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The stranger albert camus ib essays
The stranger albert camus critique
The stranger albert camus critique
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The Relatable Stranger: How and Why We Are Meursault
Using his existentialist text The Stranger as a vessel for his own philosophical ideals, absurdist Albert Camus poses a question most essential to human existence: when released from the shackles of tediously perpetuated societal routine, how does a man function? Embodying the answer to this question is Monsieur Meursault, whose once rational speech and logical action unravel in the heat of circumstance to illustrate what Camus deems “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.” Possessing the characteristics of any respectable gentleman, Meursault is honest, sensible, and extremely adaptable to the universe in motion around him, substituting mindless rhetoric and the excuse of emotional abundance with an acuity of thought and proclivity to raw sensation. By structuring his philosophy around a man with such a nonspecific and thus relatable identity, Camus evokes sympathy by touching at the bestial necessity of freedom for the individual, mocked by a society interested only in docile collectivity.
Taking little stock in the unspoken and assumed truths of the culture in which he exists, Meursault follows a more natural and almost physiological rhythm of emotion and sensuality. After learning of the death of his mother, he must travel “about eighty kilometers from Algiers” for the funeral (Camus 3). Rather than emphasize the exhaustive capability of trauma, Meursault elicits reason, explaining that “it was probably because of all the rushing around, and on top of that the bumpy ride, the smell of gasoline, and the glare of the sky and the road, that [he] dozed off” (Camus 4). After returning home from the funeral, he awakens the next morning and decides to take a swim in the pu...
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... indifference of the world” (Camus 122). With sympathy toward Meursault secured, a natural disapproval of the society who condemns him is to be formed. By placing a mirror before the very society which this text intends to describe, the novel forces those who read it to reevaluate their seemingly natural assumptions concerning the “frivolous indulgence” of emotion, the stone cold immovability of morality, and most of all the purpose of judgment (Camus 40). In his essay on the guillotine, Camus defines compassion as that which “does not exclude punishment, but [which] withholds an ultimate condemnation” (Camus 40). With the creation of such a relatable character as Meursault, Albert Camus attempts to breathe compassion into an otherwise indifferent society, acting as the catalyst for a reaction which both sympathizes and reconsiders what essentially makes us human.
Since he cares little for the affairs of the world, claiming they do not mean anything, then justice—a major concern of the world—also means nothing to him. His actions both before and after his decision to kill a man without provocation demonstrate his apathetic view of the world, and his indifference to justice. Therefore Meursault’s search for justice, culminated by the court’s decision to execute him, remains an example to all of the inability of society to instill justice in criminals. Meursault’s perpetual refusal to acquire a sense of morality and emotion instigates skepticism in all who learn of his story of society’s true ability to instill justice in the
Meursault is a man who chooses to observe people, rather than interact with them. He often people watches from his balcony in the evening, than actually going down to communicate with them. While he was in exile, he was forced to converse and discuss his feeling to strangers like his lawyer, and the chaplain of the prison. Due to being a severe introvert, the idea of discussing his problem to another person was foreign for him. The experience of opening himself up to others for help was alienating, and contradicted his personality of being a stranger to everyone. Camus writes, “He didn’t understand me, and he was sort of holding it against me. I felt the urge to reassure him that I was like everybody else, just like everybody else.” (Camus, 66) Meursault wanted to help his lawyer understand his point of view, but his nature is so closed off that he’s unable to put his feeling into words for others
...he world, which causes him to encounter a form of enlightenment that makes him come to realization of the true world. The realization of the world sprouts the idea that the universe is indifferent and life has no true meaning. Because Meursault realizes that the universe is indifferent to people and that he makes no importance to the world, he is reborn to a life that makes sense to him. The nonexistent emotions from the first part and the outburst of emotions from the second part cause a juxtaposition of Meursault as a character in the two sections. Camus uses elemental diction and sentence structure to portray this change in character and his acceptance of the universe around him. He accepts his death, finding that his life is truly meaningless, and believes that his life is a model for the philosophical ideas that he has come in terms with.
Camus starts the beginning of his novel by stating the death of the narrator’s mother through a first person point of view. Meursault, the protagonist and narrator of the novel, begins by contemplating the day of his mother’s death and is unable t...
In Albert Camus’s The Stranger, Meursault, the protagonist, could be seen as immoral if he were judged on the basis of his actions alone. However, through Camus’s use of a first person narrative, we begin to understand Meursault as not an immoral man, but simply an indifferent one. Meursault is a symbol of the universe, and so in understanding him we understand that the universe is also not evil, but instead a place of gentle indifference.
On the surface, one might not find much overtly attractive about Camus’s cold philosophy expressed by Meursault in the cell he spiritually shares with all people awaiting inevitable deaths as the universe watches on with indifference, but there is a freedom that comes with letting go of hope that tries to cover up fear. If society tries to prosecute each person with the moral guilt of those that have been buried, it is liberating to reject those presumptions of guilt. There is a happiness that can be found in that freedom and an appealing strength in being able to face the howls of execration from the spectators of every individual’s march toward death in a benign, indifferent universe.
In The Stranger, Camus portrays women as unnecessary beings created purely to serve materialistically and satisfy males through the lack of a deep, meaningful, relationship between Meursault and females. Throughout the text, the main character, Meursault, creates closer, more meaningful relationships with other minor characters in the story. However, in his interactions with females in this book, Meursault’s thoughts and actions center on himself and his physical desires, observations, and feelings, rather than devoting his attention to the actual female. Living in Algiers in the 1960s, Meursault originates from a post-modernist time of the decline in emotion. Meursault simply defies the social expectations and societal ‘rules’, as post-modernists viewed the world. Rather than living as one gear in the ‘machine’ of society, Meursault defies this unwritten law in the lackluster relationships between he and other females, as well as his seemingly blissful eye to society itself. In The Stranger, males, not females, truly bring out the side of Meursault that has the capacity for compassion and a general, mutual feeling relationship. For example, Marie and Meursault’s relationship only demonstrate Meursault’s lack of an emotional appetite for her. Also, with the death of Maman, Meursault remains virtually unchanged in his thoughts and desires.
Firstly, Camus juxtaposes the stories of Meursault and the Czechoslovakian man to create a presage of the denouement of Meursault. The Czechoslovakian man undergoes major life changes, and this ultimately leads to his demise. He goes to make a better life for himself, and he returns to his village with riches in wealth and in family. Unrecognizable to them, the Czechoslovakian man returns to his mother and sister, and he decides to play a simple joke “of taking a room” and “he had shown off his money” (80). This trick ends when “during the night his mother and sister had beaten him to death…in order to rob him” (80). The Czechoslovakian man’s newfound courage results in obstinacy. Contrastingly, until Meursault commits his crime of murder, his life appears nearly painfully simple. ...
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.
In Albert Camus’ novel, The Stranger, the protagonist Meursault is a character who has definite values and opinions concerning the society in which he lives. His self-inflicted alienation from society and all its habits and customs is clear throughout the book. The novel itself is an exercise in absurdity that challenges the reader to face the nagging questions concerning the meaning of human existence. Meursault is an existentialist character who views his life in an unemotional and noncommittal manner, which enhances his obvious opinion that in the end life is utterly meaningless.
One of them turns out to be Raymond’s girlfriends’s brother. Meursault takes Raymond’s gun, goes to one of the Arabs with whom he has just had an altercation, and shoots him in cold blood. Meursault doesn’t seem to care about anyone’s emotions, he shoots this Arab for his friend. In this passage, Meursault appears as a body fully dominated by his physical sensations. He complains about the sun, and the heat, when he says “I could feel my forehead swelling under the sun. All that heat was pressing down on me making it hard for me to go on.”(Camus, 40) This demonstrates also when he had to attend his mother’s funeral, throughout the journey he complains, evokes the heat but does not speak for a moment of pain he feels for the death of his mother. However, throughout this scene of the murder of the Arab, the reader has access to extremely detailed physical sensations of the character than to his thoughts or feelings, that only intervened at the end of the passage. Meursault shoots this Arab for no reason, he does it for his friend Raymond because he has no sense of humanity. It appears to be a random act of injustice for no apparent motive. Death plays a dominant role, it is the link that merges the two parts of the book, as the first part ends with the death of the Arab and second ends with Meursault’s
...according to him, a man who is morally guilty of killing his mother severs himself from society in the same way as a man who raises a murderous hand against the father who begat him.” This quote is telling how society input their feelings and ideas onto Meursault. The persecutor compares Meursault emotionless and lack on remorse for his killing the same as a person killing their own father. Society believes Meursault as an emotionless killer or a stranger to society’s morality, Meursault then can’t explain why he couldn’t feel any emotion, drives, or thoughts of remorse for his murder. Lastly, when the chaplain visits Meursault against his wishes, this scene showed how society expects everyone to ask for forgiveness from god when near death. Meursault then thinks it is absurd and refused to believe in him because he says it’s ridiculous and there’s no time at all.
The trial and conviction of Meursault represents the main ideals of absurdism, that truth does not exist, and life is precious. The jury’s attempt to place a proper verdict on Meursault is compared to mankind’s futile attempt to find order in an irrational universe. Because there is no real truth in the trial, the verdict was unfair and illogical. Camus uses his beliefs of truth not existing and life being precious to point out the absurdity of the judicial system, and suggest the abolishment of the death penalty.
Opposed to this, Camus uses Meursault as a construct to demonstrate his philosophy of absurdism. Absurdism is the belief that one cannot give rational sense or purpose to life, a belief based on the inevitability of death. Because people have difficulty accepting this notion, they constantly attempt to create rational structure and meaning in their lives. The term ‘absurdity’ describes humanity’s futile attempt to find rational order where none exists. Only at Meursalt’s epiphanic revelation before death does he realize this as his comes to know the absurd world.
The Absurdist notion that an individual needs no external value to survive is portrayed by Meursault’s lack of remorse shown toward his crime and lack of compassion shown toward Marie. Rather, he is an end to himself, his life being justified by his sole existence. Meursault does not view prison as a punishment for killing the Arab; ins...