Caitlin Conboy
Mr. Silvey
English 4
13 August 2014
p. 6
The Strangers Look on Life and Death
Albert Camus's novel The Stranger is a per fect example of work describing violent acts witnessed by a person telling their story who seems to be completely unaffected by their cruelty. The novel begins with death - "Mamman died today" (3) - and ends with the death of Meursault, the main character. This novel has numerous bloody acts: the premeditated abuse of an ex-girlfriend, cruelty towards a pet dog, a street fight, and a disagreement that ultimately ends with a murder. The Stranger presents a startling look at what it means to be a human, to live, and to have the ability to take another's life. Camus's examples of violence in his novel show the true personality of his characters regarding both death and life.
Camus conveys the view that human existence is without order, and his work criticizes a culture that seeks to find meaning in a meaningless world. Camus reveals two contrasting views of human life: societies and Meursault's. People always attempt to find the reasoning behind questions that merely cannot be answered. In the microcosmic courtroom of Meursault's trial, for example, the jurors and the lawyers continually focus on why Meursault killed the Arab, and why he is so indifferent about his mother's death. "Why?" the judge asks , "You must tell me-why?" (68) Knowing that he can give no right answer, Meursault makes up a crazy explanation to throw off the questioners: "it was because of the sun" (103). If society represents the quest for what is "normal" and "correct", then Meursault stands for the absurd. Meursault is differ...
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... and colors: "the fiery air" (58), "dazzling red glare" (56), and "blazing red sand" (53). Camus uses color to take away from the bad emotions and losses of violence and instead distracts us with physical traits. In the end, the audience becomes more engaged with why Meursault does the things he does.
The Stranger tackles huge issues regarding the value of human existence. Camus's use of violence shows his characters’ true colors and looks at life/self-worth. His book helps to look at life differently, how some do, instead of the ideal purposeful and valuable. Yes, this is a disturbing work that spares no costs to deliver a raw and unexpected example of what Camus termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."
[1] Albert Camus, The Stranger, trans. Stuart Gilbert (New York: Vintage Books, 1954). Page numbers refer to a later paperback edition.
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.
The second act of violence takes place at the beach between two Arabs on one side and Raymond and Masson on the other. This leads to Raymond's getting hurt. Before this Camus foreshadows violence when Raymond gives Meursault a gun in case things get worse. After taking care of Raymond, Meursault goes back to the beach. He says to himself, "To go or to stay, amount to the same thing.
In The Stranger, Albert Camus describes the life of the protagonist, Meursault, through life changing events. The passage chosen illustrates Meursault’s view during his time in prison for killing the Arab. In prison, one can see the shifts in Meursault’s character and the acceptance of this new lifestyle. Camus manipulates diction to indicate the changes in Meursault caused by time thinking of memories in prison and realization of his pointless life. Because Camus published this book at the beginning of World War II, people at this time period also questions life and death similar to how Meursault does.
The climax of the novel The Stranger is reached when the jury declares that the main character, Meursault, is to be executed by gulliotine in the town square. The trial and its verdict are one of the important parts of the novel, as Albert Camus uses them as a metaphor to summarize the three main tenets of absurdism. Camus uses the trial and conviction of Meursault to express the absurdist ideals that truth does not exist, and human life is precious.
Albert Camus’ The Stranger offers one man’s incite into the justice of society. Monsieur Meursault, the main protagonist in the novel, believes that morals and the concept of right and wrong possess no importance. This idea influences him to act distinctively in situations that require emotion and just decision, including feeling sadness over his mother’s death, the abuse of a woman, and his killing of an innocent man. In these situations Meursault apathetically devoids himself of all emotion and abstains from dealing with the reality in front of him. When confronted by the court over his murder, he reiterates his habitual motto on life that nothing matters anyways, so why care? His uncaring response inflames the people working within the
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.
... his mother and the idea of God which is again supported by his close relationships. Those relationships are with people who don’t believe in a higher being or who show no true morals. Camus accommodates white with many objects and people, yet purposely excludes Meursault and refers to him as dark. All of these techniques show Meursault as a nonreligious man with potential to harm without remorse. This leads up to his interaction with light where he feels uncomfortable just as he does with God. Meursault’s history and personality lead up to the murder of the Arab, the distraction of the light, and in the end, accusing God, “the light”, for his criminal behavior. Human nature needs moral standards or the world would be as corrupt as Meursault’s life.
...able option. Camus’s main character, Meursault, embodies this third option; by accepting his circumstances and being indifferent to them, Meursault is able to break free of all possible causes of anxiety and find happiness. Furthermore, Meursault’s rejection of religion as belief, his acceptance of the “benign indifference of the universe”, and his acceptance of his circumstances all leading to happiness personifies Camus’s take on Absurdism, the philosophy that Camus is trying to depict in The Stranger (76). By using foil characters to contrast Meursault in actions or personality, Camus creates several polarizing situations, making Meursault the extreme epitome of Absurdism in every contrasting relationship and thus, shining light on his ideology in the process.
Meursault and Daru are both “strangers” because they are not able to understand the other characters, which are each indirectly associated with an aspect of society. Camus uses the actions and words of seemingly unimportant characters to allude to the shortcomings of society. In both texts the protagonists view the other characters in the story from an outsider view, allowing for a new perspective in which society and its problems can be assessed. By making the protagonists detached from society, the underlying issues within society can be explored from an objective viewpoint.
I, Albert Camus, am a famous French author who wrote The Stranger in 1942. I was born in Algeria, and my experiences there have deeply influenced my thoughts, my work, and my philosophies. The Stranger strongly represents my philosophy of the absurd and existentialism. When I was twenty-five, I moved to France and joined the resistance movement during World War II. After the liberation from Nazi Germany, I became a political journalist and a columnist for Combat, a French newspaper.
Camus’s motif of the sun illustrates Meursault’s emotions as he approaches the Arab, the sun’s rays separating Meursault from reality. “I knew that it was stupid, that I wouldn’t get the sun off me by stepping forward” (59). Yet after he utters this statement he takes another few steps forward. This sets the stage for the climax of Meursault’s murder of the Arab. More than anything the sun is depicted as a distraction to Meursault. It causes him to do things he would not normally do and clouds his judgment, causing him to commit a serious crime which will cause his own death. The sun is in a way a representation of the constraints society places upon Meursault. The effect the sun has on Meursault that results in death is a parallel to the effect of society on Meursault, which also results in death.
Works Cited Camus, Albert. A. The Stranger, trans. -. Mathew Ward. New York: Random House, Inc., 1988.
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.
Within the Stranger, Albert Camus brought up many questions and a few answers. He created an outsider to society and showed us how he lived, Meursault.
Camus writes in a simple, direct, and uncomplicated style. The choice of language serves well to convey the thoughts of Meursault. The story is told in the first person and traces the development of the narrator's attitude toward himself and the rest of the world. Through this sort of simple grammatical structure, Camus gives the reader the opportunity to become part of the awareness of Meursault. In Part I, what Meursault decides to mention are just concrete facts. He describes objects and people, but makes no attempt to analyze them. Since he makes no effort to analyze things around him, that job is given to the reader. The reader therefore creates his own meaning for Meursault's actions. When he is forced to confront his past and reflect on his experiences, he attempts to understand the reasons for existence. At first, Meursault makes references to his inability to understand what's happening around him, but often what he tells us seems the result of his own indifference or detachment. He is frequently inattentive to his surroundings. His mind wanders in the middle of conversations. Rarely does he make judgments or express opinions about what he or other characters are doing. Meursault walks through life largely unaware of the effect of his actions on others.