At one point of our lives, we have all thought about how honored we will feel when we obtained that much wanted job promotion from our boss, how ecstatic we will feel when we finally meet the special one who we will get engaged to and soon marry for the rest of our lives, and how distraught we will feel to discover a loved one has unfortunately passed away. On the other hand, imagine living a life where you are emotionless and all those joyful or gloomy moments did not matter to you at all. Albert Camus’s The Stranger is a piece of literature that puts that exact situation into perspective by seamlessly following the life of Meursault, a young French-Algerian man who lives life impassively and without purpose or ambition whatsoever. With this …show more content…
Thus, The Ocean, The Sea, The Wave by Budi Satria Kwan is a painting that illuminates Meursault and his unique personality. For instance, the painting itself illustrates a blue and green rippling ocean over seen by a big, red circular sun high up in an empty, white sky. Initially, at first glance, this postmodern artwork appears simple and plain just like Meursault’s boring and repetitive lifestyle, yet both the painting and Meursault are quite complex in their own way. To explain, the sun, ocean, and sky in the painting relates to the nature and the non-human elements depicted in the novel. The blueish-green ocean represents one of Meursault’s few places where his robotic personality is overruled by his human side. Whenever he is at the beach he experiences life in a completely different fashion by showing emotion, and being jovial. As described on page 50, “The water was cold and I was glad I was swimming. Together, again Marie and I swam out a ways, and we felt a closeness as we moved in unison and were happy.” Besides the ocean, the fiery red sun signifies Meursault’s irritable personality with almost everything, including the poor crying woman in his mother’s vigil. “Soon one of the women started crying. She was crying softly, steadily, …show more content…
For example, “Ticking away the moments. That make up a dull day. Fritter and waste the hours. In an off-hand way. Kicking around on a piece of ground. In your home town. Waiting for someone or something. To show you the way” are lyrics from the song that “screams” Meursault. The words “Fritter and waste the hours. In an off-hand way” demonstrates and relates to Meursault’s boring and repetitive life of eating at Celeste’s, going to work, smoking, and observing people enjoy life as seen on page 23, “I smoked a couple of cigarettes…and went back to the window… At five o’clock some streetcars pulled up, clanging away. They were bringing back gangs of fans from the local soccer stadium.” Next, the line “Tired of lying in the sunshine. You are young and life is long. And there is time to kill today” relates to the period of time when Meursault got tired of the sun hitting him and killed a man. In the same manner, the line “you are young and life is long” becomes ironic because the day he finally decided to “kill time” and do something out of the ordinary, he ruins his long life by killing an actual man. The next lyrics, “And you run and you run. To catch up with the sun. But it's sinking. Shorter of breath. And one day closer to death” can be interpreted as Meursault finally finding his sun, Marie, who makes him cheerful, yet right after he murders the Arab, his sun
However, both the force of society and the force of the sun can become overpowering. They beat down on people, smothering and suffocating them, just as the sun beats down upon Meursault throughout the novel. The sun is present whenever the force of society is strong within Meursault. At the funeral, the sun bears down on Meursault as society smothers him with expectations that he will grieve his mother's death in a typical manner. At the beach when he kills the Arab, the sun is ever present and overpowering, making Meursault disoriented and confused.
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
The emotionless anti-hero, Monsieur Meursault, embarks on a distinct philosophical journey through The Stranger. Confident in his ideas about the world, Meursault is an unemotional protagonist who survives without expectations or even aspirations. Because of his constant indifference and lack of opinions about the world, it can be denoted that he undergoes a psychological detachment from the world and society. It is through these characteristics that exist in Meursault that Camus expresses the absurd. Starting from the very first sentence of the book, “Maman died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.” (Camus 1) The indifferent tone from these short sentences convey a rather apathetic attitude from Meursault’s part. Not only does he not feel any sorrow, he also “felt like having a smoke.” (Camus 4) Communicating perfectly Meursault’s disinterest, “[he] hesitate, [he] didn’t know if [he] could do it with Maman right there. [He] thought it over; it really didn’t matter.” (Camus 4) The death of his mother prompts an absurdist philosophy in which he experiences a psychological awakening and begins to place no real emphasis on emotions, but rather on the physical aspect of life.
...able option. Camus’s main character, Meursault, embodies this third option; by accepting his circumstances and being indifferent to them, Meursault is able to break free of all possible causes of anxiety and find happiness. Furthermore, Meursault’s rejection of religion as belief, his acceptance of the “benign indifference of the universe”, and his acceptance of his circumstances all leading to happiness personifies Camus’s take on Absurdism, the philosophy that Camus is trying to depict in The Stranger (76). By using foil characters to contrast Meursault in actions or personality, Camus creates several polarizing situations, making Meursault the extreme epitome of Absurdism in every contrasting relationship and thus, shining light on his ideology in the process.
When Meursault returns home he decides to take another day off and relax at the beach. On his way out he sees an old man beating his dog and cussing at it ruthlessly. Normally most people would be bothered by the fact of a man beating a small dog, but Muersault watches as if nothing bad were happening. When Meursault is at the beach he meets a girl, named Marie, which he finds very attractive. Meursault and Marie become very close. As the story progresses they begin taking part in sexual activities. Marie tells Muersault that she loves him and asks if he loves her back.
...ough Maman’s funeral and the impact of Maman’s death on Meursault. In the first chapter, Meursault is disconnected from the world around him; only responding to the social customs set in place and showing awareness in why they should be followed, but he does not understand why that is the case. In the last chapter, the inevitable arrival of Meursault’s own death makes him aware that the life he lived meant nothing because things would be the same at the end despite what choies he made. This acceptance is reached because Meursault was guided through death. Thus, Maman’s funeral links Meursault and Maman together as two individuals who accept their despair-filled truth but demonstrate the willingness to live again because they carry that acceptance with them.
In the novel, we are given a more complete view of Meursault. The story is told from his point-of-view, which allows us to understand the situation as Meursault perceives it. Looking at the situation in this light, we can see Meursault as not evil, but simply indifferent and detached from life. He doesn’t attempt to get wrapped up in emotion or relationships, he just takes things as they come, doing whatever is easiest for him. He becomes friends with Raymond and agrees to marry Marie simply because he doesn’t have a very good reason not to. Seeing the story from Meursault’s viewpoint, we understand that even killing the Arab wasn’t an act of malice or evil intent. As Meursault puts it, “My nature is such that my physical needs often get in the way of my feelings.” With this in context, things begin to make more sense. Meursault’s seemingly cryptic statement that he murdered the Arab “because of the sun” can be taken as truth. Meursault does things that society judges as wrong not because he is evil or wants to appear immoral, but because the sun and heat, symbols for Meursault’s emotional state, cause him to become uncomfortable and act “inappropriately.
...immediately gives an impression of a lack of emotion towards the demise of his mother. This lack of emotion highlights the existentialist ideal that we all die, so it doesn't matter what life we have while we are alive. We simply exist, as did Meursault. It becomes apparent, as the novella unfolds, that Meursault has acquired an animal like indifference towards society. His interactions with his neighbour Raymond are an example of his indifferences. It never dawns upon Meursault that society does not condone his interactions with the pimp, avoided by his community. Meursault simply acts to fill his time. Being a single man, he has a lot of time to fill, and finds the weekends passing particularly slowly.
French author and playwright Albert Camus once said, “He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hope for the human condition is a fool.” In the The Stranger and The Guest this philosophy is expanded on by demonstrating how those who do not conform to society are isolated, and portrayed as a threat to society because of their unique beliefs.
“But from the moment he knows, his tragedy begins.” Meursault is not unlike Sisyphus. In the novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus, we watch this character change from a carefree man who loves being alive and free to a man who is imprisoned for a meaningless murder he commits but who eventually finds happiness in his fate.
The Stranger written by Albert Camus is an absurdist novel revolving around the protagonist, Meursault. A major motif in the novel is violence. There are various places where violence takes place and they lead to the major violent act, which relates directly to the theme of the book. The major violent act of killing an Arab committed by Meursault leads to the complete metamorphosis of his character and he realizes the absurdity of life.
Meursault’s apathy towards his mother’s death, his girlfriend, Marie Cardona, and the Arabic man symbolize a cruel French colonist. The first sentence of “ The stranger”, “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure”(4), appalls reader by showing Meursault’s unconcern about his mother’s death date. At the funeral, Meursault behaves indifferently which contrasts with the old Perez, “who put on and put off his hat again and again”(11). Conversation between Meursault and his girlfriend also shows Meursault aloofness. “Marie came that evening and asked me if I’d marry her. I said I didn’t mind; if she was keen on it, we’d get married. Then she asked me again if I loved her. I replied, much as before, that her question meant nothing or next to nothing- bu...
Camus’s motif of the sun illustrates Meursault’s emotions as he approaches the Arab, the sun’s rays separating Meursault from reality. “I knew that it was stupid, that I wouldn’t get the sun off me by stepping forward” (59). Yet after he utters this statement he takes another few steps forward. This sets the stage for the climax of Meursault’s murder of the Arab. More than anything the sun is depicted as a distraction to Meursault. It causes him to do things he would not normally do and clouds his judgment, causing him to commit a serious crime which will cause his own death. The sun is in a way a representation of the constraints society places upon Meursault. The effect the sun has on Meursault that results in death is a parallel to the effect of society on Meursault, which also results in death.
Within the Stranger, Albert Camus brought up many questions and a few answers. He created an outsider to society and showed us how he lived, Meursault.
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.