Camus Influencing Meursault's Absurdist Lifestyle

Camus Influencing Meursault’s Absurdist Lifestyle

In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the author incorporated his own philosophical belief of absurdism into his works. Absurdism is searching for meaning in a meaningless life. Craig Belanger, the writer of Camus’ biography, states that “according to Absurdism, just about everything, even action, is meaningless.” Camus strongly believed this philosophy; therefore, most of his books have an absurdist theme subsumed in them. Camus’ first book, The Stranger, is narrated by an avid absurdist, Meursault. Camus being an absurdist influenced Meursault's absurdist lifestyle, as seen through situations such as his mother's death, his murder of an Arab, and his trial.

Camus was an absurdist who pushed his

Meursault is more absorbed with a reflective light than the fact that he has a working gun in his palm “The sun glinted off Raymond’s gun as he handed it to me” (Camus 56). Meursault is focused more on sensory objects than the living body lying in front of him. Meursault choosing to focus on light reflecting off a gun conveys his discontent with human life, since he clearly does not value it if he chooses sensory objects over another’s life. Meursault also validates his detachment with the human race when he disrespects the Arab’s body. Meursault killed the man on first shot, but he keeps shooting for no reason “then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness” (Camus 59). Meursault apparently does not connect death as something bad, since he does not feel emotions, hence why he disrespected the Arab by shooting multiple times. He believes that since he views life as being meaningless, that his peer’s life is meaningless also, hence why he killed the man without hesitation. Gerald Morreale also observes that most of his actions were intentional and he was well aware of the situation. He writes,“this is his awareness of the Absurd:his act, or series of actions, some lucid, some controlled, some passive and beyond control or intent-but all of them conscious-this

He does not seem interested in his verdict, gave up, and demonstrated a true lack of empathy. Meursault’s previous absurdist actions regarding his mother’s death caught up to him quickly during the trial, which was evident to Craig Belanger, the author of Camus’ biography. His indifference to her death was a game changer in his sentencing, since it made affected the outcome, “at Meursault's trial, it is apparent that his conviction will be based on, of all things, his inability to show sadness at the death of his mother” (Belanger). His absurdist actions affect not just his previous behavior, but his life in future also. His ability to think life is meaningless may actually make it meaningless for him. Once Meursault finds out the judge’s decision, he decides nothing matters anymore, and only cares about going back to sleep, “the futility of what was happening here seemed to take me by the throat, I felt like vomiting, and I had only one idea: to get it over, to go back to my cell, and sleep..and sleep” (Camus 132). Meursault can never come to terms with the outcome if he shows no interest in the first place. It it obvious that he views life as meaningless if his main concern is to sleep, an action that makes him unconscious of the world around for hours on end. Meursault setting his priorities in place proves he is an absurdist, since nothing that should matter to him does. Camus has Meursault