Absurdism in The Stranger by Albert Camus

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The Stranger by Albert Camus focuses largely on the concept of absurdism. Camus uses family and personal relationships, or the lack of it thereof, to show the isolation that the main character, Meursault, undergoes in the novel and it’s effect on him overall. Camus utilizes the protagonists’ character development as a tool to further his plot of the novel. The absence of family and personal relationships tied in with the particular recurring topics of the novel are crucial in both the development of the protagonists’ characters as well as the plot as it affects the portrayal of the main character.
Towards the beginning, Camus introduces the absence of family, thereby beginning the character development of the protagonists in their respective novels. In The Stranger, Camus begins the novel with “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know” (Camus 3). This is the first instance that the reader is being introduced to Meursault, the main character of the novel. The reader learns that Maman, Meursault’s mother, is the only family member that Meursault has in the entire novel. Furthermore, Camus uses Meursault’s response to this tragedy not only to get the reader a first glimpse of the protagonist, but as a way to introduce the topic of absurdism that the novel is building up towards. As the funeral proceedings continue, Meursault feels like smoking, but is first hesitant in doing so because he “didn’t know if [he] could do it with Maman right there” (Camus 8). However, Meursault soon follows this up with “I thought about it; it didn’t matter. I offered the caretaker a cigarette and we smoked” (Camus 8). This at first shows us a sense of hesitancy as he pauses for a moment to think whether what he is doing is acceptable. Howeve...

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... to accept the absurdist tenets and embraces the indifference, opening up to it and thinking that life itself lacks meaning and understanding. The absence of family and personal relationships in The Stranger by Albert Camus drive the protagonists’ character development. Camus begins showing the effect of the absence of family and personal relationships from the very beginning. He uses this as a way to utilize character development, as well as preparing the reader for the developing plot. The absence of family and personal relationships tied in with the isolation that takes place in each scenario are crucial in both the development of the protagonists’ characters as well as the plot, as this affects the portrayal of the main character in the novels.

Works Cited

Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Vintage International, 1989. Print.

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