. However, both the force of society and the force of the sun can become overpowering. When the sun becomes overpowering it beats down on the people, suffocating

Yet his circumstances mould his perceptions of society and life, shaping his consciousness, making him comes to terms with his own philosophy of life and to finally make peace with himself. Meursault is definitely not a hero, he does not pursue money or power nor does he have a true love affair but he is a fascinating character. It is interesting to read a book about a character so far detached from society’s norms and values that his emotions (or there lack of) manage to shock. Meursault is only an honest atheist, willing to accept life as it happens. Camus, like his protagonist, is straight to the point in his story telling process, delivering an easily and enjoyably read masterpiece in eleven short