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The stranger by Albert Camus analytical essay
The stranger by Albert Camus analytical essay
A critique on the stranger by albert camus
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How could a person not care about a single event in his or her life? How could a person fail to respond to different situations? How could one man be so apathetic towards all aspects of his life? How could a man not care about the death of his mother? Would anyone believe the story of the man who simply did not care about life? Albert Camus’s existentialist character, Mersault, demonstrates complete apathy towards almost every aspect of life. On page 115 of Albert Camus’s The Stranger, there is a passage in which the theme of the theme of the novel could clearly be observed. The theme of the novel is that existence is the only meaning of life. This theme is supported by the use of diction in the passage, which includes irony, structure, and tone.
The passage on page 115, describes the series of events that have taken place as a result of Mersault’s imprisonment. In this passage, Mersault has denies his court appeal, and is probably aware of the fact that he will soon be executed. Memories of Marie slip into Mersault’s mind as he reflects on their relationship. He recalls the physical connection between them yet does not consider Marie’s existence as significant. Since there is no longer a physical connection between them, Mersault automatically assumes that she is dead or sick, because “the days had been long since she’s stopped to write” (Camus 115). “It occurred to me that maybe she was sick, or dead. These things happen” (115). Mersault is clearly indifferent regarding such a serious subject matter as death. The ironic part about this passage is that Mersaut states that “[he] wasn’t interested in her dead” (115). This is ironic, as Mersault did not seem very interested in Marie even when there was a physical connection bet...
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...that his life has been meaningless. He feels like when he dies no one will remember him. Once again existentialism can be observed; Mersault considers his life as simply existing for the sake of existing. In reality, there are those who are remembered even after their death. Those who have influence others will be remembered and those who have not will not. Mersault falls in the second category, because he has not contributed to society. He has not influenced anyone, but rather lived his life, for the most part, as a neutral being among society.
Camus has done a tremendous job inferring the theme through this passage. The irony, structure and tone of this passage fall under the category of diction. All of these factors help support the overall theme. Mersault’s ironic statements, cold tone, as well as the passage’s structure all reinforce apathy towards life.
Moreover, Mersault does not feel guilty for his actions dating back to his mother’s funeral to now as he is put on trial for the murder he should not have been involved in. At the point in the novel, all the events that have happened are being brought up against Mersault in his murder trial. Attendees of his mother’s funeral are present as witnesses to describe Mersault’s actions at her funeral. Mersault was in total acceptance of the situation and did not think much of it as the witnesses on the stand describe him to be careless and unloving. One begins to feel sympathetic and understanding of Mersault’s situation after all this evidence is being wrongly used against him. The tone of the novel shifts to a more serious and concerning mood. By contrast, Mersault’s emotionless tone stays constant as he is being falsely accused, without bursting into an outrage. Marie is brought to the stand and the prosecutor begins to explain uncorrelated events based on fallacious beliefs in an order that makes it seem as though Mersault murdered his own mother and the
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).
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
...inal moments. Secondly, by embracing his fate, he gains a sense of compassion from the reader, who, by default, will begin to feel pity for this tortured soul. Morally, it would be impossible to judge this sort of act "evil," but also equally difficult to label it "good." Again, this is Camus' personal philosophy emerging through his literature, almost seeming to beg the audience not to pronounce judgment.
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.
... evening, on leaving the office, they forgather, at an hour that never varies, in the cafes, stroll the same boulevard, or take the air on their balconies. The passions of the young are violent and short-lived; the vices of older men seldom range beyond an addiction to bowling, to banquets and "socials," or clubs where large sums change hands on the fall of a card (Camus,The Plague)." Here it shows an example of existentialism as it did in The Stranger. In both novels the main characters of interest are consumed by repetitive redundant lives; which reflects the philosophy. But this novel, The Plague, also shows possibly a reason why Camus denies existentialism. In The Plague it is expressed that man is good of at least has potential to be good.
Finding Enlightenment in the Dark: An analysis of light in Camus’s The Stranger. In The Stranger, the protagonist Mersault becomes ostracized from his society due to his emotional separation and unwillingness to play by societal rules. His continual apathy and expression that everything “didn’t matter” eventually led to his death sentence (8). Mersault focuses on his physical surroundings, commenting on the light and the heat around him. He perceives the world through his senses, not through his emotions.
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.
The novel The Stranger was written by Albert Camus in 1942. The story is an example of how Camus perceives the world with his views. Camus’s views are that moral actions do not have any justification. Camus is considered an existentialist which means that he didn’t believe life had a specific meaning. Many of his beliefs are seen in this novel, as well as his other works. His beliefs began to form during his experience of World War II and after the terrors of the war; many other people believed that the human existence had no meaning. The Stranger could be classified as an existentialist novel because the protagonist of the story, Meursault, also seems to have existentialist beliefs. Meursault is a character that is very out of touch with the world. His attitude and morals were not accepted by the people of the society in the story, which leads to his death sentence.
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.
We meet strangers everywhere we go. They come from all walks of life. We can choose to ignore them or to talk to them. I have judged people based on the way they walk, talk, dress or the way they approached me. These judgments tend to stick with me even if I find out who they really are. I don 't think it is right to get judgmental when I first approach a person. I feel so bad when I find out who they really are isn 't who I thought they were. It just seems to happen so naturally. I guess it is just human nature. I can relate this to my senior high school days. Most of the judgments I made about people never helped me because it got me into bad company. In a short story ‘Strangers’, a stranger hurt and lied to Toni Morrison about who she was. She was really hurt by the stranger because she had misjudged her about who she was. She did not expect a woman, who looked so humble, would do such a thing. I can relate to her story because I also misjudged someone and ended up getting hurt.
”(Camus 19). Mersault did not show any emotion at all while at the nursing home where Maman lived. He is just there because he feels like he has to be. Everything about the weekend seems to annoy him, events like the vigil, the funeral, and some of Maman’s friends, in particular to the sobbing woman at the vigil. Another aspect of the existentialism portrayed in The Stranger is that Mersault focuses mainly on physical sensations with his relationship with Marie.
Throughout the eons, man, known as the most inquisitive of creatures, had always sought the meaning of life. The answer had varied; to an altruistic person, man was made to serve the common good wheras to a Douglas Adams fan, the answer was merely 42. Philosophers dedicated their lives for the meaning of life and the reason for our existence here on Earth. Unlike other philosophers such as John Locke and Ayn Rand, famed writer Albert Camus believed that life had no meaning. According to Camus, life was, simply stated, absurd. Camus asserted three main tenets of his philosophy, coined Absurdism. Camus believed that this is the only world humans would ever know and this world is indifferent and aloof to our existence. Furthermore, he believed that the reason for existence lied within each individual. Nevertheless, Camus thought than individual did not stay a cold and aloof being, as might be expected, but rather was always in a state of incomplete development towards becoming more free and autonomous. As a writer, Albert Camus exemplified the Absurdist notion of an independent,fluxatiing individual in an indifferent world in his acclaimed book The Stranger. In the novel The Stranger, Albert Camus exemplifies the three main tenets of Absurdism through the actions, deeds and thoughts of the main character Meursault as he changes from a rigidly aloof man to one who is in love with the very idea of life
While reading The Stranger I noticed that traits that Albert Camus character depicts in the book are closely related to the theories of Sigmund Freud on moral human behavior. Albert Camus portrays his character of Meursault as a numb, emotionless person that seems to mindlessly play out his role in society, acting in a manner that he sees as the way he’s supposed to act, always living in the moment with his instincts driving him, and if the right circumstance presents itself the primal deep seeded animal will come out. I believe that most of the character’s traits fall under Freud’s notion of the Id and Ego mental apparatus, and don’t believe that his idea of the super-ego is represented in this book.
It was 1590 in Austria, still in its Age of Belief, and also still in the Middle Ages.