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Analysis Camus's The Stranger
The stranger by Albert Camus analytical essay
The stranger by Albert Camus analytical essay
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Empathy makes us human yet not all humans are emphatic, In Albert Camus’ The Stranger a suspiciously apathetic man named Meursault comes to light as a criminal. However Meursault perpetrated a crime of passion, is that not absurd for a negligent man? In a simple view of Meursault life and philosophies the remission of human feelings is evident, and slightly frightening. In the stranger most of the events in the main characters life require an emotional effect, the death of his mother, the engagement to a beautiful woman who loved him deeply, befriending a criminal, and most shockingly the act of homicide. If all humans were as impartial to the events in their lives then the world would be condemned to the folly of uncharacteristic actions, and the population would all as strange as Meursault.
“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.” (Camus Part 1 Page 3) Meursault first words to the reader are those that halt a persons train of thought, seeing as he forgot what day he is told his mother died! A sentimental occasion that drives anyone to tears bothered Meursault because it meant that he has to travel far away and change his schedule drastically. His nonchalant reaction causes the people that surround him at the moment to become confused, and harms how the judge sees his character in his murder trial. In the world we live in that which is different causes fear, and Mersault's indifference caused his society to see him as dangerous and alarming, and they has good reason.
Though the main character is a reclusive man he managed to meet a woman that enjoy spending time with him. Marie...
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...e accepts his death sentence knowing that he is correct all along, none of the things that happen matter; he was going to die anyway now it was just sooner. Meursault is ecstatic because his life is in his control, he has control of his thoughts and his indifference to the world that makes him a stranger, and hated by society. “As if that blind rage has washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, I that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much life myself – so like a brother, really – I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.” (Part 2 Page 123)
Works Cited
Albert Camus The Starnger
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.
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.
Mersault’s attitude towards his mother’s death exemplifies and introduces the reader to his lack of remorse. The opening sentence of the novel shows how indifferent he is as he has no guilt for not being there for his mother nor grief for her passing when receiving the telegram notifying him of her sudden death, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know” (Camus 3). He is very direct and his diction offers short, little details, evoking the attitude of disregard in Mersault. When approaching his boss for two days off, he does not show any sign of emotion, but tries to justify the reason for his leaving as his mother’s fault. The funeral director takes him to his mother’s coffin, to find that it has already been sealed. To the caretaker’s and director’s surprise, Mersault does not want it to be opened. He does not mind that they have skipped past formalities of allowing close family members to view their deceased relatives by sealing
However, upon deciding to kill a man, he quickly learns that his previous unconcern will not diminish the consequences for his deed. Put to death, Meursault remains stagnant on his opinion of justice, refusing to ever consider that justice possesses any worth. Upon receiving a visit from a chaplain hours before his execution, he merely uttered “I had been right, I was still right, I was always right” (Camus 121) Meursault did not understand why the chaplain wanted to force him to turn to God and gain a moral sense about life. Thus he simply reiterated the motto that he lived by: an apathetic, self-absorbed idea that nothing in life means anything. Meursault’s continual refusal to accept the moral standards of the world prohibited him from every truly finding a true sense of
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...
The emotionless anti-hero, Monsieur Meursault, embarks on a distinct philosophical journey through The Stranger. Confident in his ideas about the world, Meursault is an unemotional protagonist who survives without expectations or even aspirations. Because of his constant indifference and lack of opinions about the world, it can be denoted that he undergoes a psychological detachment from the world and society. It is through these characteristics that exist in Meursault that Camus expresses the absurd. Starting from the very first sentence of the book, “Maman died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.” (Camus 1) The indifferent tone from these short sentences convey a rather apathetic attitude from Meursault’s part. Not only does he not feel any sorrow, he also “felt like having a smoke.” (Camus 4) Communicating perfectly Meursault’s disinterest, “[he] hesitate, [he] didn’t know if [he] could do it with Maman right there. [He] thought it over; it really didn’t matter.” (Camus 4) The death of his mother prompts an absurdist philosophy in which he experiences a psychological awakening and begins to place no real emphasis on emotions, but rather on the physical aspect of life.
In “The Stranger”, the protagonist, Monsieur Meursault, is characterized as cold, uncaring, and emotionally detached. Throughout the novel, Meursault expresses no emotions toward the death of his very own mother, the proposed marriage between the woman, Marie Cardona, who became his lover, and to the actual murder of a man he didn’t know. While the jury at his trial sees him guilty because his uncommon and disassociated demeanor shows that he willfully intended to murder the Arab on the beach, a variety of psychologists would instead diagnose Meursault with Major Depressive Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Asperger’s Syndrome in order to characterize his indifferent thought patterns. If Meursault is suffering from Major Depressive Disorder, he is unable to function as a normal person would which ultimately leads the jury to believe that he is actually a cold blooded killer. Antisocial Personality disorder, like Major Depressive Disorder, causes Meursault to communicate a disregard for the lives of others and lacks remorse when he harms and even kills the Arab.
decisions. Such decisions can be based upon actions and people often do heinous acts due to strong emotions; however, Meursault does not show the normal response that is often required for his crime of murder, such as guilt. Guilt has several definitions, but the most common being the “[r]remorseful awareness of having done something wrong.”(American Heritage Dictionary) Meursault, who is shown to fail at employing empathy for most events in life, often does not try to conceal his true thoughts on subjects. This is seen when Meursault, along with his lawyer, prepare for his trial. Meursault states, “[My lawyer] asked if I had felt any sadness that day... He thought for a minute. He asked me if he could say that that day I had held back my natural feelings. I said, ‘No, because it’s not true.’” (Camus 52) His statement upsets his lawyer since Meursault’s answer does not fit into the social norm of grief. In accordance to the Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature, “In the last hours he spends with his mother, he sleeps, rather than doing what might be expected of ...
Camus starts the beginning of his novel by stating the death of the narrator’s mother through a first person point of view. Meursault, the protagonist and narrator of the novel, begins by contemplating the day of his mother’s death and is unable t...
“But from the moment he knows, his tragedy begins.” Meursault is not unlike Sisyphus. In the novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus, we watch this character change from a carefree man who loves being alive and free to a man who is imprisoned for a meaningless murder he commits but who eventually finds happiness in his fate.
Every character that revolves around Meursault seems to be in direct contrast to him. Meursault is an amoral person who does not seem to care passionately about anything. He acts in accordance with physical desires. In other words, Meursault is a sensualist person. At this particular time in his life, his path crosses with his neighbor, Raymond, who feels as though his girlfriend is cheating on him. He decides to take revenge with minor aid form Meursault. Meursault helps him only because he thinks he has nothing to lose if he does. As things lead into one another, the first major violent act of the book is committed.
The death of Maman in The Stranger conveys an example of existentialism. The phlegmatic and unattached response to the death of his mother shows an excellent example of Mersault’s existentialism; he accepts life or death without looking for a deeper significance. Mersault receives a telegram from the home notifying him of his mother’s death, “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: ‘Mother Deceased. Funeral Tomorrow. Faithfully yours.’”(Camus 3). When he gets to the home he does not even want to see the body, instead of mourning he sits back and relaxes drinking coffee and smoking. Mersault seems more concerned about taking time off of work to go to his mother’s funeral that he has nothing to do with, than the actual death of his mother. The first thought of his day is about work, “As I was waking up, it came to me why my boss had seemed annoyed when I asked him for two days off…”(Camus 19). Mersault does not show any emotion at all while at the nursing home that Maman lived. He is just there because he feels as if he has to be. Everything about the weekend seems to annoy him events like the vigil, the funeral, and some Maman’s friends, in particular to the sobbing woman at the vigil.
Attention to the trial sequence will reveal that the key elements of the conviction had little to do with the actual crime Meursault had committed, but rather the "unspeakable atrocities" he had committed while in mourning of his mother's death, which consisted of smoking a cigarette, drinking a cup of coffee, and failing to cry or appear sufficiently distraught. Indeed, the deformed misconception of moral truth which the jury [society] seeks is based on a detached, objective observation of right or wrong, thereby misrepresenting the ideals of justice by failing to recognize that personal freedom and choice are "...the essence of individual existence and the deciding factor of one's morality.2" The execution of Meursault at the close of the novel symbolically brings
The main character of The Stranger Meursault is much like Sisyphus, the man who was cursed with absurdity to push a boulder up a mountain every time it rolled down. This describes Meursault’s life and the events that take place during the novel including the death of his mother, his relationship with Marie, writing the letter for Raymond, swimming with his friends, killing the Arab, the trials, his imprisonment, talking with the chaplain, and his inevitable demise.
Meursault is distant from set plans, ambitions, desires, love, and emotions in general. He has a difficult time with emotions such as regret and compassion. The reader sees the nature of his personality in the first few lines of the novel: "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." When he hears of the death of his mother through a telegram, he is unattached, and can be considered uncaring.