Ellen: Well, for those of you who haven’t read The Stranger, I’ll give a brief summary of the novel so you know what we’re talking about. Meursault is the narrator and protagonist suffering isolation from himself and the rest of the world in which he lives in. The novel begins when Meursault’s “maman” dies, and when attending the funeral, he finds that he isn’t very sorrowful or concerned about conforming to the common formalities of mourning over such a significant loss. Only one day after attending the funeral of his mother, Meursault becomes involved in an affair with a woman from his work named Marie. Meursault and one of his only friends named Raymond travel to a house on the beach, belonging to a friend of Raymond’s. While walking along the beach, Meursault and Raymond come across two Arab men, one of whom is the brother of Raymond’s ex-girlfriend. After an altercation, Meursault ends up shooting the Arab brother four times, and is then imprisoned for the murder. The jury judges Meursault to be guilty of murder and is then given the death sentence. Meursault is astounded at the verdict, after never thinking of himself as a criminal. However, he deals with his death sentence just as he has dealt with his life, that being with unimportance. Meursault thinks possibly that after death his existence could be less illogical and he could be more aligned with the universe.
Beyoncé: So Meursault seems damaged to the point of not going back, and it may just have been his sort of existential idealistic values but it seems like he was unable to feel or express any other emotions other than anger. Meursault’s estrangement with his outside world is an outcome of failures to reside in a world where there are often not absolutes. This ass...
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...consents his inevitable death and execution. He is then seen to commit ordinary suicide by not attempting to save himself in front of the court,
Audience Member: Ultimately, Meursault’s most consistent feelings are a combination of tiredness, boredom, and unimportance to the actions of the outside world. No image is more impacting than Meursault’s suicide through existentialism where his continued indifference would ultimately leads to his death. In the end, it is demonstrated that from Meursault’s ideas, human circumstances have no greater or other meaning then the two basic facts of existence in that we’re alive and then die.
Ellen: Well I think that is a great point to leave off on this impromptu book talk. Thank you so much to Beyoncé and this audience member, you all are going home with a copy of Albert Camus’ The Stranger! We’ll be back after the break.
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.
Meursault, an unemotional, a moral, sensory-orientated character at the beginning of the book, turns into an emotional, happy man who understands the "meaninglessness" and absurdity of life by the end of the book. Meursault realizes that the universe is indifferent to man's life and this realization makes him happy. He realizes that there is no God and that the old codes of religious authoritarianism are not enough to suffice man's spiritual needs. One has to create one's won meaning in an absurd, meaningless world.
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.
Chapter 6 of part I of The Stranger concluded with Meursault’s conscious decision to shoot an Arab because of the physical discomfort the Arab’s knife caused him. The significance of the ending of part I is that it was the first demonstration of Meursault’s awareness of the possible consequences of the act that he committed. This awareness continues into the second part of the novel as he is arrested and trialed. The reason for Meursault’s trial is the murder of the Arab. His insensitivity towards Maman’s death and lack of a social conscientious are factors that contributed to support further investigations, but are not reasons to trial him because they have not ‘harmed’ society on a way that he could be arrested for. For example, if Meursault
Meursault in the book tries to overcome his emotional indifference within himself. One example shows Meursault emotional indifference against Marie. In this quote, “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” The quote explains how Meursault doesn’t really think about the consequences of other people’s emotions. When he said in the quote it didn’t mean anything to him, it shows he believes human life and emotions are meaningless. He also says I didn’t think so, showing he struggles to comprehend and make his own interpretations on human emotions from Marie and other people. Another example shown is Meursault against his mother’s funeral. In this quote ‘Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.’ This quote also shows Meursault idea of human life is meaningless. This shows that Meursault believes it doesn’t really matter if his mother died, he’s probably implying that his mother was dying soon...
In Camus’ The Stranger, the use of the minor character Raymond helps illustrate the absurd nature of Meursault. Through imagery, dialogue, and irony, the novel investigates the moral decisions Meursault makes under Raymond’s influence. The constant tactical bribery and other forms of manipulation steer Meursault’s writing of the letter that leads to him killing the Arab and ultimately receiving the death penalty. Camus uses Raymond to highlight the cultural and societal values. In addition, through Raymond’s help, Meursault ends up in jail where he finally realizes the theme that life is
He had sought a divine judgement when shooting the Arab, but when he was given a judgement in the name of something bigger than himself, he didn’t accept it. Some man was speaking on behalf of an entire population that had no say in his decision, and he was choosing to take away a man’s life. Meursault rejected the judge’s decision to execute him and believed every part of the case “seemed to distract from the seriousness of the decision” (109). Suddenly, when his life was the one in question, whether the judge decided to “either shoot or not shoot” (56) no longer “amounted to the same thing” (57). There are three simple ways to be connected to death: someone you know dies, you kill someone, or you die. Meursault experienced all three possible associations to death, but he never felt the profundity of death until he faced it personally. Death finally held some meaning if it meant he could no longer live. While Meursault struggled with empathy, he quickly felt the absoluteness of death upon hearing his sentence. This time, also, Meursault had uninterrupted days to think about the meaning of death. He eventually concluded that “since we’re all going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter” (114). Even though he made this conclusion, Meursault still hoped for a miraculous pardon or flaw in the guillotine; therefore, it is clear that he wasn’t fully convinced of his own conclusion. He was about to be stripped of life and was unable to freely live his final days. Meursault finally understood why his father had gone to watch an execution. By watching a man’s life be taken in that way, a person learns to appreciate his or her own time alive. Meursault, to the chaplain’s dismay, refused to believe in life after death, and although he stated that it doesn’t matter when and how a person dies, Meursault lived his final days in a
In The Stranger, Meursault’s murder of the Arab is caused not only by the weather, but also by coincidence, the same way in which Meursault lives his life. The defining events in The Stranger are set in motion by Meursault's murder of the Arab on a bright and sunny day. While going to get a drink of water, the foreign Arab uses a knife to shine the sunlight in Meursault's face. This forces Meursault to fire and kill the Arab with a revolver. Throughout this scene the sun and light play crucial roles, but it is not the first time the sun appears during The Stranger. Throughout the play, the sun is a symbol for the feelings and emotions, which Meursault cannot deal with. The sun becomes a distraction from Meursault's everyday life and he cannot handle it. The sun first presents a problem to Meursault at his mother's funeral procession. Even before the procession embarks, Meursault remarks of the sun, calling it "inhuman and oppressive." Meursault has shown no emotion towards his mother's death and instead he directs his bottled-up anxiety at the sun. Later, at the beach with Raymond, the sun provokes Meursault to commit the crime.
Meursault is very much like someone autistic. Autism is a developmental disorder which affects a person’s communication skills, social restrictions and behavior. Like people with autism, Meursault doesn’t know when to show emotions nor think they are important. You can see this pattern in Meursault when he is informed about his mother’s passing. It does not seem to affect him at all and shows this by saying “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know” (Camus 3).
In ‘The Outsider’, the society continually brings back Meursault’s past actions against his will, such as his behaviour at his mother’s funeral. Under the rule of the French Colonialists, the French Algerian court is a microcosm of the society with the Roman Catholic belief, in value as in determination. Because of this, Meursault, who alienates himself from the Roman Catholic expectation in society, was condemned for murdering the Arab. He was announced to have “no place in society whose most fundamental rules [he] ignored” , which was mostly based on his emotions and behaviour in the funeral rather than the actual murder.
Living in the means of his choices he takes control of his life and succumbs to repercussion of his actions on his own terms. Meursault is later sentenced to a death penalty since the community and legal system fear him and cannot comprehend Meursault’s actions, though neither can he. A Chaplain enters his cell and wants to say a prayer for him, but Meursault denies his offer for he believes in no God : “ As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself [...] so like a brother, really [...] I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.” (Camus,110).Meursault is a monolith for the idea of
An existentialist represents their choices throughs their actions, opposed to with their words (Corbett). Therefore, someone who expresses the ideals of existentialism may be a threat to society because of their differences in morality compared to others. In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Meursault was always looking to find meaning in his life because of everything that was happening to him at the time; and that is a key characteristic of someone embracing the ideals of existentialism. Sadly, through Meursault’s search for his inner meaning, he ended up taking the life of another man with very little realization of what he had done. Throughout The Stranger, by Albert Camus, Camus portrays
Meursault saw the purpose of life as meaningless. That is “Absurdity”. Absurdity, how does that word sound? Pretty bad, eh? Absurdity, when used like “that’s absurd!”, gives the feeling of negative judgment and a sense of finality.
Efforts to engage Meursault in secular structures of meaning are equally futile. When Meursault's boss offers Meursault a position in Paris, he expects Meursault to embrace the opportunity for career advancement. Meursault, though, lacks all ambition and turns down the boss' offer without considering it. As a student, Meursault recalls, "I had lots of ambitions…But when I had to give up my studies I learned very quickly that none of it really mattered." When Marie asks Meursault whether he wants to marry her, she expects him to take the institution of marriage seriously. Yet Meursault is indifferent towards it, thinks "it didn't mean anything" to love a person, and agrees to marry Marie simply because she wants to marry him. Though he grows fond of her, he doesn't cultivate any attachment to her more meaningful than superficial attraction. Throughout his trial, Meursault is equally bemused by the meaninglessness of the justice system and finds its attempts to impose rational, meaningful structure on his actions ridiculous. He considers the guilty verdict he eventually receives entirely arbitrary, and describes its "certainty" as "arrogant."
Albert Camus wrote The Stranger during the Existentialist movement, which explains why the main character in the novel, Meursault, is characterized as detached and emotionless, two of the aspects of existentialism. In Meursault, Camus creates a character he intends his readers to relate to, because he creates characters placed in realistic situations. He wants the reader to form a changing, ambiguous opinion of Meursault. From what Meursault narrates to the reader in the novel, the reader can understand why he attempts to find order and understanding in a confused and mystifying world.