The Stranger Reflection

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Recommended: Albert Camus views on religion

In the short Novel The Stranger by Albert Camus we are introduced to a man who doesn’t believe in god and the first reaction then, as a reader, may be a brief attention to what may come to light to a character who comes to understand that there is no Divinity, no God, nothing. What happens when he realizes that his death is final? That his pleasures, his displeasures, and his sorrows are small bits to an existence of nothingness? What changes in his daily life of work/eat/love/sleep must he make?
The Stranger tells the story of a man named Meursault, who lives for the physical pleasures in the moment, free of unwritten laws or societal pressures. Instead of obeying the social norms rules, Meursault tries to live as honestly as he can, doing what he what makes him happy and befriending those whom he likes. He also rejects all feelings that he really doesn’t see a need for or doesn’t enjoy, and so he didn’t cry at his mother’s vigil simply because he didn’t feel the need too, nor do we see Meursault mourn the loss of his mother. Later in the story certain events leads to the climactic...

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