The Stranger by Albert Camus - Man or Monster?

584 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Concept of justice

Man or Monster in Camus’ The Stranger (The Outsider)

In Albert Camus’ absurdist novel, The Stranger, Meursault’s detachment from society and his killing of the Arab reveal moral and ethical implications for him and his society. As is common in many absurdist novels, Camus discusses the estrangement - and later development - of an individual in a benign and indifferent universe, one in which conformity prevails. Camus not only satirizes the conformity of society, but religion and the legal system as well. By writing in the first person (from the standpoint of Meursault), he draws in the reader, making the evils of society more prevalent.

The conflict is established at the end of Part I, when Meursault kills an Arab; an action not uncommon in Algiers during this period of social unrest (the 1930’s). He does not do it intentionally, but rather because of the intensity of the moment and the blinding sunlight reflecting off of the Arab’s blade. The fact that Meursault kills an Arab is of little importance in this novel. The jury and the general population despise him because he is different, not because of the murder. Even Meursault’s lawyer predicts that the punishment will be minimal. Throughout the entire trial, the prosecution stresses Meursault’s lifestyle and his indifference to everything. They bring up his mother’s funeral and say that he showed no signs of emotion. To make things worse, he went to a Fernandel comedy and had sex with Marie on the very next day. The prosecutor once states, “...all I see is a monster.”

It is true that Meursault was different from the rest of society. However, he changes throughout the trial and eventually becomes an existentialist hero. This is because he finds meaning in life. It is ironic, though, that he learns to appreciate life after his is effectively over. His apathetic approach to life is made clear from the first page: “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” This foreshadows his approach to everything else in the book. His indifference to Maman’s death contrast’s significantly to Salamano’s distress at losing his dog. Many of the characters in this book also function to highlight his qualities through contrast.

At the end of the book, after coming to a realization, Meursault does not want to die and for the first time, he shows emotion. He shakes and screams at the chaplain and says, “It was the first time in my life I wanted to kiss a man,” when Celeste speaks up for him at the trial.

Show More
Related

  • Moral Ambiguity in "The Stranger"

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Martha Graham The Day Dance

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her goal was to move, not dance. She challenged the notions of what a quote on quote “female dancer” was and could do. Dance to her was an exploration, a celebration of life, and religious calling that required an absolute devotion (pg. 11, Freedman). She considered her dancers “acrobats of God”. An example of a dance which symbolized the “essentialized” body was Martha Graham’s Lamentation, choreographed in 1930, which served as an expression of what person’s grief, with Graham as the solo dancer in the piece. The costume, a tube-like stretchy piece of fabric, only allowed her face, hands, and feet to be seen, and, as Graham stated, “The garment that is worn is just a tube of material, but it is as though you were stretching inside your own skin.” In the beginning of the piece, she started out by sitting on a bench with her legs wide spread and arms held tight. Her head was going back and forth as if she was feeling sadness or maybe replaying thoughts in her head. By the way she was holding her hands so tight and close to her body, it symbolized the deep pain within her––the essence of her piece was grief, and she danced it from inside out. Russel Freedman, the author of Martha Graham A Dancers Life, stated, “She did not dance about grief, but sought “the thing itself”- the very embodiment of grief (p. 61).” Graham, dancing with strength and power, was encapsulated with her movement and was completely surrendered

    Read More

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

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Motif of Violence in The Stranger by Albert Camus

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

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

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    At first glance, Meursault could be seen as an evil man. He shows no grief at his mother’s funeral, worrying more about the heat. His first reaction to his mother’s death is not sadness, it is a matter-of-fact, unemotional acceptance of the situation. “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” Later on in the story, Meursault kills an Arab on the beach, and his only concern is that he has ruined the calm, pleasant day he was having. When he is in jail, the magistrate comes in an attempt to save Meursault’s soul, but instead of cooperating, Meursault simply confounds the magistrate by refusing to believe in God. Even at his trial, Meursault doesn’t show any remorse for having killed the Arab. Based on this evidence alone, how can we not see Meursault as evil?

    Read More

  • The Australian Legal System

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are four sources of Law in the Australian Legal System. They are Statute Law, which is made in Parliament, Common Law and the Law of E...

    Read More

  • The Trial and Conviction of Meursault - An Example of Absurdity

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    The climax of the novel The Stranger is reached when the jury declares that the main character, Meursault, is to be executed by gulliotine in the town square. The trial and its verdict are one of the important parts of the novel, as Albert Camus uses them as a metaphor to summarize the three main tenets of absurdism. Camus uses the trial and conviction of Meursault to express the absurdist ideals that truth does not exist, and human life is precious.

    Read More

  • The Stranger Injustice Analysis

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Albert Camus’ The Stranger offers one man’s incite into the justice of society. Monsieur Meursault, the main protagonist in the novel, believes that morals and the concept of right and wrong possess no importance. This idea influences him to act distinctively in situations that require emotion and just decision, including feeling sadness over his mother’s death, the abuse of a woman, and his killing of an innocent man. In these situations Meursault apathetically devoids himself of all emotion and abstains from dealing with the reality in front of him. When confronted by the court over his murder, he reiterates his habitual motto on life that nothing matters anyways, so why care? His uncaring response inflames the people working within the

    Read More

  • Meursault’s Subconscious Mind in Albert Camus’ The Stranger

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    Meursault’s actions throughout the novel lead to his regretless murder. Meursault surrounds himself around people of no spiritual faith to withdrawal himself from his mother and God. Reserved Meursault interacts with his neighbor Salamano on various occasions and observes him walking his dog everyday, repeatedly swearing at it. Meursault observes as Salamano yanks the dog while screaming, “’Filthy, stinking bastard!’” (Camus 27). This interaction illustrates the revolting and monstrous characteristics of Salamano through the eyes of society. Instead of cringing in repulsion as expected of most ordinary people, when Raymond “’asked me (Meursault) didn’t I think it was disgusting’” (Camus 28), Meursault replied no. Meursault’s response implies his lack of sentiment and places him in the same category as Salamano.

    Read More

  • Meursault Justifies Murder

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Land of the Free

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Uzbekistan: The Andijon Uprising." - International Crisis Group. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2014. .

    Read More

  • The Outsider

    1705 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... 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.

    Read More

  • The Dark Side of Adoption

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    First of all, children that go through the adoption process may experience some sort of self-esteem issue. Ripa Ajmera reports that most children “ after learning about being adopted they may feel a sense of grief, rejection, or abandonment.” This has a major effect on the child’s overall behavior. Children at a such a young age should not have to deal with such insecurities! When a child becomes aware that they were adopted and what that entails, as to them having been given up by their biological parents for whatever reason, the curiosity of a young child will develop such a deep, permanent idea of something is wrong with them. Ajmera also states that “They [the child] may wonder why they were put into adoption, and whether something was wrong with them when they were born to be undesired.” Again we can see that this mindset for a child can become very destructive to their self esteem. Also, since they are at such a fragile age where they are so dependent upon others opinions, anything believed by others is seen as concrete knowledge. Ajmera continues with “And as a result they [the child] may suffer an extreme lack/ or loss of identity.”Identity loss is the main symptom of self esteem issues. Children typically tend to look to their parent or guardian of the same ge...

    Read More

  • The Character of Meursault in The Stranger (The Outsider)

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    Meursault is distant from set plans, ambitions, desires, love, and emotions in general. He has a difficult time with emotions such as regret and compassion. The reader sees the nature of his personality in the first few lines of the novel: "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know." When he hears of the death of his mother through a telegram, he is unattached, and can be considered uncaring.

    Read More

  • A Review of the Literature on Marijuana

    3126 Words  | 7 Pages

    Shohov, T. (2003). Medical use of marijuana: Policy, regulatory, and legal issues. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

    Read More

More about The Stranger by Albert Camus - Man or Monster?

Open Document