The Stranger by Albert Camus

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Albert Camus, a philosopher and writer, creates the character of Meursault in The Stranger to embody the journey towards absurdism. In the novel, the reader observes as Meursault attends his mother’s funeral, meets a woman, shoots a man, and receives the death sentence. Camus characterizes Meursault by his reactions to the construction of the plot. In understanding the mentality of Meursault, the reader comes to understand the mentality of an absurdist. Because the characterization of Meursault exemplifies Camus’s ideas on the absurdist life, the study of Camus’s manipulation of the plot in The Stranger is the key to understanding Camus’s underlying motivation of elucidating absurdism. Camus organizes the plot to allow for Meursault’s reactions to characterize him. Camus purposely orders, leaves out, and creates uncertainty in elements of the plot to delineate the character of Meursault.

Camus’s arrangement of events in the plot characterizes Meursault and highlights his ideology. First of all, Camus orders Meursault’s liaison with Marie immediately after his mother’s funeral. Meurasult appears insensitive because of his ability to enjoy time with a woman just after the loss of his mother. Because of the assumption that Meursault would be unable to be with a woman after the death of his mother, Camus orders the events of the plot in that exact way to highlight even more so Meursault’s reactionary behavior. For example: “She seemed very surprised to see I was wearing a black tie and she asked me if I was in mourning. I told her Maman had died. She wanted to know how long ago, so I said, ‘Yesterday.’”(Camus 20). In this quote, Camus employs Marie to communicate the reader’s feelings of confusion about Meursault’s behavior in the t...

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...e murder to his present state at the police office. Camus effectively allows uncertainty of details from the plot to delineate Meursault.

Through manipulation of plot, Camus characterizes Meursault’s by his reactions. Camus purposely leaves out element of the plot to represent Meursault’s priorities and mindset. Camus also orders events of the plot to allow readers to view Meursault’s reactions that illustrate his character and ideology. Furthermore Camus creates ambiguity of the details within the plot in order to depict the character of Meursault. The study of these manipulations of plot is fundamental understanding Camus’s underlying motivation of elucidating absurdism because the characterization of Meursault epitomizes Camus’s thoughts on absurdism.

Works Cited

Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Vintage International,

1988.

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