Topic: The Outsider is not about the murder of an Arab but about the inability of society to understand Mersault’s Detachment
In The Outsider, Meursault is ultimately punished not for the murder of the Arab, but for his lack of adherence to the social codes governing appropriate behavior after his mother’s death. In this respect we can argue that Camus novel is not about the Arab’s murder but it is about the inability of society to understand Meursault’s detachment. The murder trial turns into a trial that judges and condemns Meursault because he appears indifferent, removed from society, and his behavior in unacceptable.
Meursault is a very quiet person who rarely shows any external emotions when a situation in which most people would.
In the opening scene of the book, we find out that his mother has just died. The first page alone gives many hints about Meursault's character and it shows him to be almost unaware of his emotions. He feels the need to apologize for things that are out of his control and to thank people for things that they had nothing to do with. He basically apologizes to his boss when he asks for two days off of work to go the funeral for his dead mother. He goes through the entire funeral without displaying any external emotions, saying that he doesn't want to see the body and that he doesn't want to pay his last respects. Mersault’s' mothers funeral Meursault does not cry or behave the way that society expects him to act. This is because Meursault is an existentialist, and does not act in the appropriate manner in which society expects, which makes him a stranger from the people around him
He is, further, depicted enjoying a cup of coffee with milk during the vigil, and having a smoke with a caretaker at the nursing home in which his mother died, which is considered strange in the place and time.
In addition to the townspeople judging Meursault because he sent his mother away, the townspeople continue to dislike him because he showed lack of emotion during her funeral. Which, again, goes back to the way people perceive an individual should live their life. In society crying is associated with a funeral, so therefore it is considered unusual, especially if a parent passes on, that an individual not cry during this period of time. The people of Algiers believe that since Meursault showed no emotions during his mother’s funeral he was ...
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... as bad because they were not perceived as normal. Society perceives something that is different as something that is bad because people are not willing to be open minded, which happens a lot in today society. Furthermore, society feels safe with a judicial system that works to protect them. Meursault murdered a man and society thinks that he should be put away to protect them from being hurt by that same individual. The judicial system comforts them, so they feel safe in the streets they live in. Meursault choose not to believe in a god.
If you believe in god then there is a higher being that will protect us in life after death. There is no proven fact that this is true, but society chooses to believe in this for comfort reason.
In conclusion Meursault is ultimately punished not for the murder of the Arab, but for his lack of adherence to the social codes governing appropriate behavior after his mother’s death. Throughout the novel we see Meursault act a way that society doesn’t appreciate, this leads him to his downfall.
The murder trial turns into a trial that judged and condemns Meursault because he displays attitudes and behavior that are considered socially unacceptable.
Chapter 6 of part I of The Stranger concluded with Meursault’s conscious decision to shoot an Arab because of the physical discomfort the Arab’s knife caused him. The significance of the ending of part I is that it was the first demonstration of Meursault’s awareness of the possible consequences of the act that he committed. This awareness continues into the second part of the novel as he is arrested and trialed. The reason for Meursault’s trial is the murder of the Arab. His insensitivity towards Maman’s death and lack of a social conscientious are factors that contributed to support further investigations, but are not reasons to trial him because they have not ‘harmed’ society on a way that he could be arrested for. For example, if Meursault
In Part I, Meursault is spending the night next to his mother's coffin at a sort of pre-funeral vigil. With him are several old people who were friends of his mother at the home in which she had been living at the time of her death. Meursault has the strange feeling that he can see all of their faces really clearly, that he can observe every detail of their clothing and that they will be indelibly impr...
Meursault shows very little love or sorrow at the fact of his mother's death. A normal man would feel pain and regret for not being by her side while Meursault does not even care much about the date she passed away. Immediately on the first page in the novel, we confront the situation where Meursault's mother dies, and he does not care about it. "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: `Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" (3). Meursault does not bother to call back and find information about his mother. Meursault shows no emotion or care for his mother because he sends her away for someone else to take care of her. During the last years of an elder person's life, they are invited to stay with the family in order to become closer with one another. Meursault could care less as he shows no sign of pain, and goes off to do something else. He resembles a figure where an issue as important as death does come as a priority. "We are the hollow men/ We are the stuffed men/ Leaning together/ Headpiece filled with straw" (Lines 1-4).
... his mother and the idea of God which is again supported by his close relationships. Those relationships are with people who don’t believe in a higher being or who show no true morals. Camus accommodates white with many objects and people, yet purposely excludes Meursault and refers to him as dark. All of these techniques show Meursault as a nonreligious man with potential to harm without remorse. This leads up to his interaction with light where he feels uncomfortable just as he does with God. Meursault’s history and personality lead up to the murder of the Arab, the distraction of the light, and in the end, accusing God, “the light”, for his criminal behavior. Human nature needs moral standards or the world would be as corrupt as Meursault’s life.
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 resists being typecast into an archetypal moral category in many of his deeds and actions. Many of his actions in Part One of the novel help contribute to the fuzzy picture of the character. For example, at his mother's funeral, Meursault does not cry or weep in the typical mourning fashion, but rather sleeps during the vigil and entices one of the other mourners present to smoke a cigarette with him. This would be typically considered "evil" behavior, in the context of the story. He could easily been seen as disrespectful and seditious toward his mother and the established procedures of mourning, which seem to be fairly definite at that era in France. However, this "evil" mold can easily be shaken if one considers that Meursault may be more shaken than anyone else present at the funeral. Considering the other events in the novel, it seems as though he does not have a large capacity for emotion. Based on this, it is not unreasonable to assume that the events leading up to and including his mother's death may have overtaxed his limited scope of emotion, and he was therefore nearly incapable of mourning in the "normal" or expected way for his mother, but rather had to resort to his own, more c...
Meursault doesn’t conform to society such as understanding what we would call normal human emotions such as the emotions of love or death. The reason Meursault may seem disconnected from the felling of love is shown when his girlfriend ask about marriage. Meursault answers without caring by saying “it doesn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to” (Camus, 156). Meursault also show the disconnection of normal human emotions after his mother’s death. “… Maman’s death, but that was one of those things that was bound to happen sooner or later” (Camus, 123).
...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.
...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.
Meursault was brought to trial for killing another human being, yet he was convicted and punished for refusing to “play the game.” He did not adhere to the rules nor did he try to change himself to better fit the world in which he lived. As the magistrate said, and essentially, in societies eyes he was “Mr. Antichrist” and for this he was condemned to death.
... mother, he does not react in a way most people do. He does not cry but instead accepts what has happened and realizes that he can not change it. He goes back and does physical things he would do on a normal day. When the caretaker offers him coffee, he accepts it, he smokes a cigarette and has sex with a woman he just met. Meursault also does not lie to escape death. He refuses to conform to society and lie. He would rather be seen as an outsider than do something that he does not believe in. Finally, Meursault, will not believe in G-d or Christianity just because it is the only thing to turn to before he is put to death. When Meursault decides not to cry at his mother’s funeral, he accepts himself as an outsider. When he is considered an outsider, it does not matter if he is guilty or innocent; at the end of the day he guilty just for being different.
His mother and him never had any emotional connection, so he didn't shed a tear at her funeral. In the book, an Arab tries to kill Meursault's neighbor, Raymond. Raymond accused the Arabs sister of cheating on him, and he beat her until she bled. The Arab wants Raymond to pay for what he did to his sister.
But in the novel, the main character, Meursault, does not show any emotion to his mother’s death. Meursault was not moral, but he was not immoral either. It is because he lacks any emotional feelings. He is detached from the world and he is seen by society as an outcast because of the way he acts. Meursault’s personality can be described as dull and boring.
Attention to the trial sequence will reveal that the key elements of the conviction had little to do with the actual crime Meursault had committed, but rather the "unspeakable atrocities" he had committed while in mourning of his mother's death, which consisted of smoking a cigarette, drinking a cup of coffee, and failing to cry or appear sufficiently distraught. Indeed, the deformed misconception of moral truth which the jury [society] seeks is based on a detached, objective observation of right or wrong, thereby misrepresenting the ideals of justice by failing to recognize that personal freedom and choice are "...the essence of individual existence and the deciding factor of one's morality.2" The execution of Meursault at the close of the novel symbolically brings
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.