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The outsider analysis albert camus
The outsider analysis albert camus
Critical analysis of the outsider by albert camus
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Albert Camus’s novel The Outsider is a fictional narrative that presents strong philosophical themes such as the irrationality of the universe and meaningless of human life. Throughout the novel it is clear that the narrator and protagonist – a young man named Meursault – is the only character that is able to understand and appreciate these ideas or philosophical truths. It is for this reason that he is an outsider. Accordingly, other social groups, including women, are represented as shallow as they constantly attempt to identify or create rational structure and meaning in their lives – Camus’s notion of absurdity. Women are a social group that show attributes of attachment, hope and ambition all of which in the novel are a futile attempt to impose rationality when none exists. Thus, Camus implies that women are shallow — lacking the deeper understanding of the universe.
The concept of attachment is associated with many female characters throughout the novel. Marie, clearly shows attachment for Meursault as she delights in physical contact, enjoys kissing in public and engages in casual sex. Furthermore, her visit to Meursault in jail consolidates her sentimental longing for him. Even evidence of Meursault’s mother showing attachment to men can be seen. When the warden of the nursing home was asked if Meursault’s mother “reproach[ed] [Meursault] for having sent her to the home ... he said, ‘Yes’” (Camus, 86). When she looses the last male figure in her life, she soon found another – Thomas Perez. “[Thomas Perez] and your mother had become almost inseparable”(18), said the keeper of the nursing home. Marie also is unable to let go of Meursault even after he turns down marriage proposals, refuses to say that he loves her and goe...
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...omen are represented as shallow, naive and unintelligent. Furthermore, their failure to see their sexual objectification adds to this representation. This is done purposefully to show that very few in society can come to the realization of irrationality in the universe. Only few can truly be outsiders.
Works Cited
Camus, Albert. The Outsider. London: Penguin Books, 1983. 18. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Outsider. London: Penguin Books, 1983. 35. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Outsider. London: Penguin Books, 1983. 44. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Outsider. London: Penguin Books, 1983. 45. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Outsider. London: Penguin Books, 1983. 74. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Outsider. London: Penguin Books, 1983. 86. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Outsider. London: Penguin Books, 1983. 116. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Outsider. London: Penguin Books, 1983. 117. Print.
The Stranger by Albert Camus is a story of a sequence of events in one man's life that cause him to question the nature of the universe and his position in it. The book is written in two parts and each part seems to reflect in large degree the actions occurring in the other. There are curious parallels throughout the two parts that seem to indicate the emotional state of Meursault, the protagonist, and his view of the world.
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, inner struggles are paralleled with each setting. Taking place in the twentieth century each setting plays a significant role in explaining a theme in the novel. Fleeing Greece in a time of war and entering Detroit Michigan as immigrants parallel later events to the next generation of kin fleeing Grosse Pointe Michigan to San Francisco. These settings compliment a major theme of the novel, society has always believed to be missing something in their life and attempted to fill the missing piece.
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The Motif of the Sun in The Stranger In Camus' novel The Stranger, the predominate motif of the sun has been variously interpreted by many critics as a symbol of Meursault's repressed emotions. This is an interpretation I simply cannot accept, for I have always regarded the sun as symbolic of the superego - the force of society within Meursault. Like the sun, society is generally thought to be a positive thing. People usually regard a good, strong society that instills its members with a strong, unified code of morals as something to be desired. In the same way, people tend to think of a bright, warm, sunny day as something good and positive.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of famed novel, The Scarlet Letter, came from a long line of puritans. The family name of Hawthorne, was one of strict puritanistic ideals, which translated into topics covered in his literary works. When Hawthorne’s father died of yellow fever at sea when he was only four, his mother became overly protective and pushed him to isolation. All of Hawthorne’s fictional characters are believed to be figurative confrontations of good and evil. Almost all of his characters can be classified as one of these two types. Most of Hawthorne's early stories were published anonymously in magazines and giftbooks, 19th century, lavishly decorated compilations of collected essays, short fiction, and poetry. Through both emotional and physical drama and literary elements such as symbolism, Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys his thoughts about who can truly judge a person for their sins, saying that it is not society’s job to judge but rather God himself.
During the nineteenth century, Nathaniel Hawthorne graced America with The Scarlet Letter. Out of all of his works, the commended author’s most enduring and well-known novel is The Scarlet Letter. The narrative was set in the 1600s around the same time as the historical Salem Witch Trials. Over the years, this classic story has been reviewed by numerous essayists. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s most popular novel reflects the injustice of the Salem Witch Trials and received notable analyses from major literary critics.
Life is an ongoing process of learning and growing through challenges and experiences. It is mentioned by Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American poet, that “unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” Emerson contributes to the idea that change is inevitable and it is key to one’s personal development (Lipovetsky, 2012). Well, such is an essence in the film “The Blind Side” when the protagonist, Michael Oher, changes and grow through adversities, which eventually shaped him into the man he is today. Oher, also known as Big Mike, is a 16 year old African American teenage boy. Oher was one of the twelve children living in a broken extremely impoverished home in the ghettos of Memphis surrounded by drugs.
When Meursault returns home he decides to take another day off and relax at the beach. On his way out he sees an old man beating his dog and cussing at it ruthlessly. Normally most people would be bothered by the fact of a man beating a small dog, but Muersault watches as if nothing bad were happening. When Meursault is at the beach he meets a girl, named Marie, which he finds very attractive. Meursault and Marie become very close. As the story progresses they begin taking part in sexual activities. Marie tells Muersault that she loves him and asks if he loves her back.
Rachel Donadio writes: “‘The Story of Night’ by Elie Wiesel was rejected by fifteen publishers, before it was picked up by a small firm Hill & Wang and it turned out to be the publishing phenomenon. It led to the creation of a genre. The writer becomes an American icon and attained worldwide fame. An estimated 10 million copies have been sold” (20-1-2008). As a matter of fact, quality of writing is not the only variable for rejection. Perhaps
The thought of Albert Camus creating a character like Meursault is absurd because ‘The Outsider’ was published in 1942, midway through the Second World War. Also with economies falling and poverty reigning, people turned to God for hope and it took everything they had to hold onto that faith. Amidst thi...
In The Stranger, Camus portrays women as unnecessary beings created purely to serve materialistically and satisfy males through the lack of a deep, meaningful, relationship between Meursault and females. Throughout the text, the main character, Meursault, creates closer, more meaningful relationships with other minor characters in the story. However, in his interactions with females in this book, Meursault’s thoughts and actions center on himself and his physical desires, observations, and feelings, rather than devoting his attention to the actual female. Living in Algiers in the 1960s, Meursault originates from a post-modernist time of the decline in emotion. Meursault simply defies the social expectations and societal ‘rules’, as post-modernists viewed the world. Rather than living as one gear in the ‘machine’ of society, Meursault defies this unwritten law in the lackluster relationships between he and other females, as well as his seemingly blissful eye to society itself. In The Stranger, males, not females, truly bring out the side of Meursault that has the capacity for compassion and a general, mutual feeling relationship. For example, Marie and Meursault’s relationship only demonstrate Meursault’s lack of an emotional appetite for her. Also, with the death of Maman, Meursault remains virtually unchanged in his thoughts and desires.
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...