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Analysis Camus's The Stranger
Literary devices in the book the stranger by albert camus
Analysis of the stranger by albert camus
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Both Meursault, from Albert Camus`s the Stranger, and the sniper, from “Sniper” by Harry Chapin are protagonists who perpetrate brutal murders. While Meursault and the sniper embraced death after an emotional epiphany, both characters were viewed differently by their peers in their respective societies which resulted in divergent motives for murdering.
When close to death, both the sniper and Meursault had a revelation causing them to accept death. Before his inevitable death when he is visited by the chaplain, Meursault displays emotion for the first time in the entire novel. He seizes and screams at the chaplain with “cries of anger and cries of joy” (pg. 114). During his temper tantrum which serves as a disclosure, Meursault realizes that life is futile and death is inevitable. As a result, Meursault accepts his death and continues to
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exemplify his indifferent attitude towards life. Similarly, the sniper also has an emotional revelation towards his mother. When he realizes death is “soon now”, he begins blaming his mother for not caring for him and abandoning him. Subsequently, the sniper, after releasing his suppressed hatred towards his mother, no longer fears or cares about his death. For example, he laughs as the police who are sent to shoot him come up the stairs suggesting that he does not care if he dies. On the other hand, however, both Meursault and the sniper differ in their roles in society.
Meursault lived a relatively normal life. He had an office job, friends, and even a girlfriend which suggests that he could be viewed as a proficient member of society. During his trial, various people from Meursault’s life such as Celeste, Marie, Solomon, and Raymond attested to Meursault’s character as an “honest…and decent man” (pg. 91) which suggests that he was viewed as normal and well-liked. Meursault, however, was detached from his society as he constantly was unable to emotionally connect with people. As a result of being uninterested in life, Meursault did not care about his actions often acting on mere impulse. He simply did what he wanted to even shooting a man simply due to the heat. On the contrary, the sniper was an outsider in his society. By those who knew him, the sniper was described as “strange”, “creepy”, and “dull”. The sniper was alone as he was rejected by everyone he knew from girlfriends to coworkers. Because he was hated those around him, the sniper murdered numerous people in an attempt to be
acknowledged. Both Meursault and the sniper, when near death, realized that life is meaningless resulting in them being unconcerned about their inevitable deaths. The protagonists differ, however, because Meursault was surrounded by people who cared for him but was detached from everyone. In contrast, the sniper was alone and since he was rejected from society, so as a result, he became overly attached to those around him. These two different perspective on life caused two people with contrasting personalities to both commit murder.
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.
Murder is a reprobate action that is an inevitable part of war. It forces humans into immoral acts, which can manifest in the forms such as shooting or close combat. The life of a soldier is ultimately decided from the killer, whether or not he follows through with his actions. In the short stories The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty and Just Lather, That's All by Hernando Téllez, the killer must decide the fate of their victims under circumstantial constraints. The two story explore the difference between killing at a close proximity compared to killing at a distance, and how they affect the killer's final decision.
“The Sniper” and “The Most Dangerous” Game are both different stories, written by different authors. Liam O’Flaherty is the author of “The Sniper”. He was born on one of Ireland’s Aran Islands, in a large family. Since the Aran Islands have a tradition of oral storytelling, Liam O’Flaherty’s house was full of different kinds of stories. He also wrote about Irish peasant life and captured the struggles of the Irish Civil War. His best known novel is “The Informal”, and it talks about a betrayal set during the Irish Troubles.
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...
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.
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.
Often one wonders what it would be like to completely close off all connections to society and live in exile. What it would be like if your thoughts were the only thing to keep you company. For most; the idea of being all alone with just your thoughts is enough to drive one crazy. However not for Meursault. Meursault is already so detached from society that his experience of exile is less of a punishment, and more so enriching. His time in captivity cuts him off from his “home” or better yet, his comfort zone of being an introvert and gives him a chance to create a different appearance in front society, apart from a stranger.
Since he cares little for the affairs of the world, claiming they do not mean anything, then justice—a major concern of the world—also means nothing to him. His actions both before and after his decision to kill a man without provocation demonstrate his apathetic view of the world, and his indifference to justice. Therefore Meursault’s search for justice, culminated by the court’s decision to execute him, remains an example to all of the inability of society to instill justice in criminals. Meursault’s perpetual refusal to acquire a sense of morality and emotion instigates skepticism in all who learn of his story of society’s true ability to instill justice in the
While coming to terms with the absurd was a gradual process for Meursault, his final days and his heated conversation with the chaplain, and his desire for a hateful crowd of spectators show that he was able to accept the absurdity, and revel in it, finding satisfaction in spite of those around him and justifying his murder. His ego had reached an all-time high as he neared his execution, and his satisfaction left him prepared for the nothingness awaiting him. This process was a natural psychological response to his mortality, for his peace of mind. Therefore, Meursault is not the Stranger, an alien to society, but a troubled man seeking meaning and satisfaction in a life and a world that was overwhelming unsatisfactory and absurd.
While little evolution of character occurs with Meursault, subtle differences are seen when comparing him in the beginning and end of the Camus’ novel. The extent of Meursault’s madness were surprisingly noticeable in the beginning. By the end however, his so called “madness” was demoted to more of an accepted philosophy of understanding, neither moral nor immoral. Meursault was an extremely passive, despondent and disconnected nihilist. From early on, it became understood that Meursault did not conform to the popular pressures of Christianity being experienced in 1940 Algerian society. In fact, Meursault believed life had no true purpose and that there was no God in heaven. This alone did not describe the...
...immediately gives an impression of a lack of emotion towards the demise of his mother. This lack of emotion highlights the existentialist ideal that we all die, so it doesn't matter what life we have while we are alive. We simply exist, as did Meursault. It becomes apparent, as the novella unfolds, that Meursault has acquired an animal like indifference towards society. His interactions with his neighbour Raymond are an example of his indifferences. It never dawns upon Meursault that society does not condone his interactions with the pimp, avoided by his community. Meursault simply acts to fill his time. Being a single man, he has a lot of time to fill, and finds the weekends passing particularly slowly.
... mother, he does not react in a way most people do. He does not cry but instead accepts what has happened and realizes that he can not change it. He goes back and does physical things he would do on a normal day. When the caretaker offers him coffee, he accepts it, he smokes a cigarette and has sex with a woman he just met. Meursault also does not lie to escape death. He refuses to conform to society and lie. He would rather be seen as an outsider than do something that he does not believe in. Finally, Meursault, will not believe in G-d or Christianity just because it is the only thing to turn to before he is put to death. When Meursault decides not to cry at his mother’s funeral, he accepts himself as an outsider. When he is considered an outsider, it does not matter if he is guilty or innocent; at the end of the day he guilty just for being different.
The prosecutor brings up topics like what happened at his mom's funeral and why he hesitated between the first and the second gunshot. The prosecutor talks about how Meursault declined to see his mother’s body at her funeral, and that he never cried. The prosecutor also brings up that after his mom's funeral Meursault ate dinner with a girl, took her to the movies, and brought her to his house afterwards. These claims make the courtroom hate Meursault. The court room doesn't get that Meursault is emotionless, so he comes off as a jerk because of what happened at the funeral.
Meaursalt is a simple and ordinary man living in French Morocco. Neither intellectual nor emotional, when his mother died, he did not feel or show any sorrow. He is a character rather distracted by his surrounding, such as people walking by and nature. He would feel much irritation whenever the sun would shine red and bright. On a thoughtless walk on the beach, he ends up killing an Arab (who had a hostile relationship with his friend) for no apparent reason, but because his [Arab] blade light reflected by the sun. In addition, for no good reason he shoots four more times, the body lying on the ground. He is tried in court, during which he feels he is his own spectator. Meaursalt gets convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Before execution, he feels guilt for the first time because he would miss the simple things in life. However, he is never scared to die, because for him death comes eventually. Just before the execution, a chaplain tries to make him believe in God, but Meaursalt angrily defends his atheistic views.
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.