Meursault's Use Of Existentialism In The Stranger By Albert Camus

699 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How can an individual’s culture religion shape their identity essays

n the stranger, Albert Camus’s use of symbols teaches the readers that people didn’t like the different (not having religious beliefs). Throughout the whole book Meursault always mentioned something about the sun like it was a person he didn’t like. Also he didn’t believe in God he believed that the world was random. He’s somewhat you call an existentialist.
“The sun was beginning to bear down on the earth and it was getting hotter by the minute.” (pg 15) A few minutes after the funeral Meursault was getting irritated by sun more and more as time went by. Meursault is very detached when it comes to his feelings he never showed them. For example during his mother funeral Meursault didn’t show no emotion he stated “It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over, that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed.” (pg 24) He was saying that although his mother had died nothing really would change and that this tragedy wouldn’t change his daily routine at all. That quote was very important because it shows you how distant and indifferent Meursault was. Furthermore the society that he was living in believed that one should mourn over death and because he didn’t mourn that only made him an outsider or a monster. You only have one mother so why would Meursault act so calm and okay when at his mother funeral. Also at the very beginning of the book Meursault didn’t even know the day that his mother had died on he said “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe. I don’t know.” (pg 1) By reading this quote it is understood that he didn’t care how or when his mother died he just accepted that she was gone. This story was told from the perspective of Meursault which was told without any emot...

... middle of paper ...

...is life would become meaningless.” (pg 69) He’s saying without believing in God it would mean your life doesn’t have a purpose of living. We all know that Meursault didn’t believe this statement because of his actions and words. Throughout the trial Meursault comes to understand that his disappointment to understand or catch importance in his own life has left him helpless to others, who will enforce such significance for him. Until this argument, Meursault has carelessly wandered from minute to minute, lacking the enthusiasm or skill to observe his existence as a story with an earlier, existing, and upcoming. Meursault’s own lawyer not only inflicts yet another manufactured understanding of Meursault’s existence, but even goes so far as to distribute this understanding in the first person, effectually stealing Meursault’s own fact of vision when making the dispute.

Show More
Related

  • Existentialism And Symbolism In The Stranger By Albert Camus

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    Albert Camus is a skillful writer noted for showing aspects of culture and society through the depiction of his characters. In The Stranger, Camus illustrates the existentialism culture and how that comes into play in the life of the protagonist Meursault. The Stranger, as suggested by the title, is a novel revolving around the protagonist, Meursault, who is a stranger to the French-Algerian society as he challenges its values. Camus vividly portrays Meursault’s journey through the use of imagery, irony, and symbolism. In The Stranger, Albert Camus uses the minor character, Raymond Sintes, to illustrate the contrasting nature of Meursault and how his friendship with Raymond leads to his downfall.

    Read More

  • Meursault Investigation

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    He, however, seemed question his presence because the death of his mom or even from the absence of his father—the fairly dynamic that every child should have (both parents present). In chapter two Meursault found himself alone in his apartment as Marie had left for work earlier that morning. In this section he explains that, “After lunch I was a little bored and I wandered around the apartment” (21). In this quote, Meursault demonstrates just how meaningless is life is. To have nothing more to do with his time than walk around his apartment shows that Meursault is questioning his place in this world. He is a man with virtually only two friends—Raymond and Marie—and a neighbor that he associates with on occasion about his dog. As he wanders the apartment he explains that he lives, “in just one room now” (21), one that he literally put his dining table in so that he could eat in his room. This quote symbolizes his loneliness as a person. Not only is the apartment too big for him, the world is too, and his is basically alone in both. For some reason—maybe a tragedy or trauma that he faced in earlier years—Meursault has closed himself off from the world and does not express love for anyone or anything. In fact, Meursault made a statement about the death of his mother saying that, “at one time or another, all normal people have wished their loved ones were dead" (65). At this point in the story, I think that Meursault may not have had the best family dynamic. He does not speak of anyone else but Maman, and mentions a father that he does not know. So, he may not feel like he belongs or does not know how to. He also explains that, “it was one of Maman’s ideas, and she often repeated it, that after a while you could get used to anything” (77). This quote could explain the fact that Meursault is closed off—he has gotten so used to not having anyone around that truly cares for him (his

    Read More

  • Essay on Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider): Parallels Within

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meursault is a fairly average individual who is distinctive more in his apathy and passive pessimism than in anything else. He rarely talks because he generally has nothing to say, and he does what is requested of him because he feels that resisting commands is more of a bother than it is worth. Meursault never did anything notable or distinctive in his life: a fact which makes the events of the book all the more intriguing.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of a Passage in The Stranger by Albert Camas

    1544 Words  | 4 Pages

    This passage is set before Meursault’s execution with the chaplain entering the scene, and telling Meursault that his “heart is blind”, leading to Meursault to yell and delve into his rant, and moment of consciousness. The passage has a calm in the beginning as if Meursault catches his breath from yelling previously, and he starts to reassure himself that he is not wrong for expressing his views as it went against the public’s religious beliefs, and states that this moment was so important to him that it was if his life was merely leading up to it. Why this particular scene is important to Meursault is that this is an instance where he successfully detaches himself from the world, and begins to deconstruct the world’s ideals as his rant shifts on to focusing on how nothing in life mattered. Meursault describes his gripes with the chaplain’s words as he explains his reasoning as to why the concept of a god is flawed as Meursault saw that everyone was inherently the same, with equal privileges just how often people could express them separated them. The passage continues with Meursault arguing that everyone would be faced with judgment or punishment one day, and explains why his own situation was not significant as it was no different. After that explanation the passage ends with Meursault posing the concept of everything in the world being equal both in wrongdoing and life in general, evident in his example of saying “Sala¬mano's dog was worth just as much as his wife.” Although the passage shows Meursault challenging the ethics and morals that the world around him follows, it does have instances like the end in which we see that the rant is still expression of Meursault's complex emotions, as it is unclear whether it is fear or a...

    Read More

  • Camus' The Stranger: Meursault's Apathy

    1383 Words  | 3 Pages

    Meursault shows very little love or sorrow at the fact of his mother's death. A normal man would feel pain and regret for not being by her side while Meursault does not even care much about the date she passed away. Immediately on the first page in the novel, we confront the situation where Meursault's mother dies, and he does not care about it. "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: `Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" (3). Meursault does not bother to call back and find information about his mother. Meursault shows no emotion or care for his mother because he sends her away for someone else to take care of her. During the last years of an elder person's life, they are invited to stay with the family in order to become closer with one another. Meursault could care less as he shows no sign of pain, and goes off to do something else. He resembles a figure where an issue as important as death does come as a priority. "We are the hollow men/ We are the stuffed men/ Leaning together/ Headpiece filled with straw" (Lines 1-4).

    Read More

  • Moral Ambiguity in "The Stranger"

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meursault resists being typecast into an archetypal moral category in many of his deeds and actions. Many of his actions in Part One of the novel help contribute to the fuzzy picture of the character. For example, at his mother's funeral, Meursault does not cry or weep in the typical mourning fashion, but rather sleeps during the vigil and entices one of the other mourners present to smoke a cigarette with him. This would be typically considered "evil" behavior, in the context of the story. He could easily been seen as disrespectful and seditious toward his mother and the established procedures of mourning, which seem to be fairly definite at that era in France. However, this "evil" mold can easily be shaken if one considers that Meursault may be more shaken than anyone else present at the funeral. Considering the other events in the novel, it seems as though he does not have a large capacity for emotion. Based on this, it is not unreasonable to assume that the events leading up to and including his mother's death may have overtaxed his limited scope of emotion, and he was therefore nearly incapable of mourning in the "normal" or expected way for his mother, but rather had to resort to his own, more c...

    Read More

  • Albert Camus And Existentialism

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... evening, on leaving the office, they forgather, at an hour that never varies, in the cafes, stroll the same boulevard, or take the air on their balconies. The passions of the young are violent and short-lived; the vices of older men seldom range beyond an addiction to bowling, to banquets and "socials," or clubs where large sums change hands on the fall of a card (Camus,The Plague)." Here it shows an example of existentialism as it did in The Stranger. In both novels the main characters of interest are consumed by repetitive redundant lives; which reflects the philosophy. But this novel, The Plague, also shows possibly a reason why Camus denies existentialism. In The Plague it is expressed that man is good of at least has potential to be good.

    Read More

  • Maman’s Funeral Characterises Meursault And the World of The Stranger

    1659 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the experimental novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, he explores the concept of existentialism and the idea that humans are born into nothing and descend into nothingness after death. The novel takes place in the French colony of Algiers where the French-Algerians working-class colonists live in an urban setting where simple life pleasures are of the upmost importance in the lives of working class people like the protagonist of the novel Meursault. What is fascinating about this novel is that it opens up with a scene of perpetual misfortune for him through the death of his mother although he seems to express otherwise. The reader perceives this nonchalance as a lack of care. Maman’s death and its impact on Meursault appear in both the very beginning and very end of the two-part novel, suggesting a cyclical pattern in the structure. This cyclical pattern suggests not a change in the moral beliefs of Meursault but rather his registering society’s systems and beliefs and craft meaning in his own life despite the fact that he meets his demise in the end. Camus uses Maman’s funeral to characterise both Meursault and the society and customs created by the society Meursault lives in in order to contrast the two while at the same time reveal how while society changes, Meursault does not. Rather, Maman’s funeral becomes of unprecedented importance in Meursault’s life and allows him to find that nothing means anything in his meaningless world at the time of his death. He finds peace in that.

    Read More

  • Comparing Existentialist Values in The Metamorphosis and The Stranger (The Outsider)

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...immediately gives an impression of a lack of emotion towards the demise of his mother. This lack of emotion highlights the existentialist ideal that we all die, so it doesn't matter what life we have while we are alive. We simply exist, as did Meursault. It becomes apparent, as the novella unfolds, that Meursault has acquired an animal like indifference towards society. His interactions with his neighbour Raymond are an example of his indifferences. It never dawns upon Meursault that society does not condone his interactions with the pimp, avoided by his community. Meursault simply acts to fill his time. Being a single man, he has a lot of time to fill, and finds the weekends passing particularly slowly.

    Read More

  • The Unemotional Meursault in The Stranger by Albert Camus

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Albert Camus’ novel, The Stranger, the protagonist Meursault is a character who has definite values and opinions concerning the society in which he lives.  His self-inflicted alienation from society and all its habits and customs is clear throughout the book.  The novel itself is an exercise in absurdity that challenges the reader to face the nagging questions concerning the meaning of human existence. Meursault is an existentialist character who views his life in an unemotional and noncommittal manner, which enhances his obvious opinion that in the end life is utterly meaningless.

    Read More

  • The Stranger, by Albert Camus

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meursault in the book tries to overcome his emotional indifference within himself. One example shows Meursault emotional indifference against Marie. In this quote, “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” The quote explains how Meursault doesn’t really think about the consequences of other people’s emotions. When he said in the quote it didn’t mean anything to him, it shows he believes human life and emotions are meaningless. He also says I didn’t think so, showing he struggles to comprehend and make his own interpretations on human emotions from Marie and other people. Another example shown is Meursault against his mother’s funeral. In this quote ‘Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.’ This quote also shows Meursault idea of human life is meaningless. This shows that Meursault believes it doesn’t really matter if his mother died, he’s probably implying that his mother was dying soon...

    Read More

  • The Myth Of Sisyphus Analysis

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    The mistake Meursault makes is in not investing the events of his life with a meaning he constructs. Even though there is no meaning in the universe to be found, we still have an obligation to keep rolling the rock up the hill. What we control however, is our perception of its value.

    Read More

  • Free College Essays - The Sun Motif in The Stranger by Albert Camus

    574 Words  | 2 Pages

    Uniquely, Camus' usage of the sun opposes its warmth and beauty in The Stranger. The sun is a symbol for feelings and emotions, which Monsieur Meursault cannot deal with. There is a sun motif present throughout the novel, which perniciously characterizes the usual fondness towards the sun. The sun is a distraction from Meursault's everyday life and he cannot handle it.

    Read More

  • Existentialism In Albert Camus's The Stranger

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... defined as a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. It also emphasis upon man’s creating his own nature as well as the importance of personal freedom, decision, and commitment. This whole theory is displayed in The Stranger through a character named Meursault whom continues living life through the choices he has made and as Camus states life is absurd and Meursault agrees because he see’s life as an unexplainable place and he seems to stand out from the rest of the crowd because he views things differently and thinks unusually than others. He beats to his own rhythm and agrees that life is what one makes out of it. Existentialism is creating your own life.

    Read More

  • The Character of Meursault in The Stranger (The Outsider)

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    Albert Camus wrote The Stranger during the Existentialist movement, which explains why the main character in the novel, Meursault, is characterized as detached and emotionless, two of the aspects of existentialism. In Meursault, Camus creates a character he intends his readers to relate to, because he creates characters placed in realistic situations. He wants the reader to form a changing, ambiguous opinion of Meursault. From what Meursault narrates to the reader in the novel, the reader can understand why he attempts to find order and understanding in a confused and mystifying world.

    Read More

More about Meursault's Use Of Existentialism In The Stranger By Albert Camus

Open Document