Existentialism In 'The Stranger By Albert Camus And The Tunnel'

1578 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Existentialism philosophy essay

The Existential Hero Existentialism is a philosophical school of thought which contemplates the issues of meaning, life itself, the search for purpose, and how it applies to the humanity. Introduced by Søren Kierkegaard, the father of Existentialism, and coined by Gabriel Marcel in the 40’s, there has since been many philosophers, authors, works, plays, and debates over these principals. Two of the most renowned pieces of existentialist literature are The Stranger by Albert Camus, and The Tunnel by Ernesto Sábato. Both novels deal with two opposite men struggling to find meaning and a place in the world itself, and are widely considered prime examples of an existential hero. But what is an existential hero? How would one describe and determine …show more content…

However, the two men share very different views on death itself in their own personal lives.Meursault shows impartiality to death and accepts it as an everyday part of existence, as seen in the dismissal of his mother’s death and continuing on afterwards as if nothing had changed. Another example is when Meursault is faced with his own death sentence, Meursault considers and accepts his death saying, “That meant, of course, I was to die. Sooner than others, obviously. “But,” I reminded myself, “it’s common knowledge that life isn’t worth living, anyhow.” And, on a wide view, I could see that it makes little difference whether one dies at the age of thirty or threescore and ten—since, in either case, other men and women will continue living, the world will go on as before...Once you’re up against it, the precise manner of your death has obviously small importance.” (pgs 70-71) This is an example a man who is not afraid of death, instead, is accepting of it and liberated by it as a true existentialist would. Juan Pablo Castel however, is an example of an existentialist man who fears death and the uncertainty brought along by it. Though he killed Maria without much hesitation and remorse, in his own personal life death was a frightening prospect and he was kept alive out of fear of the unknown as stated by

Show More
Related

  • Existentialism In John Gardner's Grendel

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book, Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel shows that existentialism is significant in his life. Many of his decisions are based on the thought of whether they have a meaning behind it or not. He tries to be nihilistic and think that the world has no meaning but he ends up being existentialist as he cares about how his choices will be perceived. There are different characters that have existentialism in their lives which allows them to function throughout their world. This book promotes existentialism because the different main characters take on their unique roles throughout the book and create their own meaning.

    Read More

  • Essay on Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider): Parallels Within

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Stranger a Novel by Albert Camus

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Stranger is a novel by Albert Camus. Albert Camus, a French, Noble prize winning author, journalist and philosopher, was born on the seventh of November 1913. He died on the fourth of January 1960. He was instrumental in bringing the philosophical views of absurdism to public attention. The Stranger was published in 1942 and is an example of the outlook and themes of Camus’s philosophy of the absurd.

    Read More

  • Essay on Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider): The Gentle Meursault

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Albert Camus’s The Stranger, Meursault, the protagonist, could be seen as immoral if he were judged on the basis of his actions alone. However, through Camus’s use of a first person narrative, we begin to understand Meursault as not an immoral man, but simply an indifferent one. Meursault is a symbol of the universe, and so in understanding him we understand that the universe is also not evil, but instead a place of gentle indifference.

    Read More

  • Existentialism In Albert Camus

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    writings where people as humans struggle to find purpose and ask themselves what is the meaning of life to which the universe responses by simply showing a complete and utter disregard for such a question or any questions as a matter of fact. It is “This paradoxical situation, then, between our impulse to ask ultimate questions and the impossibility of achieving any adequate answer, is what Camus calls the absurd.” Existentialism essentially deals with the absurd which had been “cultural movement that flourished in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s.” and besides Albert Camus there was other Philosophers who adopted such ideas like “Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, and Martin Buber in Germany, Jean Wahl and Gabriel Marcel in France, etc.….. [with]

    Read More

  • Existentialism In Albert Camus's The Stranger

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    I, Albert Camus, am a famous French author who had written The Stranger in 1942. I was born in Algeria, and my experiences there had deeply influenced my thoughts, my work, and my philosophies. The Stranger strongly represents my philosophy involving 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. In 1947, I retired from my journalist career and continued to write fiction and playwrights for the theatre (Simpson). Although I primarily consider myself a writer instead of a philosopher and I deny being an existentialist, the philosophy I most agree with is indeed existentialism. As one will find in my novel, The Stranger, the main character Meursault views the world and situations through an outside perspective, extreme detachment, and a lack of empathy. His characters tend to view the world as an outsider because I personally grew up in many groups

    Read More

  • Comparing Existentialist Values in The Metamorphosis and The Stranger (The Outsider)

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Albert Camus' The Stranger, both feature protagonists in situations out of which arise existentialist values. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts . In The Metamorphosis the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, realizes his existentialism towards the end of the novella. In contrast, Monsieur Meursault, the protagonist in The Stranger, knows of his existentialism, only realizing his life's lack of meaning moments after he is sentenced to death. Despite the somewhat absurd nature of The Metamorphosis, and the realistic nature of The Stranger, similar values are communicated to the reader. The easiest to pick out being that it is up to the individual to create his/her own life, and that the inhuman behaviour presented by both protagonists will eventually lead to very bad things; namely death in both novellas. These deaths are, however, very different, as are the methods through which Kafka and Camus have made each novel nothing but `a philosophy put into images' .

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Camus's The Stranger

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Camus’s The Stranger takes the reader on an emotionally stunted journey through a number of normally emotional moments in life including funerals, relationships, violence trials, and facing one’s one mortality. None of these things elicit strong emotion from Camus’s protagonist, Meursault, until he explodes in anger at the presumptuous chaplain in the moments before dawn on the day of his execution. In that moment, Meursault embraces the benign indifference of the universe and on the heels of his anger, feels the first real happiness of the story.

    Read More

  • Existentialism: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Merriam – Webster Dictionary defines existentialism as a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad (Merriam, 2011). In other words, an existentialist believes that our natures are the natures we make for ourselves, the meaning of our existence is that we just exist and there may or may not be a meaning for the existence, and we have to individually decide what is right or wrong and good or bad for ourselves. No one can answer any of those things for us. A good example of existentialism is Woody Allen’s movie, Deconstructing Harry. A man is haunted by his past and his past has followed him into the present. He is a wreck not because of the things that happened to him, but because of the choices he made. He is consumed by regret and insecurity and he tries to find blame in his situation with someone other than himself, however he cannot (Barnes, 2011). Throughout the rest of this paper I will be discussing two of the most prominent existentialists, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.

    Read More

  • The meaning of the suffering of Meursault from the angle of existentialist crisis

    2072 Words  | 5 Pages

    Existentialism tends to focus on the question of human existence — the feeling that there is no purpose, indeed nothing, at the core of existence. The term itself suggests one major theme: the stress on concrete individual existence and, consequently, on subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice. Sartre did not believe in God, so there was no place for the essence of humanity to be before human existence. For Existentialists like Sartre, the absence of God has a much larger significance than the metaphysics of creation. Without God there is no purpose, no value, and no meaning in the world. Existentialism posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to deities or authorities creating it for them. Meursault, the main character and narrator of The Outsider, lives existentially and knows that his life will terminate one day. To Meursault, Life is all a person possesses, and there is no intrinsic meaning in life:

    Read More

  • The Pursuit of Immortality: Epic of Gilgamesh

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sadigh, Micah. "The Foundation of Existentialism In The Oldest Story Ever Told." Existential Anaylsis: Journal Of The Society For Existential Analysis 21.1 (2010): 76-88.

    Read More

  • Comparing Kafka's Metamorphosis and The Stranger (The Outsider)

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    Existentialism is defined as a philosophical movement that human beings are completely free and responsible for their own actions.  Existentialists will try not to cause waves and remain completely uninvolved with anyone because they do not want to hurt anybody.   There is absolutely no such thing as an existentialist because he would have to be so uninvolved to the point where he would not be able to live at all.  Although the two stories: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and The Stranger by Albert Camus are very different in approach, their endings are similar in that they both support the basics of existentialism.

    Read More

  • Existentialism in Unknown Places

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    Existentialism is the epitome of the unknown. There is no straightforward explanation of what exactly it is, there is only certain characteristics and behaviors that describe existentialist views. Throughout today’s world, there are examples of it everywhere, it’s found in movies, books, songs, and just people in general. Existentialists are known to think and do for themselves only. They believe that to understand what it means to be human requires understanding of themselves first. Some very well known pieces of entertainment existentialism is found in are: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Stranger by Albert Camus, and The Breakfast Club by John Hughes. The Stranger is a book written about a young man whose mother dies, which soon leads him to becoming acquainted with the feeling of not caring about what his actions do to others or himself. The main character Meursault starts helping his friend Raymond, carry out ways to torment his mistress. Out of nowhere while at the beach, Meursault shoots Raymond’s mistress’s brother. He is thrown into jail and tried, but he seems to not be affected as much as he should about his actions. He first finds it hard to live without cigarettes, women, and nature, but he soon finds out he doesn’t need any of those. After being sentenced to death, he is suggested to turn away from his atheism but later realizes that human existence has no greater meaning. This realization and acceptance is what truly makes him happy (Camus). Next, The Breakfast Club is a very relatable movie about high school students suffering the consequences of their actions in detention. The kids are all of ...

    Read More

  • The Idea of Existentialism in The Stranger

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Existentialism is defined as "a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining his or her own development through acts of the will”. In other words, existentialism emphasizes individual freedom. Throughout The Stranger, the amount of existentialism is abundant. The use of Mersault’s experiences coveys the idea that human life has no meaning except for simple existence. The idea of existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger reflects through Mersault's life experiences with his relationship with Marie, the death of his mother Maman, the murdering of the Arab, and Mersault's trial and execution, all these events show that Mersault’s life of no meaning.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Title Choice in The Stranger by Albert Camus

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some might ask why the novel was titled "The Stranger". Others may ask who 'The Stranger' was in the first place. To answer both questions, one must know the important aspects of the novel and observe how the characters act. First of all, "The Stranger" is a fictional novel written by Albert Camus and was first published in 1942. The story is based around Meursault who learns that his mother has passed away. From the start, the emotional news is sudden, and readers expect Meursault to be heartbroken and tearful but instead he is found in an emotionless state, almost as if he doesn't care. This displays emotional detachment from the world around him and there are multiple examples throughout the novel where significant moments do not have an emotional impact on Meursault. He does not display emotion to the fact that his mother is dead, or that Marie loves him. Though Meursault is unconnected to society he is still an honest person. He always speaks his mind and does not care how others see him. When his mother dies, he does not hide his true feeling. He does not shed fake tears over her death. He expresses what he really feels. With these actions Meursault challenges society’s accepted moral standards, which is that one should grieve over a loss. Because Meursault does not grieve, society then regards him as a "Stranger" to society due to his indifference. So in short, Meursault is "The Stranger" and the novel is titled after him because Meursault is a stranger to common ideas and to the people.

    Read More

More about Existentialism In 'The Stranger By Albert Camus And The Tunnel'

Open Document