In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus talks about the absurd. There is the feeling of absurd and the concept of the absurd. Absurdity is the feeling of separation from the world. The absurd is a contradiction that cannot be reconciled, and any attempt to escape this contradiction is simply an attempt to run from it and if you try escape it shows that you are weak and life is too much. When you face the absurd, you are struggling against it. Many individuals come to the realization of the absurdity when they come to the contradiction of what they know and the unknown. The universal question is, “is suicide legitimate” and this becomes a legitimate question because upon confronting the absurd individuals begin to question life and the meaning …show more content…
Obviously, Camus views suicide as not being the right response to the feeling of absurdity, but also that contemplation is wrong. Suicide is seen as wrong because it is showing the world that you are giving up and that it is too much too handle. Suicide will not fix the problem of the absurd. Individually you might think that dying is going to take away your problems and it might, but it is only going to create more issues. One suicide can lead to another and create a chain reaction. The absurd will only die when we turn away from it and go about our lives. Camus, also talks about how suicide is seen as acceptance of the absurd, because “in its way, suicide settles the absurd”. Suicide does not solve the absurd because it kills a person and not the absurd. Death does not set someone free. When you die you are not free, but dead and now have no means of trying to fix the problem. Rebellion is more than accepting the absurd, it's coming to terms with it and creating a way to deal with it. It seems to be unfair that humans should desire meaning when none is given to us no matter how much we ask. It's looked upon wrongly to create a false meaning for ideas and objects when we can't be for sure that it is a correct response. Thus, this leads us to a conclusion that we must rebel against the universe, and our desires. Camus states that “revolt gives life its value”. Revolt …show more content…
In our society, there is the feeling of absurdity and the concept of the absurd which are two separate but whole parts of our individual lives. Absurdity is the feeling of separation from the world which leads to the concept of the absurd. The absurd is a contradiction that cannot be escaped, and any attempt to escape the contradiction is seen as admitting defeat and failure in life. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus talks about the feeling and concept of the absurd and questions if suicide is a legitimate answer to the absurd. Many individuals come to the realization of the absurdity when they come to the contradiction of what they know and wanting to know more about what is not known. The universal question is, “is suicide legitimate” and this becomes a legitimate question because upon confronting the absurd individuals begin to question life and the meaning and purpose of being alive. The absurd makes us wonder because the answers we truly need will never be found because we all die or commit suicide and nobody comes back from the dead. Until we find the answers we truly desire, we will have to revolt and deal with the contradictions of life. Revolting against our responsibilities and problems gives our lives meaning and makes us feel like a more wholesome and emotionally capable person
First off, to get to the point where suicide is the only answer we block out all the joy of the world and let only the darkness of mankind consume
In the essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus attempts to give answers to some tough questions. He wants to know if life is worth living or how we can make it worth living, as well as whether or not it is possible to live with certainty. To him, the absurd man realizes that life is absurd after his expectations are repeatedly contradicted and he realizes the world is an unreasonable place that cannot be explained. These unreasonable expectations of certainty ultimately cause many absurd men to think that life is not worth living when they are faced with what they feel is a hopeless situation. Camus offers an alternative to the problem the absurd man faces and it is not suicide or “Philosophical suicide”. Other philosophers commit philosophical suicide by suggesting that there is enough evidence, whatever it maybe, that one should survive on hope alone or make some leap. But Camus thinks that if a person is honest and truthful to themselves that they know they are nothing more than “a stranger” in this world. So how does one live a life worth living when faced with absurdity?
In his works, The Stranger (The Outsider) and Myth of Sisyphus, Camus addresses the consciousness of Meursault and Sisyphus through their fate.
Pain is universal. In life, everyone will feel pain; it is inevitable and cruel. Physical or emotional, insignificant or severe, it is there. The pain continues mounting into an unbearable amount of suffering. Suffering that blots out everything of worth, such as family, love, aspirations, and optimism. Hopelessness seizes any will to endure. With no way to subside or control the pain, often one will go to extremes in order to be free of it. Many take their life, in order to escape the horror. Committing suicide is a traumatizing experience for any and all involved. Life is precious. The chance to live is only given once, and cannot be taken for granted. Preventing even a single life from ending early is imperative and obligatory to everyone. Suicide can never be an option. Why then is it acceptable as an alternative treatment for dire medical conditions? Physician-Assisted Suicides have a negative impact on those involved and is unethical.
However, he provides an alternative more substantial solution in such a way that does not let the universe triumph. What one must do to overcome this absurdity to is to be scornful of the fact that the universe has created such an individual with the ability to contemplate on his or her own existence. Suicide is an option that takes the easy route out of this absurdity, implicating the difficulty of life is too much to handle. Camus acknowledges his conscious and revolts, or becomes scornful of that fact, and refuses the option of suicide. By choosing to embrace the absurdity of the meaningless of one’s own existence, then freedom to create your own meaning and purpose is
There are several types of suicide according to social psychologist, Emile Durkheim. Egoistic suicide is when there is a lack of social integration of society, whether it be with at home, school, or even in a religious aspect. If someone does not have strong ties with a certain group or feel can connected to any part of society they start relying and depending on themselves. With a growing dependency on their own self one could miss the rules of society with not being shown what is acceptable behavior. An extreme sense of
to commit suicide, however, since God condemns it, he is compelled to refrain from doing so because of his faith (1.2.129-132). Hamlet’s suicidal thoughts, pertaining to the materialism of
Albert Camus posed the question, "Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?" It was in this question that my intellectual curiosity was truly awoken as a tenth grader. My fascination stemmed both from the absurdity of the question and upon further insight from the absurdist interpretation. If everything results in death what is the meaning in our daily actions? My response to this question changed twice before I came to a personal conclusion to Camus' seemingly rhetorical question. At first I conveniently believed that having a cup of coffee was the correct answer. However, after exploring absurdism I began to understand Camus' viewpoint and quickly switched to having no response, because even though I began to comprehend the 'meaninglessness'
Suicide, may be said to happen, if and only if, there is an intentional end of someone's life. The doctrine converses that we should never break off anyone’s life, including ours, because life is internally estimable that we should cherish. Therefore chances of that the act, suicide, violating this concept depends on whether a life worthwhile or not. So how do we define a worthwhile life? There is no satisfactory answer. It is ponderable that fragile at best because in moments of despair, nothing seems worthwhile and a Prozac later, everything may be all right again.
In ancient history suicide was condemned to be a morally wrong sin. Plato claimed that suicide was shameful and its perpetrators should be buried in unmarked graves. When the Christian Prohibition came into play a man by the name of St. Thomas Aquinas defended the prohibition on three grounds. These are that suicide is contrary to natural self-love, whose aim is to preserve us. Suicide injures the community of which the individual is a part of. Suicide ...
Albert Camus’ The Guest revolves around the notions of moral justification and solitude with the underlying themes of absurdism and nihilism. Camus personifies absurdism through the protagonist, Daru–whether Daru makes the decision to release the prisoner to freedom or delivers the Arab prisoner into prison does not matter, since Daru allows the prisoner to choose, and the prisoner chooses to be imprisoned. There is also a sense of uncertainty of moral justification–how is one justified in one’s choice of action and on what scale is the justification based on, which is essentially the foundation of Daru’s dilemma. With the internal confliction of Daru’s personal beliefs against abiding superior authority, Daru is faced with two moral dilemmas:
Is Suicide the Solution? Throughout time, death has been viewed in a negative light. In general, it is an event to be mourned and is seen by some as the end of existence. People do not usually seek death as an answer to their problems. In various pieces of literature, however, suicide is contemplated by the characters as the only solution to the pain and grief that they experience.
The idea of the Absurd seems to attach itself to meaningless, pointless and other such words that express a destination but without the means to get there and vice versa means but no destination. So from there I inferred that Camus does not believe in God, nor any high law or universal law that are associated with a divinity, which is a path in life (either the means or the destination). So what is an Absurd? The Absurd is living, a quest to find the meaning of anything within a reality with no purpose. Reality has no purpose because there is no high law, a universal law, nor a God.
Suicide has become a critical, national problem and the extent of this is mind-boggling. Suicides have been proven to be one of the leading causes of death among college students. According to Webters dictionary “suicide is the act killing oneself on purpose”. It derived from the Latin sui, meaning “self”, and caedere, which means “to kill”. But this is just a definition, because an actual suicide holds different meanings to people such as tragic, shocking, a relief, a cry for help, a shame, heroic, the right choice, punishment, revenge, protest, anger, a mistake, desperate, hurtful and many more. But why do people, like college students who have their entire future ahead of them, simply give up hope and turn their heads away from life and commit suicide. There are several causes of suicide, recent incidents of suicide on college campuses, warning signs from a suicidal. I blame the Constitution and the United States law for not taking any hard initiative on the subject of suicide. I also impose the choice of the media, which is reflecting and portraying suicide towards a wrong direction. However most important questions remain: can the growing epidemic of suicide be solved, what are communities doing about it and what can they do to help?
I’ve never been suicidal but many factors in my life have shown me why it may be someone’s last resort. The stress of school, exams, friends and the difficult impacts on one’s life such as a death of a loved one, and dealing with struggles of depression are all factors that can lead one to commit suicide. My opinion on suicide is that it is not selfish and it is not a sin but it is not always the right choice. It is most definitely a personal choice and I believe that individuals don’t make that choice lightly but there are many factors that go into that choice. Not everyone is as fortunate to grow up with loving parents, or have a house over their head. Not everyone is accepted and treated like everyone else is and most of the time people don’t realize that someone has dealt with more than you. I don’t believe suicide is ever the answer, although I can see both sides. I believe that if we made a difference in society through talking about suicide, that suicide wouldn’t be the issue that it is