Camus: The Life and Writings of Absurdity
Camus was born in a small town in eastern Algiers on November 7, 1913. His father (Lucien August Camus) died in 1914 after being shot in the Battle of Marne in W.W.I. Camus was raised by his mother (Catherine Helene Sintes Camus) until he was seventeen, in a working-class section of town. "Sintes," his mother's maiden name was also Raymond Sintes' last name in the novel The Stranger. She was illiterate and became partially deaf after she was widowed. Her husband's body was never returned to her, but a fragment of the shell that killed him along with a picture of him was displayed in the apartment where they lived (Todd 4-6).
The Camus family was poor and struggled to make ends meet, but somehow kept on living. Albert however did go to a "snobbish" chic high school, despite his mother's illiteracy. The school was right next to the ocean, which could be seen from most of the classrooms. This is the beginning of Camus' fascination and love for the ocean and the sun, which comes through in many of his works (Todd 7-16).
Camus did however feel ashamed of his family, and was embarrassed by them. He escaped by excelling in sports and his schoolwork, but at home no one could relate to him nor could he share what he had learned because neither his mother nor his grandmother could understand what he was saying. In 1930, when Camus was seventeen, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis after becoming sick and coughing up blood (he had tuberculosis reoccurrence in 1938, 1942, 1949-50 and 1957 after his Nobel Prize). This caused him to leave school but he later returned, and he studied philosophy, politics, and how to become an educator. At this point he moved and lived with his Uncle Gustave. This setting provided him with a better economic life and a job as an office clerk (Todd 17-28).
In 1933-34, Camus began school at the University of Algiers and taught classes at a high school. He also had begun to write his first book Le Quartier Pauvre. He dated and later married Simone Hie, whom he divorced after two years because she prostituted herself to get money that was used to support her morphine habit.
As the Reconstruction Era ended, the United States became the up and coming world power. The Spanish-American war was in full swing, and the First World War was well on its way. As a result of the open-door policy, England, Germany, France, Russia, and eventually Japan experienced rapid industrial growth; the United States decided to pursue a foreign policy because of both self- interest and idealism. According to the documents, Economic self- interest, rather than idealism was more significant in driving American foreign policy from 1895 to 1920 because the United States wanted to protect their foreign trade, property and their access to recourses. While the documents also show that Nationalistic thought (idealism) was also crucial in driving American foreign policy, economic Self- interest prevailed.
Albert Camus is a skillful writer noted for showing aspects of culture and society through the depiction of his characters. In The Stranger, Camus illustrates the existentialism culture and how that comes into play in the life of the protagonist Meursault. The Stranger, as suggested by the title, is a novel revolving around the protagonist, Meursault, who is a stranger to the French-Algerian society as he challenges its values. Camus vividly portrays Meursault’s journey through the use of imagery, irony, and symbolism. In The Stranger, Albert Camus uses the minor character, Raymond Sintes, to illustrate the contrasting nature of Meursault and how his friendship with Raymond leads to his downfall.
Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 to his parents Lucien Auguste Camus and Catherine Sintès Camus. Albert was born in Mondovi, Algeria, a French colony until receiving independence in 1962. His father grew up an orphan due to being the youngest of five children. His mother sent him to an orphanage to lighten her load; Lucien never forgave his mother and family for this treatment (“Albert Camus” 113). Lucien served in World War I and was killed during fighting when Albert was still an infant (Lazere 72). After his father’s death, the ...
...ever, the United States gradually shed its isolationist beliefs in the wake of Hitler’s power. This was primarily done so through the repealing of the Neutrality Acts and implementation of the Lend-Lease Act. The primary causes to this shedding of isolationism were attributable to Hitler’s conquest of Europe and the fear that he would “cross the pond” and attack the United States. The United States had been influenced that the future of the world was based upon their entanglement in World War II. Many believed that the supplies the U.S. would provide would make a huge difference in swaying the war and resulting in an Allied victory. Concisely, with the rise of Hitler in Nazi Germany and his conquests to expand his sovereignty, the United States had to become involved in World War II and assist their allies in order to prevent the destruction of democracy in Europe.
The ill affects felt by the United States in the aftermath of World War I and The Great Depression caused many to feel that the U. S. needed to steer away from another war. In an effort to stay neutral, in 1935 Congress passed what was known as the Neutrality Acts that kept American ships and people from becoming involved with International conflicts. During this period Congress was influenced heavily by Isolationists who strongly protested against any involvement in the European and Asian conflicts in addition to avoiding any entanglement in the International politics. (Gerald Nye).
Humor was added to Hamlet by two major scenes, along with Hamlet's use of his antic-disposition. These two were: the scene between Hamlet and Polonius in the library, and the scene with the grave diggers (the clowns).
In World War I, we should have maintained our isolationist policy if possible. The main reason we became involved was because the new expansionist mood of the Axis Powers threatened the global empire we were apparently building. And, the war interfered with our prosperous trade system with the other countries. As Henry Ford put it, “Do you want to know the cause of the war? It is capitalism, greed, the dirty hunger for dollars.” And, in the end, I don’s think we could have stayed out of the war if we wanted to. The world at the time was a tangled web of alliances that meant a local conflict could start a massive war. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife was the spark that ignited that web. Even after the start of World War I, the United States was content to sell food and munitions to the countries involved in the conflict. It wasn’t until Germany began to attack the ships taking those trade items to Europe that the U.S. started to get mad. They had been trying to pursue a policy of neutrality and semi-isolationism, but now they were being dragged into a conflict they had nothing to do with. The United States had nothing to gain but the money from trade. Therefore, we payed a price of many lives for little to no gain.
Today we live in a world of which some have come to understand where it all came from. So many different little contributions have accumulated over the years to create “today” in the United States of America. Not one factor is more important than the next, however, some have had a larger, lasting impact today. Immigration and racial discrimination have played the most important role as to why American society has altered. In 1917 America entered World War one. By doing this America played a grave role in conquering Germany and ushering peace to Europe. However, the Great War also meant that the US would change dramatically through historical issues and changes which resulted in American society. Industries had started to realize that it was not as simple as it was before to abstract the immigrants. As the country developed and became more successful it attracted outsiders who were searching for chances. During the 1920’s the United States began to confine immigrants due to cultural and economical purposes.
Early in his life, Hughes was subjected to the pain of losing a parent. Though not through death, the loss of his father due to his parents' separation caused him great pain. With only one parent in care of him, Hughes spent the majority of his youth living in poverty. When he grew older he allowed his distant father to support his college education for the first year. At the closing of his freshman year, Hughes found that he did not want his life to continue in that direction and withdrew from Columbia University.
An absurdist tends to discover meaning despite living in a meaningless world and are unable to fully accept and understand that every life ultimately ends. Depending on a person’s ethics and morals, some indications can be made on how someone’s life may transpire with each differing and playing a role. These people often partake in unethical and immoral actions, aware of it or not, in order to achieve some type of meaning in their absurdist life. In the novel The Fall, by Albert Camus is about an Absurdist man who used to be a judge penitent in Paris before he moves to Amsterdam. While living in Paris, Clamence lives a life full of lies as he views himself superior, as he tends to help the least fortunate. In reality, his motives are flawed
Isolationism is “a policy of abstaining from economic and political relations with other countries” (Smith). An isolationist is “a politician who thinks the Republic ought to pursue a policy of political isolation” (McDougall 40). After its founding on July 4, 1776, the United States of America practiced this policy in order to keep itself out of foreign affairs. But it was not called this until the late Save for its trading with other countries, the United States followed the ideas that isolationism promoted. However, it was clear that in the 1900s that the U.S. was starting to turn away from the policy of isolationism. The presidents could no longer be isolationists according to the true definition. They became involved World War I after
Furthermore, when people believe life to be worthless, they start to question their existence leading to insanity. Albert Camus was someone who believed absurdity to be a sensation which had the ability to seize anyone. His belief trusted consciousness to be the key to absurdity. Camus wrote a short story called The Myth of Sisyphus, which told the story of a young man, Sisyphus, who received a severe punishment due to his committed crimes of murder, rape, and theft. “His scorn of the God, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing” (Camus). His penalty consisted of rolling the stone up the hill each time it rolled down, and doing that continuously
The word absurd can only be described by the Myth of Sisyphus, written by Albert Camus. It is a myth written about a man whose passion for life led him to his own torture. He was a man condemned by the gods to a life of dreadful punishment. His punishment was continuously rolling a rock to the top of a mountain. Each day the rock would roll its entire weight to the bottom, and Sisyphus would push it back to the top. Sisyphus is the absurd hero, as much through his passion for life as his torture. His whole life is pushing towards a goal that is accomplishing nothing. He lives a purposeless and powerless life. The tragic part of this story is that Sisyphus is conscious to this fact. He knows that every step he takes is one that lacks success. He knows as he is in the duration of his descent, as he thinks about the passions of his life, that he will once again face the sorrows of his hopeless labor when he faces the rock at the bottom of the hill. This is what makes the myth absurd. He can still be filled with happiness, especially on his descent, even though he is condemned to his fate. He never gives in to the circumstances and rises above. He can hold his head up and keep going, just as we do. Today we live our lives no less absurdly then Sisyphus did. We get up and work at the same tasks day after day. I have been going to school almost every day for the last 15 years. I have been following the structure that I am expected to follow, and accomplish little within each day. Sisyphus teaches us that we always have the ability to rise above our lot by laughing at our condition. Two pieces of literature that portray the notion of absurdity are Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht and Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello, because they both teach us lessons about our ability as humans to overcome our circumstances.
nearly every aspect of life, he was a rather poor student. He blames this mostly to his
The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness influences several important aspects of his life including his relationships and the way he presents himself.