Stranger in a Strange Land is a book written by Robert A. Heinlein that completely throws away the social mores of the late fifties/ early sixties society. The book opens with a ship returning from a trip to Mars with an interesting passenger, a man, Michael Valentine Smith who was the son of a previous voyage to Mars that was believed to be entirely dead. This was a human raised by Martians, who are an ancient race that has various powers that are discovered later in the book to be possessed by Smith through his knowledge of their language. When Smith gets to earth the U.S. government, under the pretense that he is not well sequesters him away in a hospital. Smith is spirited away by a nurse and her reporter friend. Smith is taken to Jubal Harshaw who is a rich relatively famous man, who has what boils down to diplomatic immunity because of his connections and previous actions, Smith lives with Harshaw for a time while he develops his body to Earth’s gravity and tries to adapt to its social structure. Eventually he leaves and travels to try to understand people eventually he does and he quickly becomes a super confident person. Smith decides that the world would be better if people understood each other. Smith creates a language center that is also a church and a commune and slowly he gains people who can speak the Martian language and can do many of the special things Smith can do but a large church dislikes his methods and politically attack him. Eventually he causes, indirectly, a mob to form around a hotel he owns and as he goes out to meet them he is preaching, the mob shoots him repeatedly and he dies leaving an effective commune that eventually teaches the rest of the world how to live. Stranger in a Strange Land falls in ...
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...ly to completely understand, this word was used in many ways in “main stream” society used in commercials and some news articles.
America always has had a large population that has an organized religion. In the fifties all of the suburbia tried to be the same mean church on Sunday and a nice house. In the sixties the counter-culture, who were the major proponents of the book, were looking for alternatives and Stranger in a Strange land attacked organized religion, in the book there is a huge church that commercializes religion turning it into a political and economic power which is exactly why many “hippies” were against organized religion. Heinlein sort of replaces it but does so in an obviously fictional manner, by creating a religion. Heinlein meant to challenge what the reader was used to not to create a new society but to modify the thoughts that people have.
He uses this point to support his central claim by delineating three distinct features within the American society. These include fervor for religion, a continued prominence of populist religious leaders, and the vitality of mass democratic movements which characteristically reflect the leaders of the nineteenth century. Hatch states, “studies show that two out of three adults in American still maintain fairly strong religious beliefs” (210). The same was said to be true in that era. Despite the nature and culture of the religious wars and mass movements, Americans as they do today, claimed
Albert Camus’ The Stranger featured a misunderstood man who saw through his gilded society who was condemned to death for not crying at his mother’s funeral. Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying found a man sentenced to death because of his race.The ignorance of society killed both of these men, but their strength in defying the oppressive system makes them immortal. The strength of defiance is not an escape attempt or freedom, but the ability to remain human even while condemned to death. The human spirit triumphs when faced with injustice by taking dignity from the strength provided by a community or finding strength internally to create dignity even in death.
The Stranger by Albert Camus is a story of a sequence of events in one man's life that cause him to question the nature of the universe and his position in it. The book is written in two parts and each part seems to reflect in large degree the actions occurring in the other. There are curious parallels throughout the two parts that seem to indicate the emotional state of Meursault, the protagonist, and his view of the world.
New brands of distinctly American Christianity began developing early in the country’s history. Before the revolution, George Whitefield set the stage for American religious movements. The most important factor that helped launch these movements was the American Revolution. The country was ripe with conversation and action on a new understanding of freedom. The revolution “expanded the circle of people who considered themselves capable of thinking for themselves about issues of … equality, sovereignty, and representation” (6). The country was beginning to move toward an understanding of strength lying in the common people, and the people’s ability to make their own personal decisions on issues of leadership and authority. There was a common belief that class structure was the major societal problem. The revolution created the an open environment that pushed equality of the individual, allowing political and religious beliefs to flourish and grow without being held in check by authoritarian leaders.
Has there ever existed a person that has not judged someone else over their lifetime? Judging by reality as well as literature it seems that no person like that has ever existed. It appears that it is human nature to want to pronounce others as either purely good or evil. But does everyone fit into the mold of good or evil? In Albert Camus's The Stranger, Meursault is a morally ambiguous character, and this ethical indistinctness plays a major part in the novel as a whole and the theme that Camus is trying to portray.
In paragraph three of James Baldwin's 'Stranger in the Village' (1955), he alludes to emotions that are significant, dealing with conflicts that arise in the Swiss village. Of these emotions are two, astonishment and outrage, which represent the relevant feelings of Baldwin, an American black man. These two emotions, for Baldwin's ancestors, create arguments about the 'Negro' and their rights to be considered 'human beings' (Baldwin 131). Baldwin, an American Negro, feels undeniable rage toward the village because of the misconception of his complexion, a misconception that denies Baldwin human credibility and allows him to be perceived as a 'living wonder' (129).
Religion in the 1950s was a very important aspect to many citizens living in America. The amount that religion affected the population was shown by the increase of religious groups at the time, it was stated in “The 1940s: Religion: Overview.” from American Decades, “..by 1950 more than 55 percent were members of religious groups, a figure that would increase to 69 percent by the end of the 1950s.” However, this number had not been the same throughout 20th century America. The amount of people in America that had been going to worship their religious figures during the Great Depression was a very small percentage of Americans. The number only started to increase after World War II came to a closing and brought major economic prosperity to America. This burst of church growth in America during the time
In “The Stranger”, the protagonist, Monsieur Meursault, is characterized as cold, uncaring, and emotionally detached. Throughout the novel, Meursault expresses no emotions toward the death of his very own mother, the proposed marriage between the woman, Marie Cardona, who became his lover, and to the actual murder of a man he didn’t know. While the jury at his trial sees him guilty because his uncommon and disassociated demeanor shows that he willfully intended to murder the Arab on the beach, a variety of psychologists would instead diagnose Meursault with Major Depressive Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Asperger’s Syndrome in order to characterize his indifferent thought patterns. If Meursault is suffering from Major Depressive Disorder, he is unable to function as a normal person would which ultimately leads the jury to believe that he is actually a cold blooded killer. Antisocial Personality disorder, like Major Depressive Disorder, causes Meursault to communicate a disregard for the lives of others and lacks remorse when he harms and even kills the Arab.
Religion ties American’s of different races and cultures together in various ways. It provides unity and hope among a very diverse group of people. In today’s American society religion provides deep connection to American’s through socialization and social control.
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein takes the themes portrayed in the book and directly criticizes the Western Culture. As Heinlein said, "My purpose in this book was to examine every major axiom of western culture, to question each axiom, throw doubt on it" (Jelliffe 161). These axioms are where feels the Western Culture fails and so he uses the themes to criticize humans of the Western Culture by pointing out these faults. The themes of the story portray this by having Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians, come to earth to teach his knowledge which contradict what the Western Culture feels to be true. "Stranger is a strong-minded work of culture criticism, no doubt about it (Stover 58)." The themes that Heinlein uses are those of religion, sex, and love to make his point of where the Western Culture fails as a whole. Heinlein's writing of his novels after 1961 when he wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, has changed the genre of science-fiction, because he not only wrote about strange worlds and crazy adventures, but Heinlein also tried to include criticism and a message to the reader in his novels to explain problems that he felt humans have. This became Heinlein's writing style after 1957 when he reached the age of 50 and was on the top of science-fiction. Because science-fiction was considered to be for kids, Heinlein began to write more for adult audiences by adding the real problems and criticism into his novel (Drucolli 210). "The publication of Stranger in a Strange Land marked drastic shift in Heinlein's writing, at least in social criticism and controversial subject matter" (Drucolli 227). "As he had done immediately before World War II, Heinlein helped to ...
Albert Camus states that “In our society any man who doesn’t cry at his mother’s funeral is liable to be condemned to death” (Camus, 18). In the book The Outsider, Meursault defies local convention by not showing the sadness that is expected of him at his mother’s funeral. Ultimately, his life is dependant on this very decision of whether or not to show emotion. In the society that Meursault lives in, one is expected to conform to their standards and social norms. Anyone who deviates from these norms is considered an outcast and destined to die at the hands of society. Meursault was expected to show outwards signs of grief whether it was real or not. Even if the grief is artificial, most people will play to the audience and show signs of grief to minimize the risk of losing their life. Meursault’s was conflicted between following society’s rules and being true to himself. The nurse at his mother's funeral warned him that “if yougo slowly, you risk getting sun-stroke. But if you go too fast, you perspire and then in the church you catch a chill. She was right. There was no way out” (Camus, 22). The nurse’s admonition is consistent with his internal struggle. To Meursault, walking too fast is similar to conforming to society and walking too slow means following his own path. There is no middle ground to the situation, no happy median and no suitable compromise. Meursault faces the challenge of whether or not to conform on three main levels; physical, emotional and spiritual. He has the constant battle between following his physical self; his id, and doing what is right. Meursault also has to decide whether or not to be true to his emotions and decide if lying during his trial is a suitable course of action. Finally h...
Absurdism, The Stranger, and life “Absurdism” (coined by Albert Camus) is a philosophy based upon the concept that the life and the world are meaningless, irrational, without sense or reason. And any effort we make to try to find meaning in them will ultimately fail. Albert Camus considers absurdity to be a fight, a force pushing between our mind’s desire to have meaning and understanding and the blank, empty world beyond. In an argument with Nagel, Camus stated “I said that the world is absurd, but I was too hasty. This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said.
Simmel, Georg. "The Stranger." from Kurt Wolff (Trans.) The Sociology of Georg Simmel. New York: Free Press, 1950.
Existentialism is defined as "a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining his or her own development through acts of the will”. In other words, existentialism it emphasizes individual freedom. Throughout The Stranger, the amount of existentialism views is abundant. The use of Mersault’s experiences covey the idea that human life has no meaning except for simple existence. The idea of existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger reflects through Mersault's life experiences with his relationship with Marie, the death of his mother Maman, the murdering of the Arab, and Mersault's trial and execution, all these events show that Mersault’s life of no meaning.
Being invited to a friend’s house the other day, I began to get excited about the journey through the woods to their cabin. The cabin, nestled back in the woods overlooking a pond, is something that you would dream about. There is a winding trail that takes you back in the woods were their cabin sits. The cabin sits on top of a mountain raised up above everything, as if it was sitting on the clouds.